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Denise J T Lee | profile | all galleries >> Poland >> Auschwitz tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Warsaw | Krakow | Auschwitz

Auschwitz

Auschwitz Concentration Camp was the largest one used by the Nazi Germans. It's located about 50 kilometers to the west of Krakow. The camp is in 3 parts. Generally, the official tours organised by the concentration camp memorial site show the visitors more in details the Auschwitz I (known as the base camp, photo 1 - 24)), then spend less time at Auschwitz II - Birkenau (known as the extermination camp, photo 25 - 32), a camp with a railroad transporting the prisoners from the other part of Europe to here as their final stop.

I visited the Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany twice before and saw the gas chamber there, so I was already more or less prepared to see the saddest thing on this tour. However, when I saw what they exhibit at Auschwitz, I was shocked. Poland is definitely worth visiting, but would I recommend Auschwitz to everyone I know? Probablly not. Certain photos I took at the camp are not included here, i.e. exhibit of the victims' shoes, collection of the walking aids including prosthetic limbs (fake legs)... with blood stains on some of them. There is a room where photography is not allowed, behind the glass wall there's a hill of human hair collected from a few thousand Jewish women's heads, piling up almost to the ceiling. I felt my stomach turning. If you think you'd want to see the fake legs and real hair collected from 1940s, you can go.

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01_Auschwitz I_Base Camp.jpg
01_Auschwitz I_Base Camp.jpg
02_Work makes one free.jpg
02_Work makes one free.jpg
03_In God we trust.jpg
03_In God we trust.jpg
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06_Prisoners' suitcases.jpg
06_Prisoners' suitcases.jpg
07_He was only 2.jpg
07_He was only 2.jpg
08_Standing cells.jpg
08_Standing cells.jpg
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13_Execution Wall.jpg
13_Execution Wall.jpg
14_Mourning.jpg
14_Mourning.jpg
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23_The gas chamber.jpg
23_The gas chamber.jpg
24.jpg
24.jpg
25_Auschwitz II_Birkenau.jpg
25_Auschwitz II_Birkenau.jpg
26_Railroad of no return.jpg
26_Railroad of no return.jpg
27_The terminal.jpg
27_The terminal.jpg
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31_Sea of bunker beds.jpg
31_Sea of bunker beds.jpg
32_From here to eternity.jpg
32_From here to eternity.jpg