The History Place - Auschwitz Today

The following 20 photos in this slide show are arranged in sequence as if you were on a walking tour of the original Auschwitz camp and the adjacent death camp, Auschwitz II-Birkenau. The photos were taken by Scott Sakansky during visits to Auschwitz in 1991 and 1997. Mr. Sakansky's interest in Auschwitz and other Nazi camps has been life long, originating in childhood with family stories and experiences.

FIRST PHOTO
About Auschwitz -- It was a huge extermination and slave labor complex run by the SS featuring three main camps and 36 sub-camps, located in the southwest corner of occupied Poland outside the city of Oswiecim (pronounced Auschwitz in German). Auschwitz I, the original camp, was established in 1939 to hold Polish political prisoners. By October 1941, Auschwitz II (Birkenau) was opened nearby and became the main killing center during the Final Solution in which the Nazis attempted to exterminate the entire Jewish population of Europe. An estimated 1.6 million persons were killed at Auschwitz, including 1.3 million Jews and 300,000 Soviet POWs, Polish Catholics and Gypsies.