| Oswięcim, Auschwitz-Birkenau |
| Redaktor: Administrator | |
| 24.07.2007. | |
 Oswiecim is a city of 50-thousand population, located at the estuary of the Sola to Vistula River in the southern Oswiecimska Valley. The city is geographically and historically connected, from its foundation, with the Silesian region, i.e. from the beginning of the 12th c. it was a part of Silesian principalities, which became in the 14th c. a separate principality of developing economical significance. In the period between the 15th and 18th c. it was a strategic trade centre with Silesia, Czech and Prussia.After the beginning of the II World War, Oswiecim was included into Hitler's Germany and between 1940-45, the largest concentration camp in Poland was there - KL "Auschwitz - Birkenau" (Oswiecim - Brzezinka). It consisted of 3 parts: Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II - Birkenau, Auschwitz III - Monowitz, and the whole complex was combined of about 40 smaller units. Originally, it was a camp for Polish, Russian, Gypsy and of other nationalities prisoners of war. Since 1942, this place became a witness and the centre of the biggest mass extermination of European Jews in history. After deportation to Auschwitz, the prisoners were most frequently transported to gas chambers of Birkenau and then the corpses were cremated. gas chamber and crematory When the camp was freed on 27 January 1945, the area of the camp became the National Auschwitz - Birkenau Museum, and was registered on the UNESCO Heritage List in 1979. Almost all areas of the camps Auschwitz-I and Auschwitz-II - Birkenau are available for tourists. The plan and duration of visiting is optional. Usually it is 1,5-6 hours but if you want to learn about the history of this place fully, you should visit both parts of the museum. Auschwitz-IThe place where the Nazis arranged the first camp and where initial experiments with a gas Cyclon B as well as tests on prisoners were made. Mass executions were also performed there and later it became the headquarters of administrative power. Auschwitz-II BirkenauThe complex in which were performed mass executions in gas chambers and bodies were cremated. There, over one million European Jews and other nationalities were cruelly murdered. Primitive barracks surrounded by barbed wire and most of all human remains and ashes, serve as the evidence of Nazis' ferocity. |
|
| Zmieniony ( 26.07.2007. ) |
| « poprzedni artykuł | następny artykuł » |
|---|
