The Tracks of Birkenau

Birkenau was killing on an industrial scale. I never fully processed the meaning of those words until I stood at the entrance to the camp, then entered and was given a detailed tour of the process of arrivals, separations, selections and then followed the road that was the long slow walk to certain death. The entrance to Birkenau is the archway in which the trains passed under to deliver the Jews (and others) to their fate of almost immediate death. 

The Entrance to Birkenau

An original railcar used to transport the Jews 

The railcars entered and the selection process began

The selection procedure carried out on the ramps was as follows: families were divided after leaving the train cars and all the people were lined up in two columns. The men and older boys were in one column, and the women and children of both sexes in the other. Next, the people were led to the camp doctors and other camp functionaries conducting selection. They judged the people standing before them on sight and, sometimes eliciting a brief declaration as to their age and occupation, decided whether they would live or die. 

Age was one of the principal criteria for selection. As a rule, all children below 16 years of age (from 1944, below 14) and the elderly were sent to die. As a statistical average, about 20% of the people in transports were chosen for labor. They were led into the camp, registered as prisoners, and assigned the next numbers in the various series. Of the approximately 1.1 million Jews deported to Auschwitz, about 200 thousand were chosen in this way. The remainder, about 900 thousand people, were killed in the gas chambers.

-- Auschwitz.org

It was from here that our journey began. The selection process was explained to us as we stood where it happened. The tracks to our right, the gate to the camp to our left and the gas chambers and four crematoriums ahead of us in the distance. They were located near the trees in the distance in the photo below. As the statement above tells us and as it was explained to us after the selection process, those who could work were sent through the gates and into the camp. Those who could not were told they needed to be showered and disinfected first. Thus began the long slow walk down this dirt track. 

Our guide continued. By this time the Jews knew the rumours of their extermination and they could see three of the four smokestacks in the distance. One was much further back into the woods, for whatever reason the Nazi's had. Once everything was explained to us and a few questions were answered, we walked. I got it right away and said to our guide, "I understand it. You have us slowly walking the path of the unselected." "Yes, many people just come and take photos, but many more understand what we are doing." This allowed me to let my mind wander as I quietly walked with the other unselected.

Remember, kids under 16, the elderly, most woman and sick men had NO chance to be selected. As I had heard all through this trip at the various camps and ghettos, kids were the first to die. They held no value at all. That is with the exception of medical experimentations.

The genius of having us walk from the selection process towards the Extermination sites.

The gate to the camp. You were one of the "lucky ones" if you were selected

All the gas chambers and crematoriums at Birkenau have been destroyed, the last remaining was blown up the day before the Russians liberated the camp. The Nazi's had this idea that they could cover it all up, hide it so to speak. If you want to learn more about that philosophy, read up on the Belzec Camp. Now among the ruins are memorials and monuments where you can wander and wonder. There is no need to run through the process as I did in my previous post, there are websites for that. Now this site of such cruelty can only serve as a reminder to what was. Standing in the selection area and walking the path of the doomed was unnerving. Keeping in mind that I was not in any danger and in no way could I feel or even think that I understood the absolute terror that these people felt. Not even one bit! It did allow me to learn to understand a bit more that these camps were real, the people were real and the death was real. It was not just something that I read online or in a history book.

Memorial plaques were in 24 different languages of those who died here

Crematorium Ruins

Plaques commemorating the ashes the lay in the ground within the reeds

Crematorium Ruins

Memorial stands in the exact centre of the four Crematoriums

A final thought. 1n 1994 then President Clinton knew about the Genocide happening in Rwanda and did nothing, choosing to bury it and ignore it and the world stood back and did nothing. The world has since suffered through genocides in the Congo, Darfur, Bosnia, China, Myanmar, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and now the Ukraine and Gaza. Consider Pol Pot and Cambodia, Idi Amin and Uganda and this long list of long forgotten post WW2 moments (1946 - 1999) of "Never Again." Just as recent as Jan 10, 2025 a Genocide was declared in Sudan.

"Never Again!" It sure sounds great in the Press and in Political Remembrance speeches.