The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum is located in the city of Oswiecim, which is 37 miles/60 KM east of Kraków. We visited the site on a grey and damp day in early September and the weather seemed totally appropriate for a visit to a place where well over a million people were put to their deaths by the Nazis in The Holocaust. It is not an easy place to visit and is not recommended for children under fourteen years of age. Having said that it does attract over 2 million visitors a year, the vast majority of which are respectful of the history of this place and what it represents. On the day we visited I did personally feel that some were taking photographs in a manner that could have been better however thankfully there were very much in the minority.
Entry to Auschwitz-Birkenau is free but a charge is made for a group tour with a guide. During the busy months only guided tours of the two sites are allowed. I would recommend a guided tour if you are to fully learn about the history, the buildings and exhibits you will see. Our guide had a group of about 30 and used a headphone guiding system so that everyone could hear clearly. She moved around us around the site and ensured that we were together at all times. The site was very busy, with many guided groups, and we had to wait a short while to access some of the barracks where the exhibitions are located. She filled these periods with informative comment and the opportunity for questions. I admire the work of these guides very much. I imagine that it must be difficult giving such harrowing account of the horrors of Auschwitz everyday.
The tour covers the main two sites;
Auschwitz I – this is the main camp and the place where all tours and visits begin. It was opened in 1940 and was originally used for political prisoners. It consists of 28 brick built barracks and other buildings.
Auschwitz II Birkenau – opened as an extermination in 1941. Over one million people died in Auschwitz, most of them in Birkenau. It is much bigger than the main camp but many of its buildings are no longer standing. The two camps are a couple of kilometres apart and are linked by a shuttle bus which runs regularly throughout the day. If you are on a tour from Kraków your minibus/coach will take you between the camps.
There was also a third camp, Auschwitz III Monowitz which was principally a labour camp. This was destroyed after the war and so is not included on any visits.
Before the tour begins you pass through an airport style security check. Bags larger than 30x20x10 cms are not allowed into the camp and must be left at the baggage drop or on your minibus/coach. Cameras are permitted but flash is not and there are a number of locations where you are requested by your guide not to take any photographs at all. These include the room containing human hair and the basement off block 11 where prisoners were tortured. Personally I decided that I was not going to take any photographs of the exhibits on display in the barracks of the main site, it didn’t seem right.
The tour begins walking through the main gates of the main camp. This is through the iron gates containing the inscription “Arbeit Macht Frei” (Work Sets You Free) and onto the area where prisoners would be assembled for roll call and announcements. You are shown the place where the camp orchestra would play marching music as the prisoners would file past as you move down the roadway towards the barracks that are open to visitors. There are trees growing in the camp but this was not the case when it was in operation.
The permanent exhibition was first opened in 1955 and is located in barrack blocks 4, 5, 6, 7 and 11.
Block 4 deals with details of extermination. There are some informative signs, maps and displays but perhaps the most harrowing is the room of hair shaved from the heads of prisoners and the tins of Zyklon B poison which was used in the gas chambers.
Block 5 contains displays of some of the personal items collected from prisoners including glasses, combs, brushes, shoes and nearly 4000 suitcases many of which are named. There is also a collection of prostheses taken from disabled prisoners.
Block 6 details the life of prisoners. The main corridor of this block is lined with enlarged camp photographs of prisoners each detailing their date of birth, occupation, date of arrival and date of death. I found this particularly moving and I was struck by the empty look in the eyes of many.
Block 7 creates some of the living conditions experienced in the camp.
Block 11 was the punishment block and the place where prisoners were tortured and experimented on. The basement contains punishment cells some of which were standing cells where prisoners were left standing in an extremely small space in darkness overnight and then expected to work the following day before being taken back to the cell again. Photographs are not allowed here.
Block 11 leads to the Wall of Death where thousands of prisoners, including many Poles, were shot. The wall you see now is a reconstruction and is a place of remembrance for those that died. You are asked to observe silence here.
The final part of the tour of the main camp is the gas chamber. Partly reconstructed but much is original. It felt uncomfortable here and I was amazed to see some people taking photographs. As a mark of respect I don’t personally think anyone should.
The tour ends here and you can visit the shop, toilets and refreshment areas before departing for Birkenau. What strikes you immediately is the enormous size of this camp, though much has been demolished. You enter through the main gate through which the railway line that brought prisoners in cattle trucks to the camp arrived. You are taken to the ramp, the place where selection of the newly arrived prisoners was undertaken. Those sent to the right were sent for work, to the left they were sent immediately to the gas chambers at the far end of the camp. An original cattle truck used for transport stands here as a mark of remembrance.
The gas chambers and crematoria here were destroyed by the Nazis in an attempt to hide what had gone on here but you can see where they were. The camp was liberated by the Russians in January 1945, by that time many of the prisoners had been marched out of the camp by their captors on what is known as The Death March as so many did not survive.
Some buildings do remain and you can get a glimpse of what life was like here. Birkenau was really a collection of camps within the whole, a womens camp, family camp, mens camp and Gypsy camp. People were crowded together in barracks with many sharing the same sleeping bunk.
Opening Times
This varies by month and it is well worth checking before you go. Currently opening is as follows;
- 7.30 – 14.00. December
- 7.30 – 15.00 January and November
- 7.30 – 16.00. February
- 7.30 – 17.00. March and October
- 7.30 – 18.00. April, May and September
- 7.30 – 19.30. July and August
These are last times of entry as you are then allowed 90 minutes to visit. this means that in December you must complete your visit by 15.30. Purchasing tickets in advance is probably advisable. If you take an organised tour from Krakow this is included in the tour price.
Getting There
Buses depart from the MDA bus station next to Kraków Glowny railway station. Buses run fairly frequently with a journey time of one hour forty five minutes to Oswiecim. There is then a ten minute walk to the main camp.
Trains depart Kraków Glowny with a journey time of between one and a half and two and a half hours depending on the particular train. Trains do not take the most direct route to Oswiecim. There is a twenty minute walk from. the railway station to the main camp.
By car it is a journey of seventy five minutes from Kraków to the camp. There is plenty of parking at the site.
Many people choose an organised tour from Kraków and there are many companies offering them. Tours are a seven hour round trip and included guiding fees on arrival at Auschwitz-Birkenau and transfer between the two camps.