I was able to take the opportunity to visit Auschwitz/Birkenau German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940-1945) 1.5 hours SW of Krakow. The camp is named after two small adjoining towns that no longer exist. Auschwitz has many brick barracks and Birkenau (5 minute drive by car) contained wooden horse stables that housed around 130k people to be used as camp labor. 1+ million people died here and almost 70% died almost immediately after they arrived. The others died usually within 3-4 months of starvation, exposure, disease, etc.
The museum/memorial was established in 1947. One building containing a gas chamber and ovens can be visited as well as exhibits of peoples' belongings (e.g. brushes, shoes, luggage, eye-glasses, prosthetic devices, hair) that were collected, sorted and shipped back to Germany for resale. Auschwitz is also where Josef Mengele performed horrific medical experiments. Thankfully there were no graphic photos of the atrocities.
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