We drove to Poland planning to go to Kraków city centre, which is supposed to be amazing to see, on the first day, and then go to Auschwitz on the second day. As we travelled down though we passed the sign for Auschwitz so thought we would pop in and see if we could get in that day. There are two parts to Auschwitz, there is Auschwitz 1 and Auschwitz-Birkenau which are about 2 km apart with a free shuttle bus between the two. Both parts are free to get into but if you want a guide you need to pay and you then go around in a group. Auschwitz Birkenau you can get into at anytime but in Auschwitz 1, it is guided tours up until 3 o'clock and then individuals can get in for free after that. We tried to order online tickets to get a guide but we had left it too late to for the money to clear the banks, however we did manage to get two free unguided tickets online but to be honest these were not needed as you could just turn up at the door after three and get in.
It was quite confusing finding the right place and that is how we found ourselves at Auschwitz - Birkenau rather than Auschwitz 1 , but it doesn't really matter which order you do them in if you are just wandering around by yourself.
As we were not totally sure if we were in the right place when we turned up at the car park, we nipped into the tourist information shop by the car park. I went up to the counter and said "Hello" to the young lady behind the desk. She didn't even lift her head, she picked up a pad of Post It notes and peeled one off, she then picked up a pair of scissors and proceeded to cut it in half. Not once did she acknowledge I was there. David, who had been locking up the car then appeared and spoke to her and she started to write the number 10 on the bit of paper and started to colour it in. Totally bizarre, and not very good in a tourist information place, we left her to it, went back into the car park where an attendant helped us.
A short walk from the car park took us to the entrance of Auscwhwitz -Birkenau and the ominous gate and railway line that you associate with the place. What stunned us the most about the place was the sheer scale of it, prison huts and the remains of prison huts could be seen stretching away into the distance.
This is one of the guard huts, one of the places where the selection process would take place on whether people should live or die.
These are the chimney stacks of wooden huts that used to house prisoners. Not all of the wooden huts have been destroyed some are still standing.
There were also some brick huts, some of which you could walk around. The picture below shows the beds which were basically wooden platforms which were shared with several others.
It was very eerie walking around the huts knowing the suffering that had happened there, some people had left flowers on the beds which was very poignant and showed that people still cared and remembered.
The sanitary conditions were very bad and basic, there was brown ceramic trough type sinks and we presume the picture below are toilets. This was in a hut for female prisoners.
One of the huts was for Polish women and children and it was used as school by them. Some of the original art work was still on the wall.
As we walked up to the back of the camp we could see all these ruined buildings, which basically looked like they had collapsed in on themselves. When we got closer we found out that they were actually the gas chambers which the a Germans had blown up with dynamite, to try and destroy evidence when they knew they were defeated.
This railway carriage is in the camp as a memorial to all the people who had been transported there by train.
There were rows and rows of these holes in one of the huts which again we presumed was toilets.
We were surprised at how low the actual fences were, but there was barbed wire on the fences and look out towers dotted around the camp. In this photo you can see the chimney stacks which were in the huts, going on as far as the eye can see.
This wooden hut was designed to hold 52 horses but was used to house 400 prisoners. One can only imagine how cramped the building was.
Walking around Auschwitz-Birkenau was very moving and the whole place had a subdued, desolate, oppressive atmosphere with both individuals and groups walking around in a respectful, quiet manner.
Next we went to Auschwitz 1. There was a huge queue outside waiting to get in which we joined but thankfully it soon went down. This part had a totally different feel to it and if you didn't know the history of the place you would be surprised to know what went on there.
Walking down the roads between the rather pleasant looking buildings with buddleha bushes and trees blowing in the breeze as the sun shone seemed surreal. Even the people walking around seemed more relaxed. In the buildings were exhibits and information on the different groups of people who had been persecuted by the Germans.
Within Auschwith 1, there was other evidence of the brutal techniques used by the Nazis such as the courtyard used for shooting prisoners and gallows where some prisoners were hung as an example to others . The first gas chamber is also there but it's use had been changed for storage when the new ones were built at Auschwitz Birkenau.
It was a very interesting day, it is the type of visit you do not particularly enjoy but feel you should do out of respect to all the people who died and suffered in the camps.
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