Poland, Germany, Denmark......

[hangchoi]

Because there were so many people died in this camp, some places require the visitors kept silent in order to show respect. This is one of those places, the courtyard of block 11 or so-called the death wall. Prisoners brought there were for execution by gunshots. The staircase on the right side is the way out from Block 11, where there was a so-called judgment handed by Nazi to a prisoner. On record, there were at least 5000 people being shot to death on that wall. This wall was rebuilt after WW2 for education purposes.

[hangchoi]

Dont' look at the second and third pictures, just take a look at the first picture and guess what it is.

You will find out how stunning if you imagine each name was one person.

[hangchoi]

On the way out you will pass the central square of the camp. The metal bar of the first picture was for hanging prisoners. They hanged them to show to the other prisoners about the punishment if they wanted to escape or communicate with outsiders.

The second picture showed the border between the Nazi office and the camp.

The third one is worth to mention. Another metal bar for hanging prisoners, after trial in SS office next to it. After the WW2, the first camp warden of Auschwitz was trial to death sentence and he was hanged here. Is that Karma?

[hangchoi]

This picture is another place to keep silent. This is the gas chamber for killing the Jews.

[hangchoi]

The whole concentration camp actually includes two phases. The formal name is Auschwitz-Birkenau. All the pictures above are the phase 1, i.e. Auschwitz. After visiting this, you can take a shuttle bus to phase 2,  Birkenau. Other than the iron gate in phase 1, this one also looks familiar, especially if you have watched the Schindler's List.

[hangchoi]

In terms of area, this one is much larger. Indeed most of the killings happened in this area too. This first picture was taken from the far end of the camp. You can see the main gate. Usually a train full of Jews were transported through the main gate by the rail. If you take a closer look at the lamp pole on the left side of the main gate, you will see there is a wagon marking the wagon parking location. The Jews would get off the train and left their belongings. Then they will assign to the camp on the 2 sides of the building blocks shown on 2nd picture, if they were fit enough to do hard labour work. Those who failed the inspection will be sent to gas chamber immediately.

[hangchoi]

The end of the railway is the place where gas chambers located. Sometimes the train will not stop at the wagon location and will go to gas chamber direct, in order to shorten the time for killing. When the war was going to the end, Nazi gave an order to destroy all the evidence of genocide. They bombed all the gas chambers and left them in ruin. The following pictures show the collapsed gas chamber and the ruin.

[hangchoi]

After visiting the sad place, we then had time to have a look at Krakow, the old capital of Poland. The old city of Krakow is actually a tour spot, especially for the European because the cost of living is relatively low and the density of bars/pubs is highest in the Europe. The old city is kept in good condition.

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Krakow also has the largest square in Europe. The building in the center of the square is the city market and of course there is a church Bazylika Mariacka in the square.

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The southern end of the old city is the royal castle. The living place of the King when Krakow was the capital of Poland. There is a myth that a dragon once lived in a den beneath the castle and nowadays there is a statue of the dragon. Fire is emitted from its mouth every hour.