The Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp

It was very difficult to visit the infamous site of Auschwitz, and it is almost as hard to write about it. From the moment we stepped off the bus, we were surrounded by people from all over the world who had come to see the site.

The first thing that we saw were the gates, which I had seen a thousand times in photographs. It was almost a surreal experience to finally see them with my own eyes, though the sunny day and hundreds of tourists made the scene feel weird. We passed through the gates and entered Auschwitz.

The camp didn't feel like the a death camp, but our guide reminded us that the base was originally a polish barracks that was repurposed by the Nazis. Most of those who died didn't make it within the gates; they were sent to directly from the train to the gas chambers.

Most of the buildings that we entered were not preserved, instead reoutfitted with exhibits on the horrors that took place inside the camps. One exhibit that was particularly heartwrenching was the piles of hair and personal possessions taken from those killed in the gas chambers. An entire room held the hair, another only bags left at the train station, and another just shoes.

One building with its interior intact was the special "jail within a jail" where those who broke rules or were being otherwise punished were held. There were standing cells, used to punish prisoners by forcing them to stand all night -- they then had to go to work like everyone else the next day. Another type of punishment cell had no windows, and prisoners sometimes suffocated. There were also death cells, where prisoners were starved to death. These prisoners condemned to death were often chosen at random following an escape or other crime.

We also visited Auschwitz II, Birkenau. This camp primarily held women and children, though by the end of the war some women were held in Aushwitz due to overflow. Most of Birkenau was destroyed and not rebuilt after the war. A few buildings remained, and we went inside two of them.

The first was a holding area for the sick or unable to work. This building contained triple level bunk beds, where often more than 20 would have to fit on. The healthiest and strongest were able to sleep on the top layers, above the water and rats -- others were not so lucky. When the holding area was overfull, prisoners had to sleep in the muddy yard regardless of weather. All of the women held here were killed in gas chambers.

The second building we entered was a bathroom, with a trough in the middle and all the original tubs no longer present. Women were only allowed to use the restroom a few times a day, though many suffered from diarrhea from the camp conditions. A survivor describes that the yard area directly outside the bathroom was full of several feet of mud and fecal matter since many couldn't wait in line to use the bathroom.

I felt lucky walking out of the camp to be able to walk away, when so many died right where I stood. The amount of death and suffering that took place on this site is truly hard to comprehend. Even after walls of photos, piles of human hair, and walking through the gas chambers I have trouble wrapping my mind around it.