CONCENTRATION AND EXTERMINATION CAMPS


Terezín (19 July 2008)

Outside of the Small Fortress Cemetery with Christian symbol Jewish graves
Cemetery with Jewish symbol Outside the entrance to the Small Fortress The entrance to the Small Fortress
The SS had a swimming pool installed for their officers to enjoy The camp commandant's flat Work Makes you Free, entering the prisoner blocks
The never-used shaving room, created for the benefit of Red Cross inspectors Me in the shaving room One of the prisoner blocks
"The Gate of Death" One of the many memorials at Terezín, this one for Nazi concentration camps Memorial dedicated by the Israeli Embassy
The sole water heater for the entire prisoner camp The "shower room" Prison room for Archduke Ferdinand assassin Gavrilo Princip
A single lavatory in on of the prisoner blocks to serve hundreds of prisoners One of the prisoner barracks Prisoner bunks; always overcrowded and contaminated by death, disease, and vermin
Plaque at the Princip prison room
The seldom-used high-pressure chamber, intended to sterilize prisoner uniforms. It didn't work particularly well and left each prisoner's sole uniform infested with lice and disease
The cobblestone walkway to/from the camp
<< Back to Media Page


Majdanek (24 July 2008)

A view of Majdanek from the street. The camp was literally on the edge of town in plain view of the residents of Lublin. One of two large memorial structures at Majdanek
Reverse-angle SS guard towers
De-lousing and shower chamber Actual cannisters of Zyklon-B Ovens in the crematorium
The crematorium. I believe this is partially reconstructed
Each prisoner was issued only one uniform for his/her entire term of imprisonment Thousands of shoes taken from the prisoners for return to the Reich
Entry into the main common area of the camp Prisoner barracks, most of which were destroyed and have been reconstructed
Memorial dome under which is a huge pile of human ashes of those who were murdered at the camp Close-up of the ash mound A troupe of Israeli students led through the camp by their teacher/rabbi
Prisoner barracks. Men were squeezed into these small rooms in the hundreds or thousands. Doorway to the actual Majdanek gas chamber
A dissection table upon which prisoners were dismembered in order to locate hidden valuables
Actual SS guard kiosk
<< Back to Media Page


Auschwitz-Birkenau (25 July 2008)

Looking into the camp from the main guard tower. This is where the prisoners came in and out and where the cattle cars were loaded with their possessions to be returned to the Reich. "Work Makes You Free"
Crematorium
The site of Rudolf Höss's execution by hanging after conviction at Nürnberg. Overview of Auschwitz-Birkenau Demolished barracks all the way to the horizon. Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest of all concentration camps. The scale has to be seen in person to be believed.
Inside one of the many prisoner barracks. As with other camps, hundreds or thousands of people were crammed into these bunks, sometimes 3 or 4 people to a bunk. The dead were not removed and all manner of vermin, disease, and squalor, not to mention cold and wet conditions, were commonplace. Unfortunately with my tour, we did not have time to visit the actual memorial in Birkenau. I left these two stones along the main road - one for my family and one for Eva Vitovková's mother, as I promised her I would do.
<< Back to Media Page


Dachau (12 January 2011)

What's left of the prisoner offloading ramp
Overview of the main Dachau concentraion camp The "Jourhaus" - main SS station
"Work Makes You Free" The Appelplatz, or roll-call square "May the example of those who were exterminated here between 1933-1945 because they resisted Nazism help to unite the living for the defence of peace and freedom in respect for their fellow man."
A contemporary photograph of the maintance building, which now houses an extensive Nazi and Holocaust museum. The former maintance building, mostly preserved, is now a museum. Numerous sculptures and other memorials are placed throughout the Dachau memorial site
Memorial to the various groups of prisoners and victims at all concentration camps. The main road, almost exactly as it was during the time the camp was operational. I believe these are even the same trees. SS guard tower
A reconstructed barracks.
These concrete foundations are all that remains of the prisoner barracks The Jewish memorial
The Jewish memorial - curiously it is neither the largest nor the most central of the religious memorials at the camp site. Inside the Jewish memorial
Stones I placed for my family members who died in the Dachau subcamps Looking out of the Jewish memorial Looking back toward the Appelplatz
"Our Last Hope: Hitler"
A scale model of the camp, placed in the center of the maintenance building/museum, looking out onto the Appelplatz
A political poster decrying the Nazis which urges the German public to support Social Democrats

<< Back to Media Page