Remnants of Dehumanization at Auschwitz II-Birkenau
Walking through the preserved barracks at Auschwitz II-Birkenau confronts visitors with the stark reality of life and death in Nazi concentration camps. This photograph captures one of the sanitation sheds, where rows of crude concrete benches with circular openings served as communal toilets for thousands of prisoners.
Under the holes ran open cesspits or channels, not plumbing. Prisoners had to sit shoulder-to-shoulder, with no privacy at all. There was no running water, toilet paper, or sanitation as we’d understand it.
Prisoners were allowed to use the latrines only at fixed times, usually twice a day. Each use was limited to a few minutes for hundreds of people. Missing roll call because of illness or diarrhea could lead to severe punishment or death.
It was part of the systematic dehumanization of prisoners.
Visiting sites like Auschwitz-Birkenau or viewing documentary photographs serves multiple purposes: honoring the memory of victims, educating future generations, and reinforcing our collective responsibility to recognize and resist hatred, discrimination, and dehumanization in all its forms.
I suspect this is a lesson being forgotten or denied by many today.
27 January 1945 | On Saturday, at around 9 a.m., the first Soviet soldier from a reconnaissance unit of the 100th Infantry Division appeared on the grounds of the prisoners’ infirmary in Monowitz. The entire division arrived half an hour later. The same day a military doctor arrived and began to organize assistance.
In the afternoon soldiers of the Red Army entered the vicinity of the Auschwitz main camp and Birkenau. Near the main camp, they met resistance from retreating German units. 231 Red Army soldiers died in close combat for the liberation of Auschwitz, Birkenau and Monowitz. Two of them died in front of the gates of Auschwitz main camp. One of them was Lieutenant Gilmudin Badryjewicz Baszirow.
The first Red Army troops arrived in Birkenau and Auschwitz at around 3 p.m. and were joyfully greeted by the liberated prisoners. After the removal of mines from the surrounding area, soldiers of the 60th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front marched into the camp and brought freedom to the prisoners who were still alive. On the grounds of the main camp were 48 corpses and in Birkenau were over 600 corpses of male and female prisoners who were shot or died in the last few days.
At the time of the Red Army’s arrival, there were 7,000 sick and exhausted prisoners in the Auschwitz, Birkenau and Monowitz camps.
Auschwitz Memorial / Muzeum Auschwitz
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