Oswiecim - Auschwitz-Bierkenau - July 16, 2010

Memorial to Victims of Auschwitz

Arbeit Macht Frei - Work Makes You Free
sign at entrance to Auschwitz

Candle Memorial to Victims

Interior of Barracks

Ribbon with Israeli flag color
placed on train tracks at Auschwitz

Chilling view of tracks leading to Auschwitz

Auschwitz-Birkenau was the killing center where the largest numbers of European Jews were killed during the Holocaust. By mid 1942, mass gassing of Jews using Zyklon-B began at Auschwitz, where extermination was conducted on an industrial scale. Some estimates run as high as three million people kiled through gassing, starvation, disease, shooting, and burning. 9 out of 10 were Jews. In addition, gypsies, Soviet POW's, and prisoners of all nationalities died in the gas chambers. The largest single mass deportation during the Holocaust occurred between May 14 and July 8, 1944 where 437,402 Hungarian Jews were deported to Auschwitz in 148 trains.
The facility was established by order of Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler on 27 April 1940. Private diaries of Goebbels and Himmler reveal that Adolf Hitler personally ordered the mass extermination of the Jews.children were often killed upon arrival. Children born in the camp were generally killed on the spot.
So called camp doctors, especially the notorious Josef Mengele, would torture and inflict incredible suffering on inmates.
The horrors of Auschwitz-Birkenau have been recounted widely. Books, manuscripts, films etc. have established the extraordinary evil committed by human beings.
Our trip to Auschwitz was emotionally difficult and trying. Every step that I took, every tree that I saw, every blade of grass could not remove the images of death and horror that Auschwitz conveyed. Throngs of people were witnessing Auschwitz the same day that our group was there. Schoolchildren, the frail and elderly, people of all nationalities and races were here to witness the gravesite and memorial to the millions killed.
So much has been written about Auschwitz. There is no need to write more. The memories that I have of being in this place will be with me forever.