Welcome to Auschwitz Birkenau
Prisoners were brought to Auschwitz II (Birkenau) via locked cargo trains. Upon arrival 70% of the passengers were sent directly to the gas chambers to be murdered while the young and healthy were sent to work.
Suitcases
Only a fraction of the wall of a huge number of suitcases is depicted which display the handwritten names of prisoners murdered by Nazi Germans in Auschwitz during WWII.
HALT!
A sign reminds prisoners in Auschwitz I death and concentration camp that they are not permitted to leave.
The Barracks
A row of permanent barracks stands at Auschwitz I. The buildings were originally polish military barracks before becoming prisons and later death camps.
Number 14a
Block 14a is just one of many prison barracks at Auschwitz I where more than 1,000,000 million people were murdered by Nazi Germans in WWII.
Auschwitz Beds
Sleeping accommodations for the mass majority of prisoners in Auschwitz consisted of a cramped brick housing with straw that slept five people.
The Death Wall
A man pays his respects at a reconstruction of the "Death Wall" near the Block 10 barracks where rebels in the Auschwitz I death camp where murdered with a shot to the back of the head.
Broken Memories
A broken doll and other artifacts of murdered prisoners are on display in the Auschwitz I museum. More than 1,000,000 prisoners were gassed and burned in the Auschwitz death camps without regard for age.
The Gas Chamber
Prisoners at Auschwitz I were locked into this chamber and suffocated to death with poison gas before being burned.
Poison Gas
A wall full of empty poison gas containers is on display at the Auschwitz I museum. More than 1,000,000 people, mostly Jews, were murdered with the poison gas by Nazi Germans during WW II.
The Furnace
A reconstruction of the furnace used to burn murdered prisoners is on display in the Auschwitz I museum. The bodies were burned two at a time and took 20-30 minutes to finish.
Furnace Ruins
Much of the original facilities at the Auschwitz death camps were destroyed by Nazi Germans in an attempt to cover up their heinous crimes against humanity. The ruins of Gas Chamber II are shown here.
A Cry of Despair and Warning to Humanity
For ever let this place be a cry of despair a warning to humanity, where the Nazis murdered about one and half million men, women and children, mainly Jews from various countries of Europe.
