Essentials of the Auschwitz GUIDE BOOK
List of content 4
History of KL Auschwitz
9
Liberation of KL Auschwitz
11
Interesting facts about Auschwitz
16
Auschwitz escapes and survivors
20
Memorial and Museum Auschwitz–Birkenau today
23
What you can see and experience
26
Reasons to visit the Museum and
Memorial Auschwitz-Birkenau
31
Schedule of the visit
34
Auschwitz books and documentaries
2
| List of content
Escape2Poland
3
History of KL Auschwitz
In 1939 Poland was home for the largest Jewish community in the
world. The 3.5 million population of Jews living here made up 4/5 of the entire world-wide Diaspora. Out of this number, one forth of the Jewish population lived in the five biggest Polish cities, i.e. Warsaw, Lodz, Vilnius, Cracow and Lvov. At that time Warsaw was the largest Jewish urban settlement in Europe (with the Jewish population of 350 thousand) and the world’s second largest after New York; altogether, Jews constituted 10% of the population in the pre-war Poland.
The outbreak of the Second World War on 1st September 1939 had given rise to large-scale terror and repression inflicted upon the local civilian population The outbreak of the Second World War on 1st September 1939 had given rise to large-scale terror and repression inflicted upon the local civilian population (e.g. mass resettlements and deportations, imprisonment of intelligentsia and clergy, religious and racial prosecutions, public executions and plundering of the national heritage artefacts). This also marked the dawn of the consistent and unwavering extermination of the European Jewish Diaspora.
4
| History of KL Auschwitz
Escape2Poland
The Holocaust The term denominating an almost complete extermination of the European Jews – is directly linked to the history of the KL Auschwitz, the largest concentration camp and extermination centre established by the Nazi Germany in the occupied Poland.
Based on Adolf Hitler’s decree of 8th October 1939, a tiny Polish town Oświęcim, captured in September by the Wehrmacht army, was incorporated into the Third Reich. With the town name so difficult to pronounce, it was changed into Auschwitz. The decision to build a concentration camp on the outskirts was based on its strategic location within the delta of two rivers, namely the Vistula and the Sola, the existence of 20 buildings on the grounds of the desolated artillery barracks, and an excellent transport links of the town which was at that time an important rail hub.
From June 1940 till April 1941, almost 17 thousand civilians were displaced, and as many as 7 thousand Jews from the Oświęcim area were deported to ghettos. The name Konzentrationslager Auschwitz covered the concentration camp Auschwitz I in Oświęcim established in 1940 for the Polish political prisoners, the death camp Auschwitz II-Birkenau established in 1941 in place of the displaced village of Brzezinka, and the labour camp Auschwitz III - Monowitz established in 1942 in Monowice. Auschwitz III consisted also of more than 40 satellite camps located near to mines and factories which used the prisoners for slave labour in mining and heavy industry. The purpose for Interessengebiet - the so-called buffer zone of 40 square kilometres around the KL Auschwitz - was to keep secret the camp operations and to hinder any potential contacts between the prisoners Escape2Poland
History of KL Auschwitz
| 5
and the civilian population. Its establishment resulted in mass deportations of the people inhabiting the towns and villages next to the camp complex. From June 1940 till April 1941, almost 17 thousand civilians were displaced, and as many as 7 thousand Jews from the Oświęcim area were deported to ghettos. The buildings in the nearby settlements were damaged from 40% up to 90%, and approximately 8 villages were destroyed completely. In Brzezinka itself, only 6 out of 500 buildings remained intact, and the building materials recovered there were then used for the expansion of the camp. The remaining buildings were adapted to house the members of the camp SS staff and their families, as well as the Germans employed at the building site of the Buna Werke chemical factory owned by IG Farben and located at Auschwitz III – Monowitz. The decision to establish the concentration camp here was finally undertaken by Heinrich Himmler in April 1940, and Rudolf Höss – a former high-rank stuff member at the Sachsenhausen camp – was appointed its first commandant. The first transport of 728 Polish political prisoners was sent to Auschwitz I in the mid of June 1940. Due to a rapidly growing number of prisoners, one floor was added to the existing 14 ground-floor barracks, and further 8 double floor buildings were constructed. In 1942, when the camp reached its full operational capacity, approximately 20 thousand prisoners where held here, being accommodated in all space available, even in the attics and cellars of the existing camp blocks. Crematorium I was also located on the camp ground.
