Auschwitz and Birkenau museum

The second world war concentration camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau are a short day trip from Krakow. These days Auschwitz functions as a museum detailing the history of the camps. There are some harrowing displays which connect with people at a individual level conveying both the scale and family impact of the atrocities. Birkenau is 3kms away and lies virtually untouched but mostly in ruins.
:: Shoes plundered from victims ::

For a couple of kilometers around all that can be seen are brick chimney stacks of hundreds of old wooden barracks. Originally the primitive barracks were designed to stable 52 horses, up to 400 people were housed in overcrowded three tier bunks and enduring freezing temperatures in the winter. You can only but imagine the hopelessness of it all. The sheer industrial level of processing people through the camp is very evident. Only 25% of people who arrived to Auschwitz and Birkenau survived the selection process and lived in the camps.

:: Two to a bunk ::

We spent 5 hours in Auschwitz and Birkenau and still felt constricted by time. Birkenau is vast so there is an incredible amount of distance to cover. Auschwitz has hundreds of displays to get around so if anyone is going there make sure to give yourself plenty of time. :: Work will make you free ::

As usual the day involved some kind of bureaucracy and fist shaking. The bus station had a tourist special sign up in English offering a return ticket for Auschwitz, the deal was 20 pln return. After a bit of digging I found out a single trip each way was 7pln ... the mind boggles! Our bus back to Krakow turned out to be a far cry from the luxury coach out. Our local bus stopped at every one horse town and we made a unscheduled stop en route when the passengers from the hour before bus flagged us down after they had encountered mechanical difficulties. It all made for a sardine like experience back to Krakow.




:: To give you an idea of the unbelievable scale, enlarge this picture and you can see the guard tower entrance from above in the distance ::