Auschwitz

For my birthday this year, I decided to do something different, and ended up going to Auschwitz - not your normal birthday do!
I originally was not that keen to go, due to my sensitive nature, but most people I spoke to said it was worth going.  It was not quite as harrowing as expected, although there certainly were some upsetting moments, but I shall not go into too much info of the gruesome details about the punishment and suffering everyone experienced.

If any prisoners ever escaped, they would have a roll call in the square here, sometimes lasting up to 19 hours with the prisoners standing in the cold, during which many would die from the exhaustion. Also, for every prisoner that escaped, 10 would be killed, which was a nasty way of keeping prisoners from not wanting to escape.

 The original gas chamber in which the nazis tested out how to kill people before building large scale ones.


The ovens to cremate the bodies in the gas chamber

 The gas cannisters that would be dropped through holes in the roof of the gas chambers.

 All the prisoners belongings were confiscated and are on display in huge piles, which is pretty weird to see.

 45 000 shoes

 This sight was incredibly disturbing - 2 tons of human hair, shaved off the dead bodies, and still preserved in a massive pile! The Nazis used to use the hair to weave in to the material used to make nazi uniforms.

 This was alos pretty upsetting, seeing all the pictures of the prisoners lined up on the walls.

 After Auschwitz we went to Birkenau, which is still part of the Auschwitz complex. Prisoners were brought in on this train, and old people and children and mothers sent straight off to be gassed, while the rest lived a tough life of hard labour and suffering.

Inside the sleeping quarters.

 The remains of the main gas chambers, which the nazis destroyed when Auschwitz was being liberated. The gas chambers were situated in an area which the nazis made deliberately pretty with nice trees and plants around, so most of the prisoners never knew they were going off to be gassed, but just to have a shower. Even as they were undressing, they were told to remember what peg number their clothes were on, so they could get them after the shower. Then up to 1500 people were packed into the chambers for gassing.
The Nazis used the ashes of the dead bodies to make soap from.