Block 11 (i.e. the “Death Block”), which was a strictly-isolated camp prison, enjoyed ill-reputation in particular. The adjacent “Wall of Death” was the place were thousands of prisoners, mainly Poles, were executed. At present, the flag of the Polish political prisoners flies permanently over this place.
KL Auschwitz was also a witness to numerous criminal experiments car6
| History of KL Auschwitz
Escape2Poland
ried out on people by the SS doctors, among them the most famous ones: Dr Joseph Mengele (performing genetic experiments on children, twins and disabled persons), and Dr Carl Clauberg (carrying out large-scale sterilization on Jewish women) at Block 10. As a result of the Nazi German aggression on the USSR, on 22nd June 1941 (the Barbarossa Operation), KL Auschwitz had become also a place for extermination of thousands of Russian POWs. The first transport of them arrived to the camp already on 7th October 1941; the total number of the Russian war prisoners held here reached as many as 15 thousand soldiers. At the last roll-call held in the mid of January 1945, their number decreased to as few as 92.
The Auschwitz II – Birkenau established in 1941 was originally planned to accommodate 100 to 150 thousand prisoners. It had become the largest extermination site for the Jewish people brought here from as far as Greece or Norway. The ever increasing number of transports reaching the camp forced its further extension. The Auschwitz II – Birkenau established in 1941 was originally planned to accommodate 100 to 150 thousand prisoners. It had become the largest extermination site for the Jewish people brought here from as far as Greece or Norway. In compliance with the decisions undertaken at the Wannsee conference in Germany, held in January 1942, resulted in the acceptance of the Final Solution to the Jewish Question. To increase the “capacity” of the camp, the crematoria II, III, IV and V had been constructed by June 1943. The long-lasting journeys of the Jews deported by train from all over Europe, ended with anonymous deaths in one of the camp gas chambers. Less than half of the people who arrived at the camps in those transports were sent to the barracks, after the selections, as those suitable for work.
Escape2Poland
History of KL Auschwitz
| 7
In 1944, Auschwitz II – Birkenau had become a place for some significant events. On 2nd August 1944 the so-called Gypsy camp was liquidated. The camp records recovered after the war listed more than 20 thousand Romani surnames, including entire families which vanished in the gas chambers of Brzezinka. The next tragic incident was the revolt of the Sonderkommando members at Crematorium IV, which took place on 7th October 1944. Those taking part in the defiance managed to destroy partially the crematorium IV and undertake a mass-escape attempt. The entire action ended in failure and the death of more than 450 people. Four female Jewish prisoners – accused of helping to smuggle explosive materials for the Sonderkommando revolt members– were hanged publicly in January 1945, only 21 days before the camp was liberated.
8
| History of KL Auschwitz
Escape2Poland
9
Liberation of KL Auschwitz
In November 1944, with the Red Army approaching, the process
of covering up the truth about and of evacuating the camp had started. Almost 60 thousand prisoners were sent out of the camp in so-called the Marches of Death (approximately 20 thousand of them managed to reach Bergen-Belsen where they awaited liberation by the Allied forces in April 1945). Some of the barracks and camp equipment had been dismantled; the crematoria buildings and gas chambers were destroyed; the camp documentation and archives were burnt; attempts to erase the evidence of atrocities were made. Shortly after the last transport of prisoners marched out on 18th January 1945, the barracks of the so-called Canada II (the warehouses storing the personal belongings plundered from the murdered prisoners) were set on fire on 23rd January 1945. The Red Army entered Oświęcim and the camp on 27th January 1945. On the day of liberation, about 7 thousand