Auschwitz isn’t Auschwitz. ...
Auschwitz wasn’t Auschwitz ...
The place is, and was, Oswiecim. The horror that occurred there was Auschwitz.
Oswiecim is a small Polish town with a history going back to 1117. Less than 200km from Berlin, only 60km from Krakau and only 120km (that's 2 hours by cattle/Jewish car transport) from Zilina, Oswiecim had a population of approximately 8000 Jews pre-war.
Oswiecim is a small Polish town with a history going back to 1117. Less than 200km from Berlin, only 60km from Krakau and only 120km (that's 2 hours by cattle/Jewish car transport) from Zilina, Oswiecim had a population of approximately 8000 Jews pre-war.
Oswiecim - not Auschwitz as the guides and locals constantly remind us - is now the centre of several initiatives promoting peace, harmony and non-violence among people regardless of age, colour, culture or religion in protest of its bone-chilling history of crime and murder.
During those man-made hell years, the Auschwitz complex was a complex comprised of three main camps:
The Auschwitz complex was an extermination camp, labour camp, transit and concentration camp all rolled into one.
Auschwitz I, the main camp, was a Class I concentration camp which was opened in June 1940 in the barracks of a former Polish Army garrison.
Most people think of Auschwitz as the most terrible concentration camp but the camp at Birkenau was even more horrific.
Most people think of Auschwitz as the most terrible concentration camp but the camp at Birkenau was even more horrific.
During those man-made hell years, the Auschwitz complex was a complex comprised of three main camps:
- Auschwitz or Auschwitz I
- Birkenau or Auschwitz II
- Monowitz or Auschwitz III
- and their more than 40 sub-camps.
The Auschwitz complex was an extermination camp, labour camp, transit and concentration camp all rolled into one.
Auschwitz I, the main camp, was a Class I concentration camp which was opened in June 1940 in the barracks of a former Polish Army garrison.
Most people think of Auschwitz as the most terrible concentration camp but the camp at Birkenau was even more horrific.
Most people think of Auschwitz as the most terrible concentration camp but the camp at Birkenau was even more horrific.
Upon arrival by cattle car train, the prisoners were processed and selected.
75% were marched through this gate and down this road to the gas chambers for immediate extermination.
The other 'lucky' 25% were used as slave laborers at Auschwitz.
Auschwitz II, Birkenau, killed over a million prisoners - mainly Jews - mostly but certainly not exclusively in gas chambers.
Birkenau, Auschwitz II, was what the Germans renamed the Polish town Brzezinka after the many birch trees growing in the area. Birkenau, today, is the world's largest Jewish graveyard where the ashes of those who were not used as fertiliser were scattered over the fields, thrown into the rivers, or dumped into several small ponds 67 years ago.
Auschwitz III, Monowitz or Monowice as the Poles had known it as, was a work camp where prisoners worked in the factories of the I G Farben company along side civilian workers who were not prisoners.
Monowitz is no longer in existence although the Buna Werke factories, previously owned by I G Farben, were taken over by the Poles and are still in operation today.
It was at Monowitz that famous Auschwitz survivors Primo Levi and Elie Wiesel once 'lived' and worked. Both Levi and Wiesel wrote extensively about their Auschwitz experiences but, for years after the war, no one was interested.
In fact, when Primo Levi took his first manuscript, Se questo è un uomo (If This Is a Man), to an Italian publisher in 1946, it was completely rejected. At that time, Auschwitz was not the focus of the Nazi Crimes against Humanity, but rather Dachau and Buchenwald were.
* * * * *
I had 'needed' to visit Auschwitz - as a pilgrimage if you like - to visit that huge cemetery devoid of graves and headstones but over-saturated with the souls of so many innocents who were either murdered outright or starved or worked to death.
I needed to pay my respects to my family members who perished there, to pay my respects to those who were family members of people I both know and don't know, and to pay my respects to those who left no family.
It was several days after my visit that Mum told me the following story:
75% were marched through this gate and down this road to the gas chambers for immediate extermination.
The other 'lucky' 25% were used as slave laborers at Auschwitz.
Auschwitz II, Birkenau, killed over a million prisoners - mainly Jews - mostly but certainly not exclusively in gas chambers.
Birkenau, Auschwitz II, was what the Germans renamed the Polish town Brzezinka after the many birch trees growing in the area. Birkenau, today, is the world's largest Jewish graveyard where the ashes of those who were not used as fertiliser were scattered over the fields, thrown into the rivers, or dumped into several small ponds 67 years ago.
Auschwitz III, Monowitz or Monowice as the Poles had known it as, was a work camp where prisoners worked in the factories of the I G Farben company along side civilian workers who were not prisoners.
Monowitz is no longer in existence although the Buna Werke factories, previously owned by I G Farben, were taken over by the Poles and are still in operation today.
It was at Monowitz that famous Auschwitz survivors Primo Levi and Elie Wiesel once 'lived' and worked. Both Levi and Wiesel wrote extensively about their Auschwitz experiences but, for years after the war, no one was interested.
In fact, when Primo Levi took his first manuscript, Se questo è un uomo (If This Is a Man), to an Italian publisher in 1946, it was completely rejected. At that time, Auschwitz was not the focus of the Nazi Crimes against Humanity, but rather Dachau and Buchenwald were.
* * * * *
I had 'needed' to visit Auschwitz - as a pilgrimage if you like - to visit that huge cemetery devoid of graves and headstones but over-saturated with the souls of so many innocents who were either murdered outright or starved or worked to death.
I needed to pay my respects to my family members who perished there, to pay my respects to those who were family members of people I both know and don't know, and to pay my respects to those who left no family.
It was several days after my visit that Mum told me the following story:
It's 1949 and my Mum is preparing to make aliyah with my grandparents and my Uncle Peter from Zilina.
The antisemitism hadn't really abated and my family had romantic ideas of helping build the new State of Israel.
Just before leaving Zilina though, my Grandfather, Armin Windholz, made a solo pilgrimage to Auschwitz with exactly the same purpose in mind as I had.
But there were no tour groups then... and who cared about Auschwitz then anyway?
Afterall, Dachau and Buchenwald counted back then...
The following series of videos are really worth watching:
view Oprah’s tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau with Elie Wiesel - part 1
view Oprah’s tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau with Elie Wiesel - part 2
view Oprah’s tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau with Elie Wiesel - part 3
view Oprah’s tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau with Elie Wiesel - part 4
view Oprah’s tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau with Elie Wiesel - part 5
view Oprah’s tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau with Elie Wiesel - part 6
view The Auschwitz Album from Yad Vashem
view Oprah’s tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau with Elie Wiesel - part 1
view Oprah’s tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau with Elie Wiesel - part 2
view Oprah’s tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau with Elie Wiesel - part 3
view Oprah’s tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau with Elie Wiesel - part 4
view Oprah’s tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau with Elie Wiesel - part 5
view Oprah’s tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau with Elie Wiesel - part 6
view The Auschwitz Album from Yad Vashem