Stephen Darori on the Holocaust : .Kim Darori

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Thursday, 20 March 2014

AUSCHWITZ: CHRONOLOGY

January 25, 1940
The SS decides to construct a concentration camp near Oswiecim (Auschwitz).

May 20, 1940
The first concentration camp prisoners—30 recidivist criminals from Sachsenhausen—arrive at Auschwitz concentration camp.

March 1, 1941
Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of German Police Heinrich Himmler inspects Oswiecim (Auschwitz). Because nearby factories use prisoners for forced labor, Himmler is concerned about the prisoner capacity of the camp. On this visit, he orders both the expansion of Auschwitz I camp facilities to hold 30,000 prisoners and the building of a camp near Birkenau for an expected influx of 100,000 Soviet prisoners of war. Himmler also orders that the camp supply 10,000 prisoners for forced labor to construct an I.G. Farben factory complex at Dwory, about a mile away. Himmler will make additional visits to Auschwitz in 1942, when he will witness the killing of prisoners in the gas chambers.

September 3, 1941
The first gassings of prisoners occur in Auschwitz I. The SS tests Zyklon B gas by killing 600 Soviet prisoners of war and 250 other ill or weak prisoners. Testing takes place in a makeshift gas chamber in the cellar of Block 11 in Auschwitz I. Zyklon B was the commercial name for crystalline hydrogen cyanide gas, manufactured by I.G. Farben and normally used as an insecticide. The "success" of these experiments will lead to the adoption of Zyklon B as the killing agent for the yet-to-be-constructed Auschwitz-Birkenau killing center.

January 25, 1942
SS chief Heinrich Himmler informs Richard Gluecks, the Inspector of Concentration Camps, that 100,000 Jewish men and 50,000 Jewish women would be deported from Germany to Auschwitz as forced laborers.

February 15, 1942
The first transport of Jews from Bytom (Beuthen) in German-annexed Upper Silesia arrives in Auschwitz I. The SS camp authorities kill all those on the transport immediately upon arrival with Zyklon B gas.

December 31, 1942
German SS and police authorities deported approximately 175,000 Jews to Auschwitz in 1942.

January 1 - March 31, 1943
German SS and police authorities deport approximately 105,000 Jews to Auschwitz.

January 29, 1943
The Reich Central Office for Security orders all designated Roma(Gypsies) residing in Germany, Austria, and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia to be deported to Auschwitz.

February 26, 1943
The first transport of Roma (Gypsies) from Germany arrives at Auschwitz. The SS authorities house them in Section B-IIe of Auschwitz-Birkenau, which becomes known as the "Gypsy family camp." By the end of 1943 more than 18,000 Roma (Gypsies) will have been incarcerated in the so-called family camp and as many as 23,000 Gypsies deported to the Auschwitz camp complex.

April 1, 1943 - March 1944
German SS and police authorities deport approximately 160,000 Jews to Auschwitz.

May 2, 1944
The first two transports of Hungarian Jews arrive in Auschwitz.

July 6, 1944
The deportation of Hungarian Jews is halted by order of Regent Miklos Horthy. The last transport from Hungary arrives on July 11.

August 2, 1944
SS camp authorities murder the last residents—just under 3,000—of the so-called Gypsy family camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau. The SS murders an estimated total of 20,000 Roma (Gypsies) in the Auschwitz concentration camp complex.

April 1944 - November 1944
SS and Police authorities deport more than 585,000 Jews to Auschwitz.

October 7, 1944
Members of the Jewish prisoner "special detachment" (Sonderkommando) that was forced to remove bodies from the gas chambers and operate the crematoria stage an uprising. They successfully blow up Crematorium IV and kill several guards. Women prisoners had smuggled gunpowder out of nearby factories to members of the Sonderkommando. The SS quickly suppresses the revolt and kills all the Sonderkommando members. On January 6, 1945, just weeks before Soviet forces liberate the camp, the SS will also hang four women who smuggled gunpowder into the camp.

November 25, 1944
As Soviet forces continue to approach, SS chief Heinrich Himmler orders the destruction of the Auschwitz-Birkenau gas chambers and crematoria. During this SS attempt to destroy the evidence of mass killings, prisoners will be forced to dismantle and dynamite the structures.

January 12, 1945
A Soviet offensive breaches the German defenses on the Vistula; Soviet troops take Warsaw and advance rapidly on Krakow and Oswiecim.

January 18 - 27, 1945
As Soviet units approach, the SS evacuates to the west the prisoners of the Auschwitz concentration camp complex. Tens of thousands of prisoners, mostly Jews, are forced to march to the cities of Wodzislaw and Gliwice in the western part of Upper Silesia. During the march, SS guards shoot anyone who cannot continue. In Wodzislaw and Gliwice, the prisoners will be put on unheated freight trains and deported to concentration camps in Germany, particularly to Flossenbürg, Sachsenhausen, Gross-Rosen, Buchenwald, and Dachau, and to Mauthausen in Austria. In all, nearly 60,000 prisoners are forced on death marches from the Auschwitz camp system. As many as 15,000 die during the forced marches. Thousands more were killed in the days before the evacuation.

January 27, 1945
Soviet troops enter the Auschwitz camp complex and liberate approximately 7,000 prisoners remaining in the camp. During the existence of Auschwitz, the SS camp authorities killed nearly one million Jews from across Europe. Other victims included approximately 74,000 Poles, approximately 21,000 Roma (Gypsies), and approximately 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war.

Wednesday, 12 February 2014

Stephen Darori on the Holocaust : Kim , Bring Me back an Acorn from Auschwitz-Birken...

Stephen Darori on the Holocaust : Kim , Bring Me back an Acorn from Auschwitz-Birken...: Oak trees near ruins of Krema III gas chamber Ruins of undressing room at Krema III with oak trees in background Poster a...

Sunday, 9 February 2014

A Visit to Nazi Concentration Camps 42 years ago ... Kim, I wrote my memories and you can digitally record them now for Social Media's conscience .

t's horrifying, enraging, affirming, soul crushing, isolating, enlightening and a host of other emotions I'll continue to sort out over time.

I visited Treblinka first - northeast of Warsaw, Poland. It was desolate and eerie. We were the only people there for the entire time we visited other than the couple manning the museum.

They have a very small free museum with a few artifacts and you can go on a self led tour even using your car to drive right INTO the camp. First, we parked on the edge and walked in. Then as it got colder and darker, we drove the car carefully around the inside. The Germans tried to destroy all evidence but foundations of the barracks and officer's quarters remained. They've used very modest wooden plaques to identify the various barracks.

They look like this:

It is surrounded by a huge forest on almost all sides. Isolating and deafens out any noise outside of the camp. They've also constructed a huge rock memorial over the giant cremation pit. Some rocks have names and life dates. Some are blank and piled with other rocks. People have brought rocks from all over the world with prewritten messages in sticky paint or permanent marker to leave nestled into the nooks and crannies of the giant monolith in the center.

Next, I visited Auschwitz near Krakow, Poland. It is the most touristy and most rushed experience I had, but it is the most intact and has the most artifacts including massive rooms of human hair, children's shoes and clothes, and various grooming items. Although I REALLY disliked being rushed and not being able to process the experience, you really get a visual idea of how massive the place was. Then Birkenau blows you away. Rows and rows of barracks as far as you can see and although the gas chamber was blown up, portions remained intact. It's the iconic place to go and you'll recognize the arrival gate from Holocaust movies and books.

I also found it a bit ironic that the sticker you have to wear the entire time you are in Auschwitz is bright yellow:

I'm not sure if it is intentional or not, but my first thought was: "Bizarre. You still need a yellow badge to get in. At least it's not a star."

Finally, I visited Dachau in Bavaria, Germany. It was a mix between the two. It has a larger museum, lots of intact barracks, and guided tours. But you can also go on a self guided tour with and audio guide, if you want. When you go to the back of the camp, you can walk through a gas chamber that was used for testing next to a room of ovens.

Here's a picture of the rather unassuming room and door leading to the chamber:

It's surreal to just be able to walk in and walk out at will. There's also a winding path to the right of that building that has two massive memorials filled with ashes. I don't know why but that's the only time I cried out load and continuously at any of the camps. Maybe it was because I was alone or maybe there was just something about that spot. It was powerful. On the same winding path as the memorials are the execution walls where people were executed by firing squad. There's still bullet holes in the walls.

One thing that was disappointing about Dachau was one of the memorials on the outside wall near the museum has incorporated ALL the "badges" of those who were sent there (Jews, Poles, political prisoners, Gypsies, etc) but refused to incorporate the pink triangle badge worn by homosexuals. It seemed disrespectful and petty, regardless of the views (in the 1960s) on homosexuality in Germany.

There's dozens, if not hundreds of camps and sub camps to be seen if one wishes. I believe Dachau had a huge map of all the camps throughout Europe. You won't believe it until you see it.

If I had to suggest only one, especially for people who don't know a lot about the Holocaust, go to Auchwitz. The guided tour, artifacts, and intact buildings really help you to understand the enormity of what took place there.

One last word of advice, especially for you otherwise endearing photo snapping tourists from the east: these are NOT the places for cute, smiling, peace sign group photos. You should have a lot of them from your trip but they shouldn't be at a place of torture and mass murder.