:( We joined a large group for an English guided tour. The group was so large that we only heard half of the stories, facts and tragedies. We'll go again, and if you ever get out here, it would be worth the price for a private, small group guide, and allow at least 4-6 hours, this place and its horrid history can't be rushed, but shouldn't be missed, either.

Six to ten to a "bed." No heat, no blankets, no toilets. Over 300 of these occupied the camp, which was able to house up to 200,000 prisoners at a time. Only the brick barracks remain standing

The blown remains of one of the industrial, custom-built gas chambers at Birkenau. The train brough the Jews straight into the heart of the camp, and those not fit to work were led immediately to these chambers, up to 2,000 people at a time, first stripped, then gassed, then incinerated. None of the structure has been altered since the Russians liberated the camp

The Auschwitz Memorial, a stretched out mass of stones and sculptures, representing all the nationalities of people annihilated. There is a plaque in every language of those who died here. However, despite there not being any British or other English speaking people massacred, an English plaque was added, so the message would be clear to the thousands upon thousands of British, American and other English speaking people to the camp

Birkenau (Auschwitz II), left nearly intact due to the quick invasion of the Russians. Only the gas chambers and the wooden sleeping chambers were destroyed

2 bodies at a time, loaded into the incinerator by 2 German workers, just after the hundreds were gassed in the room behind them, twenty four hours a day, even after the massive gas chambers were erected at Birkenau a few kilometers away, and the doctor who orchestrated the torturing and experiments lived with his family less than 100 meters away, in a nice wooden house with a yard, and no solid fence to hide the sights from the children...

I don't think there were any recorded escapes from any of the concentration/murder camps. Another strange thing was that locals in the nearby towns were also forced to work here or executed for incredibly petty crimes (stealing one potato from a shop, etc.), including children

"Murder alley" More people were shot or killed here by more 'typical' means than any other camp or ghetto, by shootings, hangings, beheadings. Notice the bricked-in windows on the right. One of the rooms on the other side is where the Nazis conducted formal juries regarding every execution or form of torture, processing paperwork and victims' i.d. numbers for every kill.