A visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau is a moving experience. More than a million people were killed here. The largest extermination camp of Nazi-Germany was a well-oiled killing machine of frightening proportions. After the Red Army liberated the camp on 27 January 1945, Auschwitz became the silent symbol of the Holocaust, the mass murder of 6 million Jews.
According to Holocaust survivor Roman Kent: “One minute in Auschwitz felt like an entire day. A day was like a year. A month, an eternity.” Despite the remaining camp structure, it is impossible to imagine the horrors that took place in the barracks and in the gas chambers located behind the notorious entrance gate with the sign ‘Arbeit macht frei’. Auschwitz was not only the largest, but also the most efficient and well-oiled camp. Of the 1.5 million people who were deported here, 1.1 million were killed and another 200,000 died of disease or hunger.
“Approximately 1.5 million people were deported to Auschwitz by train in cargo wagons”