Auschwitz is the most famous concentration camp of the Second World War, located in the south of Poland 60 km west of Krakow .The exact number of victims of this death camp is unknown until now, but it is reliably established that the prisoners who did not wait for freedom were at least one million people, most of whom were Jews, as well as Polish and Soviet prisoners of war..Today on the territory of the former camp there is a museum complex dedicated to the memory of its prisoners .Every year it is visited by more than a million people from around the world..In 2010, a kind of record was set - 1, 38 million visitors .Many of them come here to honor the memory of their ancestors, but many also those whose family history with this terrible place is in no way connected .The main task of the museum is to serve as a constant reminder to mankind of this shameful page in its history..
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How to get to Auschwitz
First of all, we need to get to Krakow, nearest to Auschwitz, the large city of Poland. There are several options from there, how to get to the memorial:
- You can buy an organized tour, a minibus will pick you up from the hotel and bring it back, but in this case you will be limited in time to study the memorial.
- By car or taxi on the highway E40, the distance is about 70 km, the journey time is about an hour. Onsite parking is free of charge.
- By train to the station Oświęcim: departs from the main station Kraków Główny, the schedule can be viewed here. This type of train, Osobowe, comes with all stops, so the journey will take more than an hour and a half, besides the station in Auschwitz, the museum will have to walk for about half an hour or use public transport (buses 24, 25, 28, 29).
- By bus: from there (the main station is called Dworzec Główny in another way) about once a half an hour there are buses and minibuses to Auschwitz, the road also takes an hour and a half.
From Auschwitz 1 to Auschwitz 2 (Birkenau) there are free buses. The schedule of their movement, as well as the schedule of return buses from Auschwitz 1 to Krakow, it is better to see immediately upon arrival. Return to Krakow is easier from Auschwitz 1, keep this in mind when planning your visit. It is worth noting that you will need at least three to four hours to inspect the entire museum.
Search for air tickets to Krakow (nearest a / p to Auschwitz)
Entrance fees and excursions
Entrance to the territory is free, the fee is only charged for participation in a group excursion, from May 1 to October 31, a visit without an excursion is impossible .Excursions are conducted in six languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Polish and Italian .On request, a tour is also possible in Russian .Each visitor is given headphones, in which he hears the guide's story .Thus, the silence so necessary in a similar place is saved .Opening hours and cost of excursions can be specified on the official site of the museum, information is available in English .
- How to visit Auschwitz
- How to book an excursion to Auschwitz in Russian
- Can I visit Auschwitz on my own
The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum: history and modern times
In August 1940, on the site of the former military barracks near the city of Auschwitz, construction of the grand concentration camp Auschwitz 1 began, even earlier the city was renamed by the Germans in Auschwitz. The first prisoners were Polish prisoners of war, their forces and erected camp buildings.
Today's visitors enter the territory in the same way as those who did not come here for good some tens of years ago - through the gate with the inscription "Arbeit macht Frei" .That's just from this hell, work, alas, no one freed $ ±.Two-story brick buildings neatly lined up along the wide streets; at first you even forget about what they were intended for .They did not suspect what was awaiting them, and the prisoners, they expected that they were in labor correctional camps .But if you just go into the first building through the creaky doors, how all the horrors of the war years appear before your eyes .In some blocks, the situation of that time is preserved: here is a "medical" room in which prisoners were killed, injecting phenol into the heart, a lavatory that also served as a mortuary .Along the long corridor, large rooms, strewn with straw mattresses, were crammed into them and prisoners were asleep .
In other blocks museum expositions with photos, lists of the dead, historical information, drawings and farewell letters of prisoners are organized. In one of those in the depths of the corridor, the sound of the incoming train and the buzz of the crowd unloading from it are heard, and on the walls there are faceless shadows alternating so that one involuntarily looks around in search of those people that were here sometime.
Between the tenth and eleventh blocks restored part of the wall of death, which from 1941 to 1943 shot several thousand prisoners .Now here in any weather candles are burning ... In the cellars of blocks you can see cameras of prisoners with tiny windows, or even without them, where people often went crazy and died from lack of oxygen .An eerie sight is the personal belongings of the people who came here since the Nazis: glasses, mugs, toothbrushes, shoes .Each room tells a sad story, but the most painful impression is the placement of a gas chamber with holes in the ceiling, through which Cyclone B gas was supplied into the room, and a crematorium with a dim lantern above the entrance and black walls from soot .
March 16, 1942 opened Auschwitz 2 or Brzezinka (the so-called nearby village), the German name Birkenau, built by the hands of Soviet prisoners of war .Speaking of Auschwitz, it is precisely this: the camp, created for mass extermination of Jews and occupying an area much larger than Auschwitz .Here trains with prisoners arrived on a special branch, brought directly to the gate .Terms of detention differed from Auschwitz 1 for the worse .Prisoners were kept in three hundred wooden barracks intended for horses..In a room designed for 52 horses, more than four hundred prisoners were packed .There were 4 gas chambers and 4 crematories blown up by the Nazis before the arrival of the Red Army .
Auschwitz 3 is a group of 40 small labor camps set up around a common complex in factories and mines. Excursions on them are not held.
When visiting the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum, it should be remembered that the entire territory is in fact a mass grave site, so it is necessary to show respect, honor the memory of the victims of the Nazi regime and behave as tactfully as possible so as not to hurt the feelings of other visitors who may have been linked to the dead here related bonds.
Author - Gulshat Zakirova Photos of Auschwitz (12)