Auschwitz Birkenau
Auschwitz Birkenau
Auschwitz Birkenau From another perspective: Auschwitz-Birkenau All over the world, Auschwitz has become a symbol of terror, genocide, and the Holocaust. It was established by Germans in 1940, in the suburbs of Oswiecim, a Polish city that was annexed to the Third Reich by the Nazis. Its name was changed to Auschwitz, which also became the name of Konzentrationslager Auschwitz.The direct reason for the establishment of the camp was the fact that mass arrests of Poles were increasing beyond the capacity of existing "local" prisons. Initially, Auschwitz was to be one more concentration camp of the type that the Nazis had been setting up since the early 1930s. It functioned in this role throughout its existence, even when, beginning in 1942, it also became the largest of the death camps.The Auschwitz Memorial is more than extensive grounds and original camp blocks, barracks, and guard towers. It is also tens of thousands of objects of a special nature, special meaning, and special symbolism. Above all, it is the personal possessions brought by deportees and found at the site after liberation. They make up a unique collection of items connected with the suffering of the people deported to Auschwitz to be killed immediately, and with those forced into slave labor by the Germans.It is also the objects connected with the life of prisoners inthe camp, which bear testimony not only to the primitive living and hygienic conditions and starvation, but also with attempts to preserve humanity behind the barbed wire of Auschwitz. The Museum collections also contain objects connected with the SS garrison, the perpetrators of the crime.These are in particular personal possessions brought by deportees and found in the camp after the liberation. They constitute a unique collection of items connected with the suffering of the people, in the vast majority Jews deported to Auschwitz by the Germans to be killed immediately, as well as those forced to slave labour. These are thousands of items of everyday use, such as: kitchen utensils, shoes, eyeglasses, shoe polish containers, brushes or combs. They bear witness not only to the scale of the plunder carried out by German Nazis, but also to the suffering and death of their owners. Suitcases with names, birth dates, transport numbers and addresses have important documentary value and are often the only proof that a given person was deported to Auschwitz. auschwitz.org Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau, Więźniów Oświęcimia, Oswiecim, Poland
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