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The History Place -
Auschwitz Today
The following 20 photos in this slide show
are arranged in sequence as if you were on a walking tour of the original
Auschwitz camp and the adjacent death camp, Auschwitz II-Birkenau. The
photos were taken by Scott Sakansky during visits to Auschwitz in 1991
and 1997. Mr. Sakansky's interest in Auschwitz and other Nazi camps
has been life long, originating in childhood with family stories and
experiences.
About Auschwitz -- It was
a huge extermination and slave labor complex run by the SS featuring three
main camps and 36 sub-camps, located in the southwest corner of occupied
Poland outside the city of Oswiecim (pronounced Auschwitz in German).
Auschwitz I, the original camp, was established in 1939 to hold Polish
political prisoners. By October 1941, Auschwitz II (Birkenau) was opened
nearby and became the main killing center during the Final Solution in
which the Nazis attempted to exterminate the entire Jewish population
of Europe. An estimated 1.6 million persons were killed at Auschwitz,
including 1.3 million Jews and 300,000 Soviet POWs, Polish Catholics and
Gypsies. |