Auschwitz-Birkenau

The whole reason for us taking the time to go to Poland was to go to Auschwitz and see firsthand the largest concentration/extermination camp of the holocaust. More than 1 million people were deported to Aushwitz during the war. We have seen so many of the important sites of World War II that we felt that we couldn't leave Europe without seeing this place. Words cannot even begin to describe how we felt walking the grounds of this terrible place. Over 1 million people visit this historic site every year.

The camp is divided into two parts- Auschwitz and Birkenau. Auschwitz was used first as a concentration camp with the average length of survival for the prisoners was 6 months. It wasn't until 1942 that the camp also became an extermination camp with the gas chambers. On the grounds of Aushwitz we saw where the prisoners slept, their barely functional wash rooms, and rooms with displays of actual shoes, personal items, and luggage that were all taken from people when they arrived at the camp. However, one of the hardest displays to see was the area that displayed 2 tons of hair that had been shaven from the prisoners heads. It was hard to walk through this room! We also walked through the actual gas chamber where people were put to death. The last picture is taken outside the gas chamber. No pictures were allowed inside the buildings at Aushwitz.