Poland is rich in various attractions. Both natural and historical.
But personally, I would like to dwell on the following item.
The name of this city is perhaps all people are known. But at the same time, his visit for incomprehensible reasons is not very popular among Russian tourists. Although in vain. The story needs (and important) to know, whatever it is.
This city is the most tragic point on the Poland map. His name - Auschwitz…
Auschwitz (Polish. Oświęcim, it. Auschwitz) is in 60 kilometers west of Krakow. Actually from Krakow and most convenient to get here.
The history of the city has almost 800 years. Auschwitz is one of the oldest cities in Poland, it was founded in the XII century, and the first mention of Auschwitz refers to 1179 (or by 1117 according to other data). It was a beautiful vintage city.
And it is not by chance that exactly here, as a mockery of the history of Poland, during the Second World War, the Nazis organized a concentration camp, which became the place of mass murder in the entire history of mankind. After joining the city to fascist Germany, he got a name Auschwit.
Later, in the Nuremberg process, the first commandant of Auschwitz Rudolf Höss in his testimony estimated the number of killed in 2.5 million. However, the exact amount of them is not possible, since many documents are destroyed. Moreover, the Nazis did not take into account the people who immediately sent to the gas chambers immediately upon arrival. Now in one of the blocks there is an archive where data on 650 thousand prisoners has been preserved. Horror ...
Currently, it is possible to visit museum complexes " Auschwitz I. "And" Auschwitz II -Birkenau".
Getting Started 8:00, Closing occurs depending on the season: in the summer - at 19:00, in the fall / spring - at 17:00, in winter - at 15:00.
From April to October (from 10:00 to 15:00) on October (from 10:00 to 15:00), only as part of a group with a guide. Groups are formed, as a rule, as filling. The most popular Polish and English-speaking (summer recruitment period every half hour). Also collect groups in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Czech and Slovak languages. You can try to wait for the "set" of the Russian-speaking group, but as I said, visiting Auschwitz is not very popular among Russian tourists, so the risk does not wait for the excursion. A visit to the Polish groups is 25 zlotys, as part of foreign groups - 40 zł.
You can go without a guide, but either until 10:00 am, or after 15:00 (this is if the season). If from November to March, then go without a guide is allowed at any time when the entrance is open. And the entrance without a guide is absolutely free (that is free). Verified.
Aushwitz II complex - Birkenaau can be attended without a guide and free at any time of the year. But, if there is a desire to listen to the guide, then it is possible in the group, also for an additional fee.
Above the entrance to the territory of the Auschwitz camp is hanging the slogan: "Arbeit Macht Frei" (which is translated as "labor frees"). Once immediately at the entrance for prisoners who returned from work, the Orchestra played, from the prisoners and consisted.
In 2009, the original cast-iron inscription "ARBEIT MACHT FREI" was stolen and sawed into three parts for the subsequent linkage to Sweden. However, just three days later was discovered by the police. After that, the inscription above the entrance was replaced by a copy that is there to this day.
The first prisoners appeared in Auschvice in 1940, when 728 inhabitants of Krakow delivered 728 in the camp. It is reliably known that no one survived from these people.
And the first experiment on the mass destruction of people in the Aushwitz I camp, using the gas "Cyclone" b ", the Nazis spent on September 3, 1941. Then 600 Soviet prisoners of war and 250 Polish prisoners were delivered to the camp. After that, in the underground chambers of block No. 11 (called the "death unit"), they were all killed using the "cyclone" b ". This experiment was recognized by the Nazis successfully, and then the above gas began to be used massively to destroy people.
In general, when you fall on the territory of the former concentration camp Auschwitz I, immediately striking how everything neatly and German is equipped here. Purely externally, of course. Same residential buildings, lights at the entrance, flattened streets, a bended lawn ...
Even immediately and I can not believe what horrors came here during the Second World War, how many people here are tortured and destroyed. And only an impassable strip of several rows of barbed wires for which the high voltage current took place, returns to reality. And after you start to enter various housings, look exposure. Just a nightmare.
In one of the extreme points, the concentration camp is the infamous block number 11. Here in the basements kept prisoners before sentencing. "Standing" carcers are particularly sophisticated, where prisoners did not have the opportunity to even sit down. In one of the basements there was a gas chamber. When we were in Auschwitz, the entrance to the 11th block was closed, but to be honest, not very much.
The courtyard between the 10th and 11th corps is fenced with a high wall, it was called the "Wall of Death". Before this wall, the Nazis shot several thousand prisoners (mostly Poles). Also in the yard there are special hooks for torture. On the block number 10, wearing wooden shutters so that there is no possibility from the inside to watch the executions being carried out here.
Even further, the barbed wire is located in which gas tests "Cyclone" B "were carried out. After this unit was used as a gas chamber in which prisoners were destroyed in mass quantities.
On the opposite side of the Auschwitz camp, the crematorium is also located behind the camp fence. Now inside from genuine elements you can see two recovered furnaces in which approximately 350 bodies were burned per day.
By the way, in April 1947, Rudolf Höss, the first commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, which the British military gave the Polish side to the court for the crimes committed offenses.
Actually, when they talk about Auschwitz, rather imply a complex Auschwitz II. (or Birkenaau ). It was a real death factory. There in one-storey wooden barracks contained hundreds of thousands of Poles, Jews, Russians, Gypsies and prisoners of other nationalities. And the number of victims of this camp (only proven) amounted to more than a million people.
By the way, most Jews arrived at the Auschwitz-Birkenah camp with a solid belief that their Germans are exporting "to the settlement" to East Europe. And the Germans from Hungary and Greece are even "sold" the non-existent lands and plots for development. Therefore, often people brought with them jewels and money.
Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to inspect Auschwitz II. But believe me, and the first is quite enough to evaluate the entire tragic scale.
I will no longer stop in the life of the Jewish population in Auschwitz, but at present, no Jew has been living here.