First deportations to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp
German occupation of Poland (1939-1945) was a time of terror and oppression of the Polish people. The terror was firstly focused on the leadership of the Polish people: prewar political and social activists, Polish intelligentsia, clergy, and the individuals deemed capable of organizing and leading the anti-Nazi resistance. Soon after the invasion of Poland by […]
Things to know before visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial
You cannot understand postwar Europe without an in-depth confrontation with Auschwitz and everything it symbolizes. KL (Konzentrationslager) Auschwitz was the largest of German Nazi concentration camps and extermination centres. The camp became a major site, where the Nazis’ plan to murder European Jews was carried out. Over 1,000,000 people lost their lives in Auschwitz, among […]
The extermination of Jews in Auschwitz-Birkenau
Initially, the Auschwitz concentration camp was set up for Polish political prisoners, and until 1942 Poles accounted for the majority of inmates. The number of Jews deported to the camp was relatively small. Among the first prisoners that were sent to the camp, there were over 750 Non-Jewish Polish citizens and 21 Jews. Everything changed […]
Sonderkommando – the special work squad of Auschwitz
From the establishment of Auschwitz concentration camp, the bodies of the prisoners murdered there were burned. The launch of the first crematorium in August 1940 workforce was needed to operate it. First Polish prisoners employed at the crematorium were not part of a special task force later known as Sonderkommando but were referred to as […]
Auschwitz Memorial and Museum- opening times from 7th May
Museum Director Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński stated that due to the ongoing pandemic, the number of visitors during the week has been rather low all through last autumn and February of this year. Since most schools and universities are operating remotely and cross-border traffic is extremely difficult, the pandemic puts the Memorial and Museum […]
The liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp
Auschwitz concentration camp from its foundation in 1940 brought death and suffering as well as unimaginable horror to all who heard, seen, and worse yet lived through the hell that was happening inside its walls. For the prisoners sent to Auschwitz concentration camp, their daily lives turned into a living nightmare as they faced inhuman […]
Medical experiments in Auschwitz concentration camp
Nazi Germany ideology of Aryan racial purity and superiority from 1933 to 1945, led a campaign with the main objective to cleanse the German society of individuals viewed as a threat to the nation’s health. Nazi authority enlisted various medical practitioners, geneticists, and other scientists to develop racial health policies. These new policies opened the […]
How many people died in Auschwitz? The unimaginable numbers of the death camp
Auschwitz concentration camp is a synonym for death and horror. Talking about Auschwitz, our imagination and the knowledge of the atrocities committed at this Nazi death camp seems surreal. Auschwitz concentration camp through Nazi Germany ideology and war efforts started to amass undescribable horror inside its walls. Why and how did Auschwitz earn its nickname? […]
Witold Pilecki – the hero, who escaped from Auschwitz-Birkenau
A trip to Wadowice and Kalwaria. In the footsteps of John Paul II
