A visual reflection of Auschwitz-Birkenau in the words of Elie Wiesel

Night

Oswiecim is the Polish name for Auschwitz.

“But we had reached a station. Those who were next to the windows told us the name: ‘Auschwitz’.”

Entering Auschwitz Birkenau’s front transport gate.

“We had arrived – At Birkenau, reception center for Auschwitz.

Unloading area

“We looked at the flames in the darkness. There was an abominable odor floating in the air. Suddenly, our doors opened.

Some odd-looking characters dressed in striped shirts and black trousers leapt into the wagon.

They held electric truncheons. They began to strike out to the left and right shouting: ‘Everybody get out. Everyone out of the wagon. Quickly’!”

“Form fives!”. We did not know which was the better side, right or left…”

“Father”, I said," if that is so, I don’t want to be here. I'm going to run to the electric wire. That would be better than slow agony in the flames.”

“The barracks we had been made to go into was very long…The antechamber of Hell must look like this. So many crazed men, so many cries, so much bestial brutality!”

Glasses confiscated during arrival.

“Strip! Fast! Los! Keep only your belts and shoes in your hands….. We had to throw our clothes at one end of the barracks. There was a great heap there.

…For us this was true equality: nakedness. Shivering with the cold.

….Toward five o’clock in the morning we were driven out of the barracks.

The Kapos beat us once more, but I ceased to feel any pain from their blows. An icy wind enveloped us. We were naked, our shoes and belts in our hands.

The command:' Run!’ And we ran. After a few minutes of racing, a new barracks…. Disinfection.

More running… Another barracks… Mountains of prison clothes. As we passed, trousers, shirt, and socks were thrown at us.”

Horse stalls converted to barracks, Birkenau

Latrines, Birkenau

“My father was suddenly sized with colic. He got up and went toward the gypsy, asking politely in German: ‘Excuse me, can you tell me where the lavatories are?’

The gypsy looked up and down slowly, from head to foot. As if he wanted to convince himself that this man addressing him was really a creature of flesh and bone, a living being with a body and belly.

Then, as if he had suddenly woken up from a heavy doze, he dealt my father clout that he fell to the ground, crawling back to his place on all fours.”

“We were made to go to a new barracks, in the ‘gypsies camp. In ranks of five. ‘And now stay where you are!’ There was no floor. A roof and four wall. Our feet sank into mud. …

I went to sleep standing up. … Suddenly the silence grew oppressive. An SS officer had come in, the odor of the Angel of Death. We stared fixedly at his fleshy lips.

From the middle of the barracks, he harangued us: ’ Your in a concentration camp. At Auschwitz…And Auschwitx is not a convalescent home. It is a concentration camp. Here you have to work. If not, you will got straight to the furnace. To the crematory. Work or the crematory—the choice is in your hands.’

We had already lived through so much that night, we thought nothing could frighten us any more. But his words made us tremble.”

Crematorium I , Birkenou

“Those who were selected that day were enlisted in the Sonder-Kommando, the unit which worked in the crematories.

Bela Katz-the son of a big tradesman from our town-had arrived at Birkenau with the first transport, a week before us.

When he heard of our arrival, he managed to get word to us that, having been chosen for his strength, he had himself put his father’s body into the crematory oven.”

Kapo’s manage the crematorium.

“On we went between the electric wires. At each step, a white placard with a death’s head on it stared us in the face. A caption:’ Warning. Danger of death.’ mockery: was there a single place here where you were not in danger of death?”

“The march lasted half an hour… We had left the camp [Birkenau].

We had been marching only a few moments when we saw the barbed wire of another camp. An iron door with the inscription over it: ‘Work Makes Free’. Auschwitz.”

Entrance Gate, Auschwitz

“First impression: this was better than Birkenau. There were two storied buildings of concrete instead of wooden barracks.”

64 blocks of cells

“One day when we came back from work, we saw three gallows rearing up in the assembly area, three black crows.

Three victims in chains-and one of them, the little servant, the sad eyed angel. …

To hang a young boy in front of thousands of spectators was no light matter. The head of the camp read the verdict. All eyes were on the child. He was lividly pale, almost calm, biting his lip. The gallows threw its shadow over him.

The three victims mounted together onto the chairs. The three necks were placed at the same moment within the nooses….

The adults were no longer alive…. But the third rope was still moving; being so light the child was still alive… For more than a half an hour he stayed there, struggling between life and death, dying in slow agony under our eyes. …. ‘Where is God now?’”

Ironically this gallows was used to hang the first commandant of the camp, Rudolf Höss.

Maxemillian Kolbe’s Cell, Auschwitz

Block 11: The Death Block

St. Maxemillian Kolbe, a priest, asked that he be killed rather than a condemned man who would be leaving behind a child.

His sacrifice was recognized by John Paul II who placed this Paschal candle in Cell 20 in which Kolbe spent his last days.

He was shot at the “Crying Wall” which was reserved for political prisoners who, prior to death were housed and tortured in this block of cells.

“Crying Wall”, Wall of Execution, Auschwitz

The cellars: Zyclon B experiments were first held here, these cells housed prisoners sentenced to death for camp infractions. Cell number 18 fro example was reserved for those condemned to death by starvation.

Punishments included flogging, hanging from the stake by the hands, extra toil, prolonged standing, physical exercises.

This tiny standing cell was devised so four prisoners would be made to occupy it simultaneously for days making it impossible to ever sit much less lay down.

Entrance Crematorium II, Auschwitz

“I awoke on January 29 at dawn. In my father’s place lay another invalid. They must have taken him away before dawn and carried him to the crematory. He may still have been breathing.

There were no prayers at his grave. No candles were lit in his memory. His last word was my name. A summons to which I did not respond.

I did not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep. But I had not more tears. And, in the depths of my being, in the recesses of my weakened conscience, could I have been searched it, I night have found something like- free at last!”

“FREE AT LAST!”

Gas Chamber, Auschwitz

Zyclon B canisters

Ovens, Crematorium I, Auschwitz

In each oven 2-3 corpses was placed at a time. This facility could burn 350 bodies per day.

“Three days after the liberation…I was transferred to the hospital and spent two weeks between life and death. One day I was able to get up, after gathering up all my strength. I wanted to see myself in the mirror hanging on the opposite wall. I had not seen myself since the ghetto.

From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me.

The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine has never left me.”

The following slides contain other memorial images from the Holocaust

Warsaw Ghetto

Warsaw Ghetto Memorial

Detail from the Ghetto Memorial

Holocaust Memorial, Berlin

Holocaust Memorial, Berlin

The memorial was built between 2003-2005 by the architect Peter Eisenman. It consists of 2,711 concrete slabs and can be entered at all sides. It has no set entrance or exit.

Walking through the undulating pathways and huge blocks of all different sizes, the Memorial is designed to give the experience of confusion, and loss.

Below the memorial is an underground information center which houses several display rooms and access to the Holocaust Memorial database.

Holocaust Memorial, Berlin

Holocaust Memorial, Berlin