Auschwitz - Birkenau

Rows of "dormitories". What one would have seen looking out one of the windows. Several of the dormitories had been displays setup in them of various pieces of evidence found when the camps were liberated. Pictured are used Zyklon B canisters in one of the displays. Not pictured is when we came into the first dorm containing exhibits and led in to a room where we were asked not to take pictures out of respect for what we were to see and those who had died. I walked in and to my left was a glassed in partition 30 feet long 10 feet deep with tied off clumps cut of human hair piled to above eye level. They said they had discovered it in sacks when the camps were liberated and it had traces of Zyklon B gas in it. That means it was cut off the Jewish women's heads after they were dead and it was packaged to go to be made into blankets. I have known about these things since I was a child and read extensively about WWII but to see something like that was startling. It certainly left me reeling feeling like I was kicked in the gut. I think the tour guide purposely gave little warning to ensure we saw it. He spoke later about how few come to see the camp that could and the importance of what we were doing.Read more