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Death Gate - Berkenau entrance from within the camp

Of all the places in the camp, this was the most moving place for both of us.  Standing at the end of the tracks at Berkenau and looking all the way back to the camp entrance 'Death Gate'.  This was the place where prisoners stepped off the train not knowing what was going on or what would happen to them.  Some were sentenced to immediate death, while a few others were sentenced to hard labor until they died.  It's just strange to look down the tracks and try to imagine what it must have been like.

Birkenau is this massive camp and a large number of killings took place here.   Birkenau is located approximately 3km away from Auschwitz I.

Arrival

Most Jews deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau were transported by rail, a method employed by the Nazis from 1941. The German Transport Ministry and German Railways assisted the Nazis by providing special trains to transport Jews. The journey to Auschwitz-Birkenau lasted anywhere between a few hours and ten days, with men, women and children crowded into cars without food or water, insufficient air and no toilet facilities. In most cases, a number of people in each car died during the journey.

Selection

Newly arrived prisoners were immediately divided into two lines: men on one side and women and children on the other. The SS doctors conducted selection, sending the most “fit” for forced labor, whereas the majority were selected for immediate execution. These selection were the first time that most of the Jewish families had been separated; although many Jewish families had managed to remain together in the ghettos, once they arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau, men and women were separated and family units ceased to exist. Moreover, selection often marked the last time that family members saw each other.

Holocaust survivor Alex Feuer also describes selektionen at Auschwitz-Birkenau:

“At the ripe old age of fifteen I arrived in Auschwitz, the infamous human extermination center. We were pushed like cattle into freight train cars. After a five-day, unbelievable hard journey we arrived in Auschwitz. As we were being removed from the train our first view was SS men with guns and guard dogs. The SS guards told us to leave the little belongings we had on the ground and line up. Little did we know at the time that we were about to be selected for life or for death. As I stood in line a stranger tapped me on the shoulders from behind and told me in Yiddish: ‘Little boy, stand on your feet. Stand on your toes when you come up to the German SS. Make yourself taller.’ I stretched and strained, somehow knowing that my life depended upon the stranger's advice. I was selected to work in a road gang while my parents and my younger brother were taken to the gas chambers.”

This page contains some pictures of a graphic nature.  We have included these pictures to show what took place at various locations throughout the camp.

Now that we have been to the camp, walked the ground, been inside the barracks and gas chambers, it really gives you a different perspective on what happened at the camp.  To have stood in the same place where so many were murdered at the hands of the Nazi's and reflect on the experience...

From the testimony of Rudolph Hoess, Commandant of Auschwitz

"On arrival at the "Cottage," they were told to undress. At first they went calmly into the rooms where they were supposed to be disinfected. But some of them showed signs of alarm, and spoke of death by suffocation and of annihilation. A sort of panic set in at once. Immediately all the Jews still outside were pushed into the chambers, and the doors were screwed shut. With subsequent transports the difficult individuals were picked out early on and most carefully supervised. At the first signs of unrest, those responsible were unobtrusively led behind the building and killed with a small-caliber gun that was inaudible to the others. "

Notice the roses on the tracks, and the flower bouquet.  The photo from the far end gives you an idea of just how large the camp is.

Dehumanization

According to Nazi ideology the Nordic Aryan Germans were the Master Race. Other races were inferior to them and the Jews were considered to be the “anti-race,” the exact opposite of the Germans, and an evil and destructive race. The Nazis went to great efforts to strip the personal identities of those Jews whom they did select for slave labor, a process known as “dehumanization.”
At Auschwitz-Birkenau, the so-called “sauna” was the first stage in the process of dehumanization. At the “sauna,” prisoners selected for forced labor were stripped of their clothes, showered, disinfected, shaved all over, and given an ill-fitting prisoner uniform and wooden clogs. Registration numbers were tattooed into their left arms.

Helena Citron, a Holocaust survivor, recalls her loss of identity in the “sauna” at Auschwitz-Birkenau:

“…So they rushed us there, to some building that was called the ‘sauna,’ meaning, the bathhouse. We stood there in line, for hours, in our clothing, with our long hair, with everything, and we clung to each other, we felt safer when we were together…and then we had to take our clothing off, and the SS were walking around in there, and we, young girls, had to walk around naked….they were yelling and screaming…and we were in shock…not even embarrassed, just in shock….we were turned, almost instantly, into animals, because we didn’t even recognize one another. It was as if we lost our humanity, and we lost our friends, because even my best friend stood next to me, and I didn’t recognize her…”

Daily Life at Auschwitz-Birkenau

About 1,200 prisoners lived in each barrack at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Due to the overcrowded conditions, prisoners often slept on bare floorboards, without sheets or blankets. It was almost impossible to maintain hygiene because of a lack of sanitary facilities, soap, towels, toothbrushes or toilet paper.

Mornings began with roll call (appell), during which the Nazis counted thousands of prisoners. Prisoners had to stand completely motionless and quiet for hours, even in extreme cold and heat, without proper clothing. Those who did not comply, or who stumbled and fell, were shot. 

Ruth Eliaz remembers:

“The daily routine would begin early in the morning…we would wake up and immediately go to the appell…We had to stand still as we were counted by the SS…we would have to wait until they counted all the sick ones and all those who were healthy...We had to stand with minimal clothing in the cold winter days when it was snowing and raining until they had a full count. This would often take place for hours.”

After the initial roll call, prisoners at Auschwitz-Birkenau received a half-liter of coffee or tea substance. Afterwards, they had to march to their places of work, and endure long hours of backbreaking labor. A workday was usually twelve hours long, with no rest. Anyone who rested, or even paused briefly, was often brutally punished. After work, prisoners returned to the camp and stood for block inspection and evening roll call.

At its height the camp held over 100,000 people. At its height the camp was also murdering 10,000 people a day. These barracks were adopted from the design of German field stables for cavalry horses. Rather than house some 50 horses it was meant to house over 700 people each.

A few days in advance of the Russian army arriving to Auschwitz the SS blew up their gas chambers and took all people that were able to walk on a march towards Germany. The remains of the blown up gas chambers still remain undisturbed.

The photo on the plaque was taken by the SS in 1943.

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