Perimeter fences, walls and watchtowers in the Stammlager

There is a high wall that marks the perimeter of the Stammlager which is interrupted by many watch towers with mile upon mile of electrified barbed wire fencing that follows the inside of the perimeter wall as well as dividing the camp into different areas. It is mentioned in a BBC documentary that Rudolf Hoess had to scrounge the barb wire needed to build the Stammlager fences.

These pictures were taken by my Niece in January 2016:

Crematorium I Part 2

Here is a video showing the back of crematorium I. Note the small hole in the door, presumably for SS guards to watch the gassing process. I have seen similar doors at Majdanek concentration camp.

The chimney of the current crematoria building seems to be detached from the building, evidence it has been re-built.

The front entrance of crematorium I.

Crematorium I Part 1

There is a crematorium with attached gas chambers at the Stammlager called crematorium I. However as far as I know the majority of the original buildings and chimney were destroyed and have been rebuilt by the museum. I believe that crematorium I in the stammlager was the first improvised gas chamber used to kill prisoners with Zyklon B. Before Birkenau was built the ramp was located at the Stammlager close to crematorium I. Once the Birkenau site was established and two small cottages named the 'Little White House' and the 'Little Red House' were converted to improvised gas chambers, the use of crematorium I changed to storage. It was also used as an air raid shelter later in the war.

The first view of the crematoria can be seen from within the camp:

As you walk towards crematorium I a gallows can be clearing seen in a raised clearing to the right. This is where Rudolf Hoess was hung in 1947 after the Nurenburg trials where he testified. He was the longest serving commandant of Auschwitz and the man