Auschwitz

If you come to Krakow then visiting Auschwitz would be pretty much mandatory. About 60 km west of Krakow is the town of Oswiecim which is home to the death camps of Auschwitz 1 and Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Auschwitz 1 houses the main museum and interpretation centers and is built on a relatively small scale. A gridiron layout of un-assuming three storey brick buildings with metalled paths between. The buildings have the feel of a small factory complex or industrial estate.

This belies the fact the it was here that Josef Mengle carried out his 'experiments' on women and children. The techniques for mass extermination were developed here with small 'test' gas chambers and a crematorium.

I got there early so that I could walk around without being in a tour party. The sheer number of visitors means that it is a busy bustling place which probably takes away from the intention which is to be a silent memorial and a place for prayer and contemplation.

There were several large groups of Israeli army and police cadets in full ceremonial uniform photographing and filming every last detail. It would appear that visiting Krakow and Auschwitz are part of one's national service duties.

Out of all the exhibits here the most arresting are the piles of personal effects. A pile of glasses, a room full to the ceiling of shoes, a room full of enamel plates and bowls and a room full of women's hair.

Auschwitz-Birkenau is a 2km walk away and is where the full scale of the industrial process of maiming, torture and death was brought to bear. To give an idea of scale, from the ruins of the gas chambers and crematoriums to the main gate house was an 11 minute walk. Barrack houses were located to either side of the railway yard and these stretched for about 1.5km in either direction. 200,000 people could be housed here at anyone time and 1,300,000 people were brought here and for 1,100,000 it was a one way journey.