Auschwitz Birkenau Essay

Auschwitz was one of the most infamous and largest concentration camp known during World War II. It was located in the southwestern part of Poland commanded by Rudolf Höss. Auschwitz was first opened on June 14, 1940, much later than most of the other camps. It was in Auschwitz that the lives of so many were taken by methods of the gas chamber, crematoriums, and even from starvation and disease. These methods took "several hundreds and sometimes more than a thousand" lives a day. The majority of the lives killed were those of Jews although Gypsies, Yugoslavs, Poles, and many others of different ethnic backgrounds as well. The things most known about Auschwitz are the process people went through when entering the camp and

The site has been elected and given UNESCO World Heritage status for two reasons, or criteria. One of the reasons for the listing is its natural beauty, abundance and diversity of structures in the caves. The stalactites in the caverns vary in size and height, with one, called the “Witch’s Finger”, reaching up to 6 metres in height.

Of all of the death camps built by the Nazis during World War II, none was larger or more destructive than the terrifying Auschwitz camp. Auschwitz was built by the Nazis in 1940, in Oswiecim, Poland, and was composed of three main parts. Auschwitz I was built in June 1940 and was intended to hold and kill Polish political prisoners. Auschwitz II-Birkenau, which opened October 1941, was larger and could contain over 100,000 inmates. Auschwitz III-Monowitz provided slave labor for a plant close by. In addition, there were many sub-camps. The most important camp at Auschwitz designed for the extermination of many people was Birkenau; numerous gas chambers and crematoria were established there, mainly to murder and incinerate Jews as

There are also monuments that are more salient and mention the concentration camps that the individuals survived (Appendix B, Figure 2). The community purposefully includes monument inscriptions to show an individual’s connection to the Holocaust. This action creates tribute to those who were victims of the Holocaust. This practice also creates a collaborative means for the community to mourn over these survivors.

     The names Treblinka, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Dachau, Chelmno, Sobibor, Belzek and Majdanek are indelibly stamped on history as poster children for death and inhumanity. The

Many ¬¬horrible things happened during the time of the Holocaust. One of the most famous concentration camps during this time was the Buchenwald Concentration Camp. The camp was set up in 1967 in Weimar, Germany. Many Jews were sent to this camp by the Nazis. Buchenwald was very famous for their liberation, sub-camps the prisoners had to go, and most importantly for being the cause of the millions of deaths.

Auschwitz was one of the most well-known concentration camps, a camp which held many prisoners who were often judged by their looks, race, and religion and not by their actions. In concentration camps people were forced to work and not given basic human rights. Auschwitz was by far the largest concentration camp during World War Two. It quickly gained a reputation for torture and harsh treatment of the prisoners. Auschwitz has a history that can give a person the chills from the horror of the mistreatment of prisoners.

“‘Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions’” (Quotes About Holocaust, 1). The Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz was the brutal murder site of millions of innocent Jews and other perceived enemies of Germany. Here, death and suffering was the norm and there was no escape from the wicked acts of the Nazis until the prisoners’ long awaited liberation. However, Auschwitz changed the victims’ lives forever.

In creating a monument and memorializing an event, the group or agency should consider its importance in bringing together a community, thus providing a sense of attachment. In creating public monuments, it furnishes “a face-to-face encounter in a specially valued place set aside for collective gathering” (Source A). Essentially connecting the past and the present, monuments stand as an absolute reminder of our past. Not only does it serve as a reminder, but it also acts as a holy site as people come together to experience the monument in a simple but powerful way. Monuments establish the sense of community in both a real and imagined fashion. Connections between the people among themselves visiting the authentic public space, and connections between people and history are made. As Source A states, “The public monument speaks to a deep need for attachment that can be met only in a real place, where the imagined community actually materializes.” With memorializing an event, it is important that the emotional connection built off of its fundamental historical significance is considered. Based on Source E, controversy over not only just creating the monument, but also the idea of memorializing the Holocaust was deliberated. Because the United States made little to no effort in preventing the Holocaust, the memorialization of the event drew protest as opponents felt as if this act of remembrance would be offensive emotionally. From this, it is clear that it is important to assess the emotional underlying behind an event and how it could affect communities consequently. Memorializing an event should connect a community, not divide

They live on through the many Holocaust memorials set up throughout the world. Many of the former concentration camps have become memorials in which they were preserved, reconstructed, or completely new memorials were built on the grounds. To name a few, there are memorials at Dachau concentration camp, memorials at Auschwitz, and a good number at Mauthausen camp representing different nations. A grand memorial would be found at Treblinka by Franciszek Duszenko and Adam Haupt. The original camp was completely leveled by the Nazis. Instead, visitors would find a path leading through dense woods to 17,000 granite stones surrounding a central monument. This memorial is meant to represent a graveyard, with the stones symbolizing the towns and communities destroyed throughout the war. Another example of a grand gesture such as this would be the Warsaw Ghetto

Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps were the worst of The Holocaust. What happened at the camps is unimaginable and responsible for a large percentage of deaths that took place during The Holocaust. What started out as a death camp to persecute Poles, grew into the largest camp persecuting Jews. The gas chambers are what brought the large population of Jews to the camps in the first place and were the main strategy of the ‘Final Solution.’ Overall, Auschwitz-Birkenau made a huge impact in the history of The Holocaust and if it was never constructed, who knows what the history of The Holocaust would

There used to be places that were known for torture, forced labor, and murder. People were dragged out of their own homes to be brought there. These places were called concentration camps. They were the largest Nazi killing centers and they took the lives of over a million Jews. The camps are an important part of history that we will never forget.

World heritage sites are significant to learn our history due to the fact that they give a specific foundation for ideas and authenticate them (“Cultural). World Heritage Site is a site that is listed by UNESCO to be a special cultural or bodily importance (“World Heritage site). From 1972, UNESCO took ‘Convention concerning the Protection of the World’s Cultural and Natural Heritage,’ and it inherited in 1976 (“Introduction). The earliest list, which is listed in 1976, contains Galapagos Islands, an island which is in the Pacific Ocean, Mount Everest, a mountain in Nepal, Machu Picchu, a remain in Peru, Grand Canyon in the United States, the Great Barrier Reef, coral reef in Australia and the Great Wall of China

     The Holocaust is one of the most horrifying crimes against humanity. "Hitler, in an attempt to establish the pure Aryan race, decided that all mentally ill, gypsies, non supporters of Nazism, and Jews were to be eliminated from the German population. He proceeded to reach his goal in a systematic scheme." (Bauer, 58) One of his main methods of exterminating these ‘undesirables' was through the use of concentration and death camps. In January of 1941, Adolf Hitler and his top officials decided to make their 'final solution' a reality. Their goal was to eliminate the Jews and the ‘unpure' from the entire population. Auschwitz was the largest

The process required for a site to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List is long and complicated. It has four main steps, each of which are a process in themselves: placement on a tentative list, submission of a nomination file, evaluation by an Advisory Body, and a final decision by the World Heritage Committee. The entire process usually takes about a year and a half, but can vary depending of the time taken for each step (World Heritage Ireland, 2010).