people, including more than 200 children, were still held there. Inside it, hundreds of thousands items of female and male clothes and other personal belongings were found. More than 7 tons of human hair were also found awaiting transport. The Russians made a short film documentary about the liberation of the camp. Between 1940 and 1945, KL Auschwitz was managed by a group of 6.5 to 7 thousand SS staff. After the war, a great majority of them were accused of war atrocities. The first commandant of the camp, Rudolf Höss, was hanged in Auschwitz I on 16th April 1947 on the gallows specially constructed for that purpose next to the building of the Crematorium I. Exactly 20 years later, on 16th April 1967, an International Memorial of the Nazi Victims was unveiled in Auschwitz II – Birkenau. 10 | Liberation of KL Auschwitz
Escape2Poland
11
Interesting facts about Auschwitz
The infamous slogan „Arbeit macht frei” (Work makes you free),
which was placed above the main entrance gate to Auschwitz I, could also be found in a number of other concentration camps, e.g. Dachau, Sachsenhausen and Gross-Rosen. In December 2009, the inscription was stolen from the Auschwitz – Birkenau Museum by three Poles acting on request from Anders Hoegstroem, a former neo-Nazi leader from Sweden. The damaged inscription, cut into three pieces, was recovered after a few days of investigation and returned to the Museum. At present, a replica of the inscription is displaced over the entrance-gate. The first transport of prisoners was sent to KL Auschwitz from a prison in Tarnów on 14th June 1940. It was a group of 728 Polish political prisoners who on arrival at the camp were given identity numbers ranging from 31 to 758. The numbers 1 to 30 were reserved for the group of German criminals who were to serve as camp Kapos. The first Polish prisoner at KL Auschwitz was Stanisław Ryniak, with a camp number 31. He was also one of the 239 prisoners from the first transport who managed to survive Auschwitz.
The first attempt to carry out a mass murder with the use of the Cyclone B gas was undertaken on a group of 250 Romani children in KL Buchenwald in January or February of 1940.
12 | Interesting facts about Auschwitz
Escape2Poland
The first attempt to carry out a mass murder with the use of the Cyclone B gas was undertaken on a group of 250 Romani children in KL Buchenwald in January or February of 1940. Cyclone B was used on a large scale at KL Auschwitz. The first experiment there was performed on a group of 600 Soviet prisoners of war and 250 Poles on 3rd September 1941. A plaque commemorating this atrocity is displayed in the basement of Block 11. KL Auschwitz was the only camp were since 1942 the prisoners had been tattooed. For the first time, the camp numbers were tattooed on a chest in case of a group of almost 10 thousand Russian prisoners of war. Further on, all other camp prisoners were also tattooed: on a forearm of adult prisoners and on a thigh of children arriving at the camp or camp-born.
The State Museum Auschwitz – Birkenau in Oświęcim was established in 1947. For more than 30 years, Kazimierz Smoleń – a former KL Auschwitz prisoner (a camp number 1327) – was the Museum director. Kazimierz Smoleń died on 27th January 2012 at the age of 91. It was exactly the day of the 67th anniversary of the camp liberation.
Holocaust – the term originating from Greek (holókaustos: hólos, „whole” and kaustós, „burnt”) and relates to the cremation of the bodies of prisoners murdered in the concentration camps. The term was coined by Elie Wiesel, a writer and journalist, and a former KL Auschwitz prisoner. Since 1979, the State Museum Auschwitz – Birkenau in Oświęcim has been placed on the UNESCO list. It is the only former German concentration camp which can be found on the world heritage list. Due to frequent unfortunate use of the term „Polish concentration camps” by the mass media, UNESCO decided to change the camp name to: „The Escape2Poland
Interesting facts about Auschwitz
|
13
Auschwitz-Birkenau German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940-1945).”
