Auschwitz

Sat in my GCSE history class in year 11 at high school I was immediately enthralled by the topic of WW2, I didn’t struggle with it, I didn’t dread going to classes and I certainly didn’t find the homework a hassle. So it wasn’t much of a surprise when I passed my class with a Grade A. Unfortunately when I got to sixth form at lancaster Girls Grammar the topic was on the 16th Century revolution, unlike Ripleys sixth form who got to study WW2 in more depth (no bitterness at all). Since then I have always been interested in books based on or around that period of time, especially on Auschwitz. This is what has fueled my desire to actually go to Poland and see Auschwitz for myself, hopefully in May this year.

Auschwitz was a network of concentration camps built in Poland, just outside Krakow during the war (1939-1945) by the Germans.

Auschwitz 1 was the base camp

Auschwitz 2 (Birkenau) was the extermination camp

Auschwitz 3 was a labour camp

It also consisted of 45 satellite camps.

Throughout the years of 1942-1944 thousands of Jews from all over Europe were taken there and gassed to death. They had no idea what was happening to them and a few last letters that have been discovered are on display at the London Imperial War Museum (complete must see for history geeks like myself)

Despite the devastating and disgusting things that went on at Auschwitz a common belief is that it only happened to Jewish people. The German army targeted anyone that was different, and this included Jehovah’s Witnesses and people from minorities.

It is now common knowledge that medical experiments also took place in Auschwitz 1 on the prisoners.One of the most well known physicians from this period of time was SS captain Dr.Josef Mengele, also known as The angel of death due to his cruelty when deciding who would retain for work on the camps and who would perish in the gas chambers. To read more on Mengele check out http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007060

The types of medical experiments that took place were pseudoscientific research on infants, twins and dwarfs as well as preforming forced sterilizations, castrations and hypothermia experiments on adults. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005189

The above website also supplies details and figures on how many Jewish people were transported to Auschwitz to be exterminated,

Hungary - 426,000

Poland - 300,000

France - 69,000

Netherlands - 60,000

Greece - 55,000

Bohemia and Moravia - 46,000

Slovakia - 27,000

Belgium - 25,000

Yugoslavia - 10,000

Italy - 7,500

Norway - 690

The majority of these people will have immediately been sent to the gas chambers, a small amount of them will have been sent to work in the labour camps and will have eventually succumbed to death due to starvation, disease or murdered by one of the guards.

In Auschwitz stood “the black wall” were SS guards would execute thousands of prisoners. This type of inhumane treatment is excellently portrayed in the film Schindler's List and innocently hinted at in the book The boy in the striped pyjammas.

As well as these a book I thoroughly enjoyed and successfully brought me to tears was The man who broke into Auschwitz. This book is an account of the life of Denis Avey, who was a British solider serving in WW2. He was captured and made prisoner at Auschwitz, witnessing the terrible things that took place. He managed to befriend a couple of the Jewish people and one day swopped places, exchanging his British uniform for their striped one. This way he got to witness first hand the horrific conditions the jewish people had to endure, living and sleeping in filth, slowly being starved to death, whilst at the same time being expected to work to their full potential all day long. If these requirements were not met, for example falling over or passing out due to exhaustion, they were shot.

This book is definitely worth a read.

I have always had an interest in history but as I have said before WW2 and the regime of Nazi Germany is a real interest of mine.

There is a lot to take in and learn about WW2 but i do recommend London’s imperial war museum for any one that is interested in learning in depth about what and why it occurred. I will be sure to blog about my experiences and put up my pictures from my trip to Auschwitz.