The undistinguished little town of Oswiecim in Poland, about an hour's bus ride from the popular weekend city break destination of Krakow is better known by the German version of its name. Auschwitz. Along with its neigbour Birkenau it's a name which has become synonymous with the horror of the Nazi's attempted extermination of the Jews.The first impression is of rows of solid brick built barrack blocks, like any other Army installation, which it was prior to becoming the infamous concentration camp. Only once inside the buildings does the magnitude of the crime against humanity committed here is revealed with the rows of photos of the shaven headed victims, men women and children looking down from the walls. Some of the horrors are all too apparent, the torture cells and gas chambers; some poignant, the piles of suitcases with names hopefully written on them, and piles of spectacles taken from those executed. Some macabre, like the huge collection of artificial arms and legs.The ultimate horror though is that Auschwitz was organised like a giant factory. Here are the order sheets in triplicate for Zyclon B poison gas, here are the bales of human hair for turning into fabric, a production line of death.
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