Oświęcim
Day trip from Krakow.
We took an organised tour as we found it awkward and time consuming to go by public transport.
The minute you walk through the gates of Auschwitz- the sadness hits it's you. How cruel the human race could be.You also get a sense of anger.
Auschwitz concentration camp was a network of concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II. It was the largest of all the Nazi concentration camps.
Day trip from Krakow.
We took an organised tour as we found it awkward and time consuming to go by public transport.
The minute you walk through the gates of Auschwitz- the sadness hits it's you. How cruel the human race could be.You also get a sense of anger.
Auschwitz concentration camp was a network of concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II. It was the largest of all the Nazi concentration camps.
Auschwitz had for a long time been a German name for Oświęcim, the town by and around which the camps were located; the name "Auschwitz" was made the official name again by the Nazis after they invaded Poland in September 1939.
From early 1942 until late 1944, transport trains delivered Jews to the camp's gas chambers from all over German-occupied Europe. The camp's first commandant, Rudolf Höss, testified after the war at the Nuremberg Trials that up to three million people had died there (2.5 million gassed, and 500,000 from disease and starvation). Today the accepted figure is 1.3 million, around 90 percent of them Jewish.
From early 1942 until late 1944, transport trains delivered Jews to the camp's gas chambers from all over German-occupied Europe. The camp's first commandant, Rudolf Höss, testified after the war at the Nuremberg Trials that up to three million people had died there (2.5 million gassed, and 500,000 from disease and starvation). Today the accepted figure is 1.3 million, around 90 percent of them Jewish.
Birkenau, the German translation of Brzezinka (= "birch forest"), referred originally to a small Polish village that was destroyed by the Nazis to make way for the camp.
Auschwitz II–Birkenau was designated by Heinrich Himmler, the Third Reich's Minister of the Interior, as the place of the "final solution of the Jewish question in Europe".
Others deported to Auschwitz included 150,000 Poles, 23,000 Roma and Sinti, 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war, some 400 Jehovah's Witnesses and tens of thousands of people of diverse nationalities. Those not killed in the gas chambers died of starvation, forced labor, infectious diseases, individual executions, and medical experiments.
Auschwitz II–Birkenau was designated by Heinrich Himmler, the Third Reich's Minister of the Interior, as the place of the "final solution of the Jewish question in Europe".
Others deported to Auschwitz included 150,000 Poles, 23,000 Roma and Sinti, 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war, some 400 Jehovah's Witnesses and tens of thousands of people of diverse nationalities. Those not killed in the gas chambers died of starvation, forced labor, infectious diseases, individual executions, and medical experiments.
On January 27, 1945, Auschwitz was liberated by Soviet troops, a day commemorated around the world as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Arbeit macht frei "work makes you free"
6 million Jews 275,000 disabled people 500,000 Romani people (likely many more) 15,000 LGBT people (50,000 imprisoned) Never again.
In 1947, Poland founded a museum on the site of Auschwitz I and II, which by 2010 had seen 29 million visitors—1,300,000 annually—pass through the iron gates crowned with the infamous motto, Arbeit macht frei ("work makes [you] free").
"work makes [you] free"
How could human beings be so cruel?
Sept 2020
The findings of a study on young Americans' knowledge of the #Holocaust are terrifying: • 23% say it’s a myth/exaggerated • 10% don’t think it happened • 12% never heard of it • 11% think Jews were responsible • 63% are unaware 6M Jews were killed.
The findings of a study on young Americans' knowledge of the #Holocaust are terrifying: • 23% say it’s a myth/exaggerated • 10% don’t think it happened • 12% never heard of it • 11% think Jews were responsible • 63% are unaware 6M Jews were killed.
