Auschwitz

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Auschwitz is the generic name given to the cluster of Nazi concentration, labour and extermination camps built by the Nazis during the Second World War and located outside the town of Oswiecim (Polish O?wi?cim) in southern Poland, some 60 km from Krakow. The camps have become a place of pilgrimage for survivors, their families and all who wish to travel to remember the Holocaust of the war years.

	auschwitz Travel Guide : 1 Understand 2 Get in 3 Get around 4 See 5 Do 6 External links

Understand

Although not the only (or, indeed, the first) Nazi concentration and extermination camp, Auschwitz has become a widespread symbol of terror, genocide, and the Holocaust in the global consciousness.

A concentration camp was established by the Nazis in the suburbs of the Polish city of Oswiecim which - like the rest of Poland - was occupied by the Germans from the beginning of the Second World War (1939-1945). The name of the city of Oswiecim was changed ('Germanized') to Auschwitz, which became the name of the camp as well.

The camp was continually expanded over the next 5 years and ultimately consisted of 3 main parts: Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II-Birkenau, and Auschwitz III-Monowitz. Auschwitz also had over 40 sub-camps in the neighbouring cities and in the surrounding area. Initially, only Poles were imprisoned and died in the camp. Subsequently, Soviet prisoners of war ('POWs'), gypsies, and prisoners of other nationalities and minorities were also incarcerated there.

From 1942 onwards the camp became the site of one of the greatest mass murders in the history of humanity, committed against the European Jews as part of Hitler's plan for the complete destruction of that people ('the Final Solution'). The vast majority of the Jewish men, women and children deported from their homes all over occupied Europe to Auschwitz were sent immediately to their deaths in the Birkenau gas chambers upon arrival, usually trained in in overcrowded cattle wagons. Their bodies were afterwards cremated in industrial furnaces / crematoria.

At the end of the war, in an effort to remove the traces of the crimes they had committed, the SS began dismantling and razing the gas chambers, crematoria, and other buildings, as well as burning documents. Prisoners capable of marching were evacuated into the depths of the German Reich. Those who remained behind in the camp were liberated by Red Army soldiers on 27 January 1945.

A 2 July 1947 Act of the post-war Polish Parliament established the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum on the grounds of the two extant parts of the camp, Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau.

The site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979.

Get in

There are quite frequent and inexpensive buses to and from the main bus station in Krakow. Also Trains regularly run to Oswiecim. A bus can then be caught to Auschwitz. There is a shuttle bus between Auschwitz and Birkenau.

Local (Krakow - 1hr30m) and international (e.g. Vienna) trains also stop at the nearby town of O?wi?cim (3km).

Entrance is free, without a ticket, though donations are encouraged.

Get around

The Auschwitz Memorial and Museum is navigated on foot.

See

• Auschwitz I was the first camp to be used (therefore called Stammlager). It consist of old Polish military barracks. Inside some of them you will find information material, boards, photos and personal belongings to illustrate the life and cruelties of this camp.

• Auschwitz-Birkenau was the second camp and is around 3km from Auschwitz I. You can still see the entrance gate, the railway track and ramp and many old barracks. The site is huge. You can also see the buildings where incoming prisoners where shaved and given their "new" clothing, the ruins of the five gas chambers, ponds where the ashes of thousands of people were dumped without ceremony, and a memorial site. Note that walking throught the whole site may take several hours. Some visitors find the experience harrowing.

Do

• Participate in one of the guided tours of the site

• Visit on your own a day or two after a guided tour. A guided tour may be a bit rushed to fully experience the emotions of the place.

External links

• Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum (http://www.auschwitz-muzeum.oswiecim.pl/html/eng/start/) - the official page (also available in German and Polish)