In 2010 the Kościuszko Foundation collected hundreds of thousands signatures in support of the petition directed to the American mass media demanding changes to the so-called Press Stylebook in order to prevent the use of the term “Polish concentration camps”. In 2010, the Kościuszko Foundation, an US-based influential Polish organization, collected hundreds of thousands signatures in support of the petition directed to the American mass media demanding changes to the so-called Press Stylebook in order to prevent the use of the term “Polish concentration camps”. Among others, the petition was signed by Rabbi Michael Schudrich – the Chief Rabbi of Poland, President Lech Wałęsa – the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Zbigniew Brzeziński – a Former U.S. National Security Advisor and Ryszard Horowitz – a photographer and Auschwitz survivor. The full text of the petition is quoted below: WHEREAS the media uses the historically erroneous terms „Polish concentration camp” and „Polish death camp” to describe Auschwitz and other Nazi extermination camps built by the Germans during World War II, which confuses impressionable and undereducated readers, leading them to believe that the Holocaust was executed by Poland, rather than Nazi Germany, WHEREAS these phrases are Holocaust revisionism that desecrate the memories of six million Jews from 27 countries who were murdered by Nazi Germany, WHEREAS Poland was the first country invaded by Germany, and the only country whose citizens suffered the death penalty for rescuing Jews, yet 14 | Interesting facts about Auschwitz
Escape2Poland
never surrendered during six years of German occupation, even though one-sixth of its population was killed in the war, approximately half of which was Christian, WHEREAS educated journalists must know these facts and not cross the libel threshold of malice by using phrases such as „Polish concentration camps,” WHEREAS The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, Yahoo! Inc., and The Associated Press have changed their style guides prohibiting the use of the phrase „Polish concentration camps,” BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the undersigned request that all news outlets include entries in their stylebooks requiring news stories to be historically accurate, using the official name of all „German concentration camps in Nazi-occupied Poland,” as UNESCO did in 2007 when it named the camp in Auschwitz, „The Auschwitz-Birkenau German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940-1945).”
Escape2Poland
Interesting facts about Auschwitz
|
15
16
Auschwitz escapes and survivors
The prisoners arriving in the first transports were „welcomed” at
the camp with the following speech: … “you have not arrived here to a sanatorium but to a German concentration camp, from which there is no other escape but up through a chimney. If somebody does not like it, you can go right now to meet the electric barbed wire. If there are Jews in the transport, they are permitted to live for no longer than two weeks; priests for a month, and the rest of you for up to three months” ... (the words used by Karl Fritzsch, the deputy commandant of the camp).
“you have not arrived here to a sanatorium but to a German concentration camp, from which there is no other escape but up through a chimney. If somebody does not like it, you can go right now to meet the electric barbed wire. If there are Jews in the transport, they are permitted to live for no longer than two weeks; priests for a month, and the rest of you for up to three months”
Despite the assumptions of a ruthless exploitation and extermination of the prisoners, many of them managed to survive Auschwitz. To the most famous survivors belong: Imre Kertész – a writer and a Nobel Prize winner; Primo Levi – a chemist and writer (in his honour a Primolevi planetoid was given his name); Simone Veil – a French politician and chairwoman of the European Parliament between 1979 and 1982; Elie Escape2Poland
Auschwitz escapes and survivors
| 17
Wiesel – a writer and journalist, the author of the term “Holocaust”; Władysław Bartoszewski – a Pole honoured with the Yad Vashem medal, a former two-time Polish Foreign Minister, and the Chairman of the International Auschwitz Council; Aleksander Klugman – a writer and author of the first Polish – Hebrew dictionary; Ryszard Horowitz – a photographer, and Zofia Kossak – a Polish writer and cofounder of the Żegota organization (the Polish Council to Aid Jews) which was active between 1942 and 1945 as the only organization providing help and support to Jews in the occupied Europe.
Only 144 prisoners managed to escape successfully. According to the research conducted by the Museum, a total number of 802 people (757 male and 45 female prisoners) made an attempt to escape from KL Auschwitz. The escape attempts were undertaken most frequently by the Poles, the Russian POWs and the Jews. Only 144 prisoners managed to escape successfully. The first escape was recorded on 6th July 1940. Tadeusz Wiejowski, a Polish prisoner (a camp number 220) managed to escape but as a consequence, the longest roll-call in the camp history was held for as long as 20 hours. Five civilians who helped to organize the escape were sent to the camp (only one survived). Tadeusz Wiejowski was arrested again and shot dead by the Germans in 1941. Another extraordinary escape attempt from KL Auschwitz was undertaken by August Kowalczyk (a camp number 6804) who managed to escape from the penal company on 10th June 1942 (from the total number of 50 prisoners in the penal company who attempted to escape, only 9 succeeded). After the war, Kowalczyk had become a well-known theatre and film 18 | Auschwitz escapes and survivors
Escape2Poland
actor. He appeared in hundreds of schools with a monodrama entitled “Prisoner 6804” telling the history of his escape. In two very popular Polish film series (“Polskie Drogi” and “Stawka większa niż życie”), he acted as a Gestapo officer and a Sturmbannführer, respectively. Definitely, the most romantic escape was organized by Jerzy Bielecki (a camp number 243) who managed to escape on 21st July 1944 dressed in an SS man uniform and accompanied by his beloved companion Cyla Cybulska, his Jewish girlfriend whom he met at the camp. Following the escape, Bielecki joined the Polish Home Army (AK). Cyla lived in hiding with his relatives in the countryside till the end of the war. After the war, she left for New York being convinced that Bielecki was dead. In 1983, Cyla learnt from her Polish female domestic help that Bielecki was alive and was seen in a TV documentary telling his camp story. The couple met again in Poland after 39 years since they split. Jerzy Bielecki wrote about their fate in his autobiography entitled “He Who Saves One Life …”. The most spectacular escape from KL Auschwitz took place on 20th June 1942 and organized by three Poles, i.e. Kazimierz Piechowski, Stanisław Jaster and Józef Lempart, together with one Ukrainian man, Eugeniusz Bendera. The prisoners escaped by driving through the gate in the Steyr 220 limousine, belonging to the camp commandant Rudolf Höss, dressed up as SS men and carrying weapons. Some extraordinary incidents had also been reported. Cavalry Captain Witold Pilecki (known as a volunteer to Auschwitz) entered the camp on purpose in September 1940 with the aim to organize among the prisoners a resistance network and to obtain information about the camp functioning in order to send first reports to the Escape2Poland
Auschwitz escapes and survivors
| 19
West. He escaped from the camp during the night of 26/27th April 1943. After the war he was sentenced to death and executed by the communist authorities in 1948. Another example is Maksymilian Maria Kolbe, a Franciscan monk, who volunteered to replace another prisoner who was sentenced to death in a starvation cell of Block 11. After several days, the still-alive monk was killed by a phenol injection on 14th August 1941. The saved prisoner, Franciszek Gajowniczek survived Auschwitz and died in 1995 at the age of 94. In 1982, Maksymilian Maria Kolbe was canonized by the Pope John Paul II.
20 | Auschwitz escapes and survivors
Escape2Poland
21
Memorial and Museum Auschwitz–Birkenau today
Today the Memorial and Museum Auschwitz–Birkenau is one of
the most frequently visited places in Poland. For many recent years, the number of tourists visiting the place has been exceeding one million annually. The area on which the camp was situated is officially recognized as the largest cemetery in Europe, and its every sector relates to hundreds of tragic episodes from the WW II period.
The date of 14th June (the date of the first transport arrival) is commemorated as the National Day of Remembrance for Victims of the Nazi Concentration Camps;
2nd August is celebrated as remembrance date for the liquidation of the Gypsy camp and as one of the stages of the Romani people extermination (the so-called Porajmos, which in the Romani language means: extermination, or ravage); 7th October – the outbreak of the Sonderkommando rebellion at Crematorium IV; 27th January – the day of liberation by the Red Army, the date which is solemnly celebrated every year. The Museum maintains also an archive department which provides support to people from all over the world who wish to obtain any infor22 | Memorial and Museum Today
Escape2Poland
mation about the fate of their relatives murdered at Auschwitz; it also runs historical and restoration departments, operates an extended system of voluntary assistance, publishes scientific research papers and books about the camp history, as well as organizes numerous scientific seminars and workshops for a world-wide audience.
International Auschwitz Council acting under the chairmanship of Prof. Władysław Bartoszewski was established as an advisory and opinion-forming body on issues related to the Museum functioning Moreover, the Museum is a home for the International Auschwitz Council acting under the chairmanship of Prof. Władysław Bartoszewski. The Council was established as an advisory and opinion-forming body on issues related to the Museum functioning (e.g. on preparations of exhibitions, publications and periodicals, on visual marking of museum exhibitions, and on remembrance events).
In 2009 the Museum established a Foundation with the main aim
to create a Perpetual Fund (with the planned target amount of EURO 120 million). The fund should allow for the introduction of a complex restoration programme of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and the rescue of all possible artefacts for the benefit of the future generations. Among the Fund donors are the governments from all over the world, as well as individual and private enterprises. The most important donors: Germen Federal Republic – EURO 60 million, USA – USD 15 million, Republic of Poland – EURO 10 million, Republic of Austria – EURO 4-6 million, French Republic – EURO 5 million, Great Britain – GBP 2.1 million, Swiss Confederation – EURO 1 million, State of Israel - USD 1 million, and Russian Federation – USD 1 million. The visitors wishing to make a financial contribution, are kindly requested to look for details at www.foundation. auschwitz.org. Escape2Poland
Memorial and Museum Today
|
23
One of the largest international events taking place at the Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau is the March of the Living (MOL) organized by the Israeli Ministry of Education mainly for the Jewish youths from all over the world.
Since 1996, the March of the Living has been organized annually on the Holocaust Memorial Day (Yom HaShoah, in Hebrew) in April or May, just after the Passover. The main educational assumption of the program is to familiarize the youths with the history of Jews in Poland and with the tragedy of Holocaust, as well as to strengthen their ties with the Jewish culture and tradition. The groups of young people from secondary schools are accompanied by the Holocaust Survivors. The culmination of the event is the march of several thousand participants covering the distance of 3 kilometres between two camps, Auschwitz and Birkenau.
24 | Memorial and Museum Today
Escape2Poland
25
What you can see and experience
According to the recent research, the number of people exter-
minated at KL Auschwitz reached approximately 1.1 million. The Jews were the largest nationality exterminated here, with the number of victims reaching more than 1 million; the second group were the Poles with the number raging from 70 to 75 thousand; then the Romani – 21 thousand, the Russian POWs – 15 thousand, and the remaining nationalities with the total number of between 10 to 15 thousand victims.
According to the recent research, the number of people exterminated at KL Auschwitz reached approximately 1.1 million. The Jews were the largest nationality exterminated here, with the number of victims reaching more than 1 million The Museum was established on the territory of the former Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II–Birkenau. At present the area on which the camps stood remains open to tourists and is maintained as a specific conservation zone. From the original constructions of Auschwitz I the following have survived to the present times: the main entrance gate with the inscription Arbeit macht frei, the barracks constructed of bricks and utility buildings (e.g. the camp kitchen and laundry), Block 11 (the Death Block) – in its unchanged form from the times of the war, the SS guard houses and the fence made of barbed wire. The sights reconstructed include: the Death Wall, the collective gallows located by the roll-call ground and the crematorium furnaces at Crematorium I rebuilt with the 26 | What you can see and experience
Escape2Poland
use of original construction elements (disassembled by the SS men for the construction of an air-raid shelter at the end of WW II).
The most important sights at Auschwitz II – Birkenau include: the
ruins of four crematoria and gas chambers, the railway ramp used in the past as a selection area for the prisoners arriving to the camp by trains, the locations of the former incineration stakes and the pond where human ashes were thrown away. The wooden barracks, used here as the quarantine buildings, were reconstructed with recovered original elements.
Auschwitz I Auschwitz I is at present rearranged as a museum location. Selected blocks house the exhibitions presenting the process of selecting and exterminating the prisoners, the system of exploiting and cremating human bodies, the operations of Sonderkommando, the model and construction plans of Crematorium II located at Birkenau, the collection of photographs from 1944 taken by the SS men and presenting the arrival and selection of prisoners from Jewish transports from Hungary, the camp documents, the evidence of atrocities, namely empty tins of Cyclone B, articles of clothing, shoes and every-day-life artefacts robbed from the prisoners deported to the camp, the methods of marking and numbering the prisoners, the photographs of the Canada warehouses, and series of draft drawings made by the former prisoners and presenting the scenes of the camp every-day life. The most moving and shocking part of the exhibition is Block 4 with its rooms housing on display piles of human hair cut from the victims who then were murdered in the gas chambers, and the cabinets displaying children’s clothes and shoes. The exhibition here consists also of the so-called national blocks showing the fate of the citizens arriving in the transports from various countries of their origin.
Escape2Poland
What you can see and experience
|
27
Auschwitz II – Birkenau Auschwitz II - Birkenau has been retained in its untouched condition. At the back of the camp, where the ruins of crematoria can be found – stands the International Memorial of the Nazi Victims which is the main place where all official anniversary remembrance events are held.
28 | What you can see and experience
Escape2Poland
29
Reasons to visit the Museum and Memorial Auschwitz-Birkenau
The Auschwitz – Birkenau Museum is a place which provides
a unique opportunity to face the history of human hatred and cruelty, and the truth about how the propaganda machine, which skilfully exploits the lack of knowledge and fuels aversion to everything which is culturally different and diverse, leads to the war and to atrocious extermination of the entire nations and religious communities. Here one can realize how shocking was the perfection with which the logistics of the mass extermination was planned, and the ruthlessness of the murderers. On the other hand, the place stands as a proof for the existence of values which can defend themselves against the worst evil and disdain. Human dignity, honour and patriotism, unbounded devotion to one’s own children and family members, the love behind barbed wires and the hope of survival against any logic and the drastic choices one was forced to make, the choices that at present no one has ever had to face. This visit is a lesson, how contemptible or magnificent a human being may become in an extreme situation.
Preparation for the visit. While preparing for the visit, it should be remembered that the entire territory of the Auschwitz – Birkenau Museum is a place of an atrocious killing of hundreds of thousands prisoners.
30 | Reasons to visit the Museum and Memorial
Escape2Poland
Having in mind the place’s specific character, the visitors are required to present solemn attitude and respect, as well as to comply with an appropriate dress code. Within the Museum boundaries, the consumption of meals and alcohol, as well as smoking is strictly forbidden. Entrance to the Museum is denied to persons under influence of alcohol or any other intoxicating substances. The visitors whose behaviour shows disrespect to and violates the commemoration of the Victims and disturbs other visitors will be requested to leave the premises. The Museum remains under special supervision of the local authorities, all buildings and artefacts located of its area remain its integral part and are protected by the provisions of Polish law. It is therefore forbidden to move, remove, or damage any of the structures or items remaining the property of the Museum.
Opening hours. The Museum is open all year long, every day of the week, except for: 1st January, 25th December and Easter Sunday. Opening hours vary depending on the season, and thus: 8:00 – 15:00 from December till February, 8:00 – 16:00 in March and November, 8:00 – 17:00 in April and October, 8:00 – 18:00 in May and September, and 8:00 – 19:00 from June till August. The Museums offices are open between 8:00 and 14:00. The visitors are requested to move around the Museum following the routes which are made available. The presence at the Museum outside the official visiting hours requires the permission granted by the Museum Director.
Organized group. Organized group visits of up to 30 people are supervised by the Museum guide. Groups larger than 10 people are required to rent an audio guide system. The entrance onto the tower at the main camp gate at Auschwitz II – Birkenau is only available to group visitors accompanied by the Museum guide. The tower can be visited by groups not larger than 30 people and within the opening hours.
Escape2Poland
Reasons to visit the Museum and Memoria
|
31
Photographing and filming Photographing and filming on the Museum grounds is permitted strictly for private use. Such photographs and films shall then be used for projects which do not infringe the good name of the Victims of KL Auschwitz. The use of flash lamps and tripod stands inside the barracks is not allowed. Photographing and filming is strictly forbidden inside in the room containing the hair of the Victims, as well as inside the cellar of Block 11. Photographing and filming for commercial purposes requires the consent of the Museum Director and a signed contract.
Children policy and pushchairs. Visits to the Museum by children under the age of 14 are not recommended. The use of pushchairs on the Museum grounds is not permitted.
Disabled visitors and visitors on wheelchairs. Due to the imperative of preserving the historical authenticity of the place, the movements of disabled visitors and visitors on wheelchairs on the Museum ground and inside its buildings may be difficult. The Visitor Service Centre provides the visitors with wheelchairs if required.
Animals. Visitors are not allowed to lead in any animals onto the Museum grounds with the exception of guide dogs for the blind and visually impaired.
Large luggage and rucksacks. The visitors are not allowed to enter the Museum carrying large pieces of luggage and rucksacks. The visitors are recommended to leave any luggage in their buses and cars or, for a fee, at the left luggage facility. The Museum Guards are authorized to inspect the content of hand luggage. Visitors refusing to leave their luggage outside or to undergo hand luggage inspection will not be allowed to enter the Museum ground. Lighting of candles and vigil lights inside the Museum barracks and in their immediate vicinity as well as carrying of open fire is strictly forbidden.
32 | Reasons to visit the Museum and Memorial
Escape2Poland
33
Schedule of the visit Oświęcim and the Museum Auschwitz – Birkenau are located approximately 80 kilometres from Cracow. One way journey by car or bus takes about one and half hour. The visit from Cracow to the Museum Auschwitz – Birkenau takes in total between 6 to 7 hours.
The visit
to the Museum begins from the museum exhibition at Au-
schwitz I (about 2.5 hours), and after a short break, it is continued at Auschwitz II – Birkenau (about 1 hour). Depending on weather conditions and temperature, the visitors are recommended to equip themselves with appropriate items of clothing and shoes, head covers, sun glasses, umbrellas, and bottles with mineral water in summer. The visits to the museum exhibition are organized under the supervisions of a local, licensed guide, who meets the visitors at the main Museum entrance. The visitors move around the entire Museum ground on foot, both inside the buildings and in the open air. The exhibitions are located in each building on the ground and first floors, and between the floors the visitors climb stairs. Only right-hand traffic inside Block 11 is allowed. The building of Crematorium I is visited in silence. During the break (normally for organized tours not longer than about 15 minutes), the visitors can visit bookshops, a restaurant, a post office, a currency exchange bureau or WC, all located inside the Visitor Service Centre. After this short break, the visitors continue the tour by
34 | Schedule of the visit
Escape2Poland
going to Auschwitz II – Birkenau (having to cover the distance of about 3 kilometres) being accompanied by the same Museum guide. In Birkenau, the visitors are shown the sanitary and living quarters inside the wooden barracks, the prisoners’ selection point at the railway ramp, the crematoria ruins and the International Memorial of the Nazi Victims. The Memorial is located approximately 1 kilometre from the main camp gate and it is covered on foot. The entrance to the guard tower at Birkenau is allowed only under the supervision of a museum guide in groups of up to 30 people within the Museum opening hours. It shall be taken into consideration that in summer or winter months, due to extreme weather conditions and low / high temperature, the visitors may be advised not to undertake the walk to the Memorial. Such suggestions are issued by the Director of the Museum.
Escape2Poland
Schedule of the visit
|
35
36
Auschwitz books and documentaries
The Museum Auschwitz – Birkenau provides the visitors with
a significant range of scientific publications, historical books, memoirs and testimonies of the prisoners, as well as a selection of documentary and feature films on DVDs. The Museum runs also an on-line bookshop which can be visited at www.auschwitz.org. All publications available there are offered in several languages and can be purchased both during the visit to the Museum or over the Internet. Definitely the most significant educational material available is the documentary film about the camp liberation by the Red Army, as well as a number of films on DVDs presenting comprehensive materials about the political situation in Europe prior to the outbreak of WW II and about the history of KL Auschwitz itself. Among the books publications available in English, worth recommending are the memoirs of the prisoners collected in the following books: August Kowalczyk „A Barbed Wire Refrain”; Halina Birenbaum „Hope is the Last to Die”; Jerzy Bielecki „He Who Saves One Life”; and Seweryna Szmaglewska „Smoke Over Birkenau”. The following scientific research publications are also recommendable: the testimonies of the prisoners who managed to escape from KL Auschwitz: „London Has Been Informed” by Henryk Świebocki, „KL Auschwitz Seen by the SS”, and a world-wide bestseller, which was also screened, i.e. „The Nazis & The Final Solution” by Laurence Rees.
Escape2Poland
Auschwitz books and documentaries
|
37
Š Escape2Poland 2014 All Rights Reserved No part of this e-book or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied, modified or adapted, without the prior written consent of the author, unless otherwise indicated for stand-alone materials. Commercial use and distribution of the contents of the e-book is not allowed without express and prior written consent of the author.
Auschwitz Tour from Krakow Visit Auschwitz for yourself and pay your tribute read more