Auschwitz Birkenau

For the second half of the tour, we were in Auschwitz II, Birkenau. To get there, we took a 5-minute shuttle bus from Auschwitz I.

We started by entering 2 residential buildings. The bunks in the sleeping building were forced to hold 4 people per bed. The bathroom was a ditch covered by concrete slabs with holes cut into them.

We saw a cattle car that was used to transport the prisoners, hundreds crammed in there at a time.

Something that struck me was how big this place really was. We walked maybe a quarter of the camp and it was MASSIVE. Row upon row upon row upon row of buildings, walking 15 minutes to get from the train tracks to the one crematorium, and all of it was filled with buildings. In theory, you understand that the camp had to be big to murder as many as it did, but walking it really put it into perspective.Read more