In June 1940, along with the first transport of 728 Polish prisoners of war, 22 pre-war brick military barracks in Oświęcim on the territory of occupied Poland, became the nucleus of the Nazi Konzentrationslager Auschwitz (Auschwitz concentration camp). Until the summer of 1944, the expansion of the camp covered over 40 sq km of land and included 40 subcamp.
It was the largest Nazi concentration camp, in which the extermination of Jews started by mass transports in 1942. Historians estimate that out of 1.3 million who arrived here, 1.1 million were murdered, including about 1 million Jews.
When we visit the grounds of the former Nazi concentration camp, we see a lot of greenery around the empty spaces between the barracks. This is not the scenery the prisoners remember. At that time, not a single leaf, not a single blade of grass could be found. The prisoners were so hungry that they ate everything edible, including grass.
The most terrifying is a visit to the gas chamber. The suffering of the people who died there is beyond our imagination. A small group of Nazi guards feared panic among the prisoners, a situation in which they would lose control. Therefore, they created the illusion of a bathhouse with a changing room and numbered hooks. SS soldiers persuaded the victims that they had to take a shower. People believed it and followed the orders. When the door was sealed and gas was thrown through a small hole in the ceiling, all those trapped inside could only scream and wait for death.
