Our first glimpse of the main gate of Birkenau as we walked up the road.
This is what the main gate looked like once we were inside. Notice the railroad tracks running right through the building. This is where prisoners transported in cattle cars first arrived at Birkenau.
Railroad tracks inside the main gate. Prisoners were unloaded on a platform you can see in the distance.
Barracks where women prisoners were housed behind electrified barbed wire fencing.
Guard towers lined up between the railroad tracks inside the camp and the electrified barbed wire fencing.
Another guard tower located outside the camp.
Entrance to one of the barracks.
Inside the barracks. The long stone bench running down the middle is hollow and connected on both ends to wood burning stoves which were used to provide heat. Prisoners would sit side by side on the bench to keep warm.
The inside of the building where prisoners used the toilet. No privacy at all.
Just a 5 minute drive from Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II-Birkenau was the largest of the camps that made up the Auschwitz complex. Ninety percent of the victims of Auschwitz died at Birkenau. It operated for three years, with construction begun in 1941.
This concludes my series of photos on my visit to Auschwitz. I have tried to be sensitive in my choice of photos. For now, I'm afraid I need to put my blog on a break while I prepare to weather Hurricane Irma, which is currently bearing down on the state of Florida. Hopefully it won't be too bad by the time it makes its way to me, but hurricanes are extremely unpredictable, which is why they are so scary!
18 comments:
It makes me wonder how anyone can deny this ever happened. Thanks for showing these!
I will not say I enjoyed these posts because they make me sad, I am glad you posted them. we all need to see this and to know it could happen again if we are not careful. I am with you on the tv watching. I am allowing myself to look at the tracking of Irma every couple of hours, but I stopped watching the parts with videos of damage because they are freaking me out. I even checked to see if I could lift my leg high enough to climb out a window and get in a boat. prayers for your safety to
These pics have been very sobering, Lois.
Stay safe. I hope Irma quiets down a lot before she hits Fla.
And yet there are still those who deny this happened.
Stay safe in the storm, Lois.
And all of this was done by mostly "normal" people following orders. Many, if not most, would claim membership in either the Roman Catholic or Lutheran Church. How could that have happened? Well, we see a similar movement today when so-called "evangelicals" approve of people and actions which are despicable and which their "Lord" would have castigated in no uncertain terms.
Thanks so much for sharing these photos. Personally, I think you could show all the photos you took, no matter how gross. The world needs to know and needs to never, ever forget. Especially these days when those on the far right are again preaching anti-Semitism and throwing the same charges against the Jews that have been used down through the years.
Re Irma, are you far enough away and high enough to avoid serious trouble? I think we'll get some 70 mph winds on Sunday and Monday but we should be able to handle that - of course some trees and power lines will go down, but I don't anticipate any total disasters.
Best to you! Irma's bad news so stay clear if you can!
Please keep us posted on Irma's progress through your area. I'm afraid my relatives will be out of communication entirely for probably many days if not weeks.
Glad you decided to show some of your photos of Auschwitz, unfortunately there are people who need to be reminded of all this horror. It gives me chills seeing them but I'm glad I did. Thanks Lois and please stay safe while Irma makes her visit.
...a sad period in history that may repeat itself.
You have captured the ambience beautifully!
Hello, it was a sad time in history. The photos are sobering!
I hope you are safe there in Florida, prayers for you and all of Florida.
Happy Sunday, enjoy your day and new week ahead!
Important photos. You did a good job documenting this horrible part of our history.
Ditto what Steffe said. Will be keeping fingers crossed that all goes well over the next few days Lois. Hope you're back on line soon ✨
Hi Lois...as I write this, things sound rather dicey outside...lots of wind and rain and the wind would seem to be stronger than what the Weather Channel would like it to be. That's probably just the gusting, though. Our highest winds tonight are supposed to be about 60 mph, which isn't too bad except that I hate any wind at all!
How are you holding up? Is your forecast OK? At least neither of us need worry about storm surges!
We'll be thinking of you. Take care and be safe. We'll be back to normal in just a few hours!
Mais um belo documento histórico.
Um abraço e boa semana.
Andarilhar
Dedais de Francisco e Idalisa
O prazer dos livros
it must have been so surreal to see this in person lois...it's hard to just look at pictures...so much pain and suffering happened here... :(
Glad to hear you're OK. We made it through fine except we lost power for about 24 hours. I drove around yesterday afternoon and saw some trees and signs down and lots of debris and about six accident in 15 miles as the stop lights were out and people were flying through the intersections. Aargh! It's much nicer here today.
I hope you are doing okay after the big storm!!
Hello Lois,
I think your Auschwitz series has been very good. I appreciated seeing your photographs and how you have sensitively shown and described them.
Our youngest son visited a few years back and talked about his visit with us.
I do hope you are doing all right after the storm. Thinking of you, and all others who have been affected by the terrible weather conditions.
All the best Jan
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