Visit to Auschwitz Concentration Camps

I am realizing all too late that we never posted our Auschwitz visit on the blog.

The quote hanging at the entrance of the first block.

As Kayla Hanson wrote, "One of the most intense and first-hand experiences during our visit has been visiting the two Auschwitz Concentration Camps. Although it took some almost no time to process the visit, others are still processing how it felt to be at such a place. It started out with the walk through the gates saying "Work Will Set You Free"." (She wrote this the same day of the visit.)

The entrance of Auschwitz I. 

We continued our tour of Auschwitz one by touring the many different blocks that have since been turned into museums.

Here, you can see some of the many disturbing reminders of the people who were killed here. Before we entered the blocks, the tour guide told us "I want you to remember that every piece you see in here belonged to a different person. Recognize that. Pay them your respect. Each and every piece was another person killed here." There was also a hall of hair. Braids and ponytails of hundreds of thousands of people. I felt sick leaving that room. 

We continued our tour by going into the "prisoners" within a prison block. Outside we were shown the killing wall:

Where people were shot at point-blank immediately after sentencing. Unfortunately, most people who were convicted of a crime within the camp never again returned to the main camps. They were taken here and handed their sentence of a swift death. I did read a memoir recently where The Tattooist of Auschwitz became one of the lucky small percentages of people who were not dealt a death sentence after being convicted of a crime. 

After the death wall, we continued our tour through Auschwitz I. 

Where the camp Commandant was hung after the camp was liberated and he was sentenced to death.

The last place we visited at Auschwitz I was the gas chamber and crematorium. Though more people were killed at Birkenau, this chamber is the only one still standing. 

Crematoria I- the first gas chamber. 

I've been teaching the Holocaust unit for years now, but nothing really puts you in place like being in the same room where thousands of people were killed and then disposed of like they never existed. 

After Auschwitz I, we got back on our bus and went over to Auschwitz II- Birkenau-- the extermination camp. Birkenau was intended to be both a labor and extermination camp, but there was not enough room for prisoners who weren't of working age, so, the main purpose was to exterminate those who weren't considered ideal for hard work- which, unfortunately, was the majority of people who arrived at Birkenau.  

The tracks leading straight into the camp to the gas chambers.

When the camp was liberated, the chambers were destroyed. Over one million people were killed here. 

We were also able to go into one of the blocks where mothers with children stayed. 

The Kapo's room.

Around 6 people would sleep on each level. 

Paintings left by prisoners. 

This was a somber day. One that I will never forget. 

Also, sorry this was so late!