Auschwitz+1

Jordan Springer TAP Article: Auschwitz I  The Holocaust was one of the, if not the, darkest times for humanity. To put it simply, it was the discrimination against and killings of those of Jewish ancestry by the Nazi party. The most recognizable signs of this horrid event are the concentration camps, or a place where mistreated prisoners, including Jews, POWs, and others were placed in small areas with unthinkably bad living conditions, and were killed or forced to work. Many died in these camps, and the most famous of all of them was the infamous Auschwitz. Although the term Auschwitz applies to many camps, the most infamous was the main, Auschwitz I. Auschwitz I was the main camp, and had several reasons for being built, the most obvious being to imprison those that the Nazis considered a danger to the regime. However, it was also there to provide a labor force for construction and such and to “eliminate” groups who were determined by the Nazi SS (Schutzstaffel) that oversaw the camp. The SS also used Auschwitz as their base for office work and management, and the commander of Auschwitz was the commander of all of the three camps. In the hospital barrack or block, physicians performed cruel experiments on adults and pseudoscientific research on dwarfs, twins, and babies. The physical camp itself was originally constructed out of old Polish military barracks about thirty-seven miles west of Krakow near the Polish city Oswiecim. It also included about fifteen square miles reserved for the camp with extraneous buildings such as crematoriums with gas chambers and a so-called “Black Wall” where the Nazis performed many executions, all surrounded by guarded electrified barbed wire. The camp’s construction began in May 1940 and continued until 1941, though the first 728 Polish prisoners were brought on June 14, 1940. By March of 1941, about 10,900 were imprisoned in Auschwitz. After the war, it was used as a hospital for the freed prisoners. Auschwitz I is now a museum, teaching what happened in the past in order to prevent history from repeating itself. Blocks 4,5,6,7, and 11 make up a permanent exhibition. Block 4 shows why the prisoners contained were persecuted. It contains records from the camp, as well as an especially unique statement: the hair of the camp’s victims. Block 5 displays items taken from the Jewish of the camp, including clothes and other everyday items. Block 6 helps one to step into the shoes of a prisoner, showing the procedures one went through at the camp and pictures of prisoners with descriptions of their imprisonment. Block 7 shows the terrible living conditions in the camp, exhibiting reconstructions of the rooms of the camp. Block 11, the camp jail, shows the cells and purposes of the block. There is also a reconstruction of the “Black Wall” because it was torn down in 1944. There is also the real crematorium and gas chamber of the camp. Auschwitz is a definite symbol of the Holocaust, and Auschwitz I is just as much of a symbol as any other camp, despite the fact that it is a part of a system of camps. While we are there, we should take a moment to understand what happened there and remember the Jewish and others who died there.