AUSCHWITZ CONCENTRATION CAMP

During the war, there were three main camps - Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II-Birkenau and Auschwitz III-Monowitz - and over 40 subcamps. Today, the two main camps form the memorial museum, established by the Polish government in 1947.

Auschwitz I. The oldest camp. It was here, in Block 11, that the Nazis tested Zyklon B, later used in the gas chambers. Preserved almost intact in the state in which the Nazis left it when they evacuated it, it contains the core of the exhibition, the former "blocks" that made up the camp. We recommend that you precede your visit with a screening of the documentary filmed by Red Army soldiers during the liberation of the camp in 1945. The visit proper begins with the gate surmounted by the famous inscription Arbeit macht frei (Work makes you free), the original of which was stolen at the end of 2009.

At the end of the aisle stands the block for medical sterilization experiments, and just beyond it the Death Block (no. 11). A camp prison, it was reserved for recalcitrant prisoners, who were subjected to torture. Block 21, allocated to France and Belgium, features an exhibition dedicated to the 76,000 French Jews. To the left of Block 1 is Auschwitz's only gas chamber, converted in 1943 into an anti-aircraft bunker.

Auschwitz II-Birkenau. This gigantic camp, largely destroyed by the Nazis before they fled, was a veritable death factory. As you arrive, you see the sinister façade of the guard building that marks the entrance to the camp. The building is crowned by a long tower, in the middle of which is the Gate of Death, where trains enter directly to the platform where the kapos selected the Jewish deportees. Climb to the top of the tower for an overview of the camp. Most of the barracks have been destroyed, but the chimneys, still standing tall, bear witness to their location. Some barracks can be visited.

Birkenau, an extermination camp, differs from Auschwitz in that here, prisoners were purely exterminated. At the far end of the camp are the ruins of the crematoria, where thousands of people were murdered every day. Nearby stands a monument: "May this place, where the Nazis murdered one and a half million men, women and children, mostly Jews from various European countries, forever be a cry of despair and a warning to mankind"