Jump to content

Auschwitz


ropo54

Recommended Posts

Four prisoners to a bunk section. Poor heating and 300 calories per day. Hard labor. Inadequate clothing. Sadistic conditions. Many did not live for more than a few months before succumbing.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

  • Like 19
Link to post
Share on other sites

The horror of it all must be palpable while there Rob, it is somewhere that has been in the back of my mind to visit for a very long time, just never sure I am up to it.  Thank you for sharing yours.

Edited by Boojay
  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

Infamous "Block 10" at Auschwitz 1, where Joseph Mengele and other Nazi doctors performed their sadistic experimentation on Camp inmates. Mengele fled after WWII and was never brought to justice.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

  • Like 16
  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

The horror of it all must be palpable while there Rob, it is somewhere that has been in the back of my mind to visit for a very long time, just never sure I am up to it.  Thank you for sharing yours.

 

Thanks for your post Boojay.

The visit compels one to contemplate man's capacity for evil and sadism, and how "it" could have happened; how a modern, Westernized, educated nation could have been coopted into massive murder.  Our guide pointed out that many of the Nazi actors were just ordinary citizens from all strata of German society.  No doubt, there were many righteous people who were repulsed by the Nazis, but far too many supporters involved in the efforts were the citizenry.  

 

Nor do the U.S. or U.K deserve a pass, as both Roosevelt and Churchill refused requests to at bomb the railway lines so as to hamper and hinder the Nazis efforts to exterminate the Jews.

 

Many thoughts, many thoughts.

 

Rob

Edited by ropo54
  • Like 9
Link to post
Share on other sites

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I am very, very sad when I see photos from these horrible locations. And I remember an old latin sentence, which was always valid and is still valid: Homo est lupus homini.

Nearby Linz there existed and exist 2 similiar horrible locations - not as big as Ausschwitz, but even there many, many people have been tortured and murdered. . One of them is Mauthausen, the other is Hartheim. The first one was a Nazi KZ, the second one a location, where mainly mentally handicapped children and grown up people have been killed.Today both are memorial places.Let us hope that times like these never may come back.

Edited by HeinzX
  • Like 6
Link to post
Share on other sites

I visited Dachau - now a suburb of Munich - many years ago and recall a quote along the lines of "those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it"

I've not been to Auschwitz but "want" to so I can never forget (and Dachau was hard enough)

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

Heinz and James,

Thank you for your thoughts. To never forget is so important. To try to understand is compelling.

Rob

 

The day that I visited, the setting in Auschwitz 1 was like a lovely park, with beautifully manicured trees, perfectly assembled buildings in a row. The sun eventually peeked through the day and I thought: what a contrast to the reality what had happened here some 70+ years ago.

 

 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Edited by ropo54
  • Like 17
  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

To prevent a sudden panic, a Jewish orchestra was compelled to perform music in this spot as new camp arrivals entered, not knowing the fate that was to befall them.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Edited by ropo54
  • Like 16
  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Here's the wall against which one might be placed before a bullet was placed into one's head.  

 

To the left (bottom photo) are 2 posts, where a person might be hung up with one's torso bound, until one's shoulders dislocated.  And, then, not being able to work got one sent to the gas chamber.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Edited by ropo54
  • Like 15
Link to post
Share on other sites

The barbed wire was electrified with 10,000 volts. Many chose to end their further suffering by throwing themselves against the fence.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Edited by ropo54
  • Like 17
  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

For all camp inmates to see people would be hanged in this more public location. A noose around the neck and a chair under their feet.

 

Those to be executed might be left with their hands bound and the noose in place for hours on end, before the chair was kicked away.

 

Some chose their immediate end by simply kicking their own chair away.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Edited by ropo54
  • Like 12
Link to post
Share on other sites

The latrines in Auschwitz-Birkenau.  Sanitized and nice and clean in the photo, yet, there remains a stench in the air.  It is difficult to imagine the conditions which existed, when one considers that users were sick with diarrhea, and other maladies bringing them close to death. 

 

Prisoners were required to shovel out the excrement under the "bowls", which were nothing more than one hole after another in the concrete base.

 

Plumbing was initially quite poor, until some Nazis died from typhus.

 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

  • Like 14
  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Arriving Jews were stripped of their belongings. Hair was cut off and re-used to make rope and other items. After death, gold was removed from their teeth. Possessions were shipped to a central Nazi depot for re-use. The inmates possessions was scavenged through and through by the Nazis.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Edited by ropo54
  • Like 11
  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Auschwitz 1. Inside looking out. 

 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

  • Like 12
  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Wall display . . . Hungarian Jews arriving at Auschwitz

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

  • Like 10
Link to post
Share on other sites

Arriving Jews soon met their fate. Zyklon B in the gas chamber. Asphyxiation within 20 minutes when pellets were dropped into chimneys in what was designed to look like showers.

 

They were told to strip naked outside before going to shower after their long train rides.

 

Zyklon B was a rat poison and it was determined that this would be the cheapest and most efficient method for extermination.  Auschwitz-Birkenau II was masterminded to become the largest and most efficient method for extermination and to effect the "final solution" for the Jews.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Edited by ropo54
  • Like 11
  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Mothers and children were usually sent to death upon arrival by a Nazi who pointed one to the right or left, to work or the gas chamber.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

  • Like 11
Link to post
Share on other sites

Auschwitz-Birkenau II . . . the vastness

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

  • Like 12
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...