AUSCHWITZ MAIN CAMP

THE PERIMETER
The Auschwitz main camp used to be barracks of Polish army before it was turned into a concentration camp by the nazis. The main gate (1-3) with the famous text "Arbeit macht frei". The camp is surrounded by electric fences and guard towers. The paths between the fences were guarded by dogs.



THE GAS CHAMBER
The first crematorium/gas chamber of Auschwitz and the only one in the main camp used to be a storage bunker. It's location wasn't optimal as it was located next to house where the camp commander lived with his family and it was also near some of the barracks where the camp prisoners lived. The entrance (1-2). The gas chamber (3-4) had several openings (4) in the roof through which the poison gas was delivered. The ovens in the crematorium part of the building (5-7). A side view of the bunker and the chimney (8). The location (9-10) next to the gas chamber and the camp commander's house where the camp commander Rudolf Höss was hanged in 1947.



OTHER PHOTOS
The yard between blocks 10 and 11 (2-4). At the back of the yard is the Death Wall (2) which people were shot against. The poles in the ground next to the block 10 (3-4) were used to torture people by hanging them by their hands which were behind their backs. The windows of both buildings were covered to block the view to the yard. Block 10 was used for medical experiments whereas block 11 (5) was the most feared block of the camp where the punishments were executed. Some photos (8-23) from the various items put on display on different blocks. The accommodations of the prisoners (8-10). A memorial (11) made out of the ashes of the prisoners found when the camp was liberated. A map (12) showing both Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II (Birkenau). Some of the belongings of the prisoners still remaining at the camp at the time of the liberation (13-21). Zyklon B (22-23).



AUSCHWITZ BIRKENAU

THE MAIN GATE
The main gate and the platform where the prisoner trains were unloaded. The place (7) where a doctor or an SS officer was selecting which prisoners were still fit to work and which ones went directly to the gas chambers.



THE CREMATORIUMS
The crematoriums/gas chambers (3-5) were blown up by the Germans before they left the camp. A memorial (6) next to a pit where they used to burn bodies outdoors. A larger memorial that had a separate plaque for each language represented by the prisoners of the camp (7).



BRICK BARRACKS




WOODEN BARRACKS




DEMOLISHED BARRACKS
A demolished barrack that was used by Josef Mengele (1).



THE PERIMETER
One of the water reservoirs that were a prerequisite for an estate insurance (9). After adding the reservoirs the camp was considered a safe enough place that the nazis got an insurance for it. The SS headquarters (10).