AUSCHWITZ AND BIRKENAU

On our Preparation Day we went to

AUSCHWITZ AND BIRKENAU

CONCENTRATION CAMPS

It was a soul searching and solemn day.

The entrance gate.

"Work makes one free" Barbed wire fence and buildings for prisoners. These are original buildings used for prisoners. In some of the buildings were displays of items taken from the people who were brought here. This particular display is bags of hair ready to ship out to Germany to make fabric. This was left behind when the camp was liquidated. This is a room showing how the prisoners would sleep when they first arrived in the camp.

These are washing troughs for the people.

There was also a row of toilets along the walls to the

left and the right of these troughs.

The shooting wall.

This was an enclosed area between two buildings

and the one building had black coverings over the windows

so the prisoners there could not see what was going on.

The other building that bordered it was Block 11.

If you click on these pictured you can read the English part.

This sign tells about the next picture.

It is the crematorium.

After Auschwitz we went to

BIRKRNAU CAMP

This is the entrance gate.

The sign on the building telling what it is.

The spur line from the railroad ran into the

camp so it would be easier to unload the prisoners.

One of the railcars used for transporting prisoners.

Prisoners were unloaded here then were selected

for the gas chamber or for work.

Women, children, and older men were

usually selected directly for the gas chambers.

These are original wood buildings used for the

worker prisoners of the camp.

Most of the wooden buildings were burned by the

leaving soldiers and all that remains of them are

the chimneys of the heating stoves.

Inside the wooden buildings. Here the prisoners lived.

There were as many as 12 to a "bed".

The stove in the building we were in.

You can see that there was a gap between

the roof and the walls so there was

always cold air coming in and the

heaters often did not have fuel to heat the space.

This is the ruin of the entrance to the

gas chamber. Originally it was all under ground.

The memorial at the back of the camp.

The plaques on the ground in the front are in

different languages.

The English plaque.

Other ruins of the camp.

May this never happen again!!