Auschwitz and Birkenau Mar 2006

A group of about 40 of us Paddies went on a trip to Auschwitz I in March and this is me at the 'Arbeit Macht Frei' Iron gateway into the main labour camp area. During the time of occupation the SS had devilishly arranged so that new persons to become interred would enter the camp under this Pseudo promise while listening to music being played by an orchestra made up by prisoners already in place.

Perverted or what?

















I can imagine the presence of SS guards and the last glimpse of a life that once was as persons entered through this gate on their last journey...
















The way it was during the occupation. 39-45.

















Block 11 where the Gestapo had their summary court and through the archway shown is also the grey wall where 'prisoners' were arbitrarily executed.

















There was no way to escape as there were multilayer electric barbed wire installations in place along with a multitude of watch towers.


































Though there were a few successful attempts, (not many), a lot of the interred persons ended up at the Gas Chamber and Crematorium.

















After the war the camp commandatnt Hoess was tried at Nuremburg and after being found guilty was returned to Auschwitz so that the sentence could be carried out.

















Birkenau, otherwise called Auschwitz II because of its annexation, was 30 times as large as the main camp and had a perimeter fence of over 12 miles long.. This camp was to provide no other purpose than exterminate those who were interred there. Some prisoners did manage to survive for lengthy periods by virtue of being useful to the mechanism that was in place.

















Equally stringent methods of constraint were employed here at Birkenau.

















The hut where many 'Selection' processes took place by Dr. Josef Mengele and other SS Doctors.

















Sometimes, if it was not necessary to make a 'Selection', whole trainloads of prisoners were sent to meet their maker via the Specially constructed Gas Chambers and Crematoria.

















The remains of one such installation. The SS attempted to cover up their wrongdoings by decimation of the installations but enough records and witness accounts were still present after the war to piece a somwhat complete picture together. The underground resistance did manage to cause a revolt and destruction of one crematorium in October of 1944 but they were unable to bring the whole premises to a stop before their attempts were curtailed by the SS. Some escaped to the woods nearby but most were tracked down and killed.