by Cynthia Ruff

Created on: March 03, 2009   Last Updated: August 03, 2011

Two of the largest concentration camps used during the Second World War (i.e., 1939-1945) were the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camps.  These camps are located just a couple miles apart and are several miles outside of Krakow, Poland.  The area, then and now (i.e., 21st Century), is quite desolate and secluded – the initiative being that this land, located in the center of Poland was very isolated.  Much would take place there that the world would not be aware of until after the fact.

Behind the walls of these camps Jewish people of Hungarian, German, Ukraine, French, and Polish descent were sacrificed in the name of racial purity as well as people who the Nazis perceived as a threat to their way of life and future plans – Jehovah Witnesses, Soviet war prisoners, religious (e.g., Catholic priests and nuns, rabbis), writers, actors, musicians, lawyers, businessmen, to name a few.  Between 1.1 and 1.5 million human beings were exterminated before the camps were liberated by Soviet troops in January 1945.

Today the silent and empty gray buildings exist as a testimonial and witness to the terrible crimes that took place against humanity during those hardened and desperate times.  Photographs line walls; display cases showcase shoes, eye glasses, luggage, pots and pans, clothing, and hair all of which had belonged to those imprisoned.  Guides explain that the hair, now ashen gray, was used as stuffing for pillows and cushions and weaved to make rugs.  Walkways take visitors through small cells in which prisoners had been held until they either died of starvation or suffocation.  If they lived through any of that, they were executed.

History has a long hand.  One German visitor was shocked to find a photograph of his father (a physician) at the camp.  During those days when this physician had worked at the camp his children and wife had remained in Germany.  They knew nother of their father’s role and participation at these camps until witnessing the photograph.

Thousands of stories, known and unknown, have come from those who survived. There is, for example, the story of the Polish-German priest Maximillian Maria Kolbe, OFM who gave his life so another man could live.  Kolbe was eventually declared a martyr and canonized by Pope John Paul in 1982.  However, this is just one of many heroic stories that took place within the desperate confines of this hopeless prison where often men and women found ways to put the needs of others ahead of their own.

Looking out at this sprawling, dank, lonely space of land that is still surrounded by barbed-wire fence, the visitor can only imagine just what a horrific and tragic experience it must have been for those unfortunate enough to have been here.  Thousands of people, of every nationality and culture visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camps annually.

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