when we look around do we discover what lies beneath this peaceful façade. Established in 1940, Auschwitz I was primarily a concentration camp used to house the Polish political prisoners. It wasn’t used purely as a prison for long, as the war progressed so did the idea of eradicating the Jews from the planet. The firing squad had become too inefficient; a new method of killing was needed. In the medical block our group get to visit the gas chamber, it was here that the cyanide rat-poison gas Zyklon B was first tested on people to see if it could be could be used for mass exter-
to undress under false pretence that they would be showered. They were instructed to tie the laces of their shoes together so they wouldn’t go missing, when actually it just made them easier to sell on. Another room contained a massive array of false legs of all shapes and designs because, as minations. The local guide, Lucas points out, many of the Lucas Szatko, then led us past Jews sent to the camp had lost rooms full of belongings that limbs fighting for Germany were seized by the Nazis. For in World War I yet got sent me, this is when the realisation straight to the gas chamber up kicked in. on arrival because they were of no use at the work camps. A room containing 40,000 pairs A large collection of suitcases of shoes, the guide explained was particularly chilling. Each that those sent to straight to battered leather case had the the gas chamber where asked
Clockwise from top left: Empty cannisters of Zyklon B; A selection of artificial legs; A pile of abandoned spectacles; Thousands of shoes; Suitcases baring the names of their owners.
name, and dates-of-birth of its owner written upon them in white paint. Simple maths meant we could work out that some prisoners were only two yearsold when they arrived at the camp. But perhaps most shocking is the vast piles of human hair. Just a small amount of the seven tonnes that was discovered when the Russians liberated the camp in May 1945.
Alex Graham, a 17-year-old student in my group, described how it felt at the camp: “It was sort of unbelievable, on the scale that it was done and it was so inhumane. The way it was so meticulously planned, that’s probably the most disturbing thing. “I thought the hair was going to be the worst, but it was the suitcases with the names on. It gave them an identity.”
Auschwitz actually refers to a network of concentration and extermination camps consisting of Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II – Birkenau, Auschwitz III – Monowitz and 45 other satellite camps.
Although a visit to Auschwitz is revealing, the minute drive to Birkenau is a must because that’s the place one imagines when they conjure up images of a death camp. A dark, desolate place, silent, yet a place where As our tour around Auschwitz unthinkable suffering took I came to an end, our jourplace. ney was far from over. There are many misconceptions Birkenau got its name from the about Auschwitz; the main abundance of birch trees in the one is the scale. The term area, but as we