The name “Auschwitz” has become synonymous with the Holocaust. It was a vast, multi-purpose complex with three large camps near the Poland town of Oswiecim and dozens of additional satellite camps. The original camp, Auschwitz I, was established in 1940 primarily for Polish political prisoners. Over the next few years, the extermination center at Birkenau (Auschwitz II) and the industrial work camp at Monowitz (Auschwitz III) were constructed. Today the original camp is the chief memorial site, though the camp’s dark legacy chiefly issues from Birkenau, two kilometers away There, between 1.1 and 1.5 million people were killed, most of them in one of the four large gas chambers where Zyklon B pellets were poured in through the ceiling. A rail line runs directly into Birkenau, along side of which stands the notorious ramp where initial selections took place directed by Josef Mengele and other Nazi medical personnel. The able-bodied were directed to work details, while others—including nearly all the children—were selected for immediate death. As the Russian army advanced westward in late 1944, the gas chambers and crematoria were blown up and tens of thousands of prisoners were sent on death marches to Germany. Approximately 6000 ill prisoners were left behind, some of whom were still alive when the Russian army liberated the camp in January 1945.

The pictures below were taken on June 24, 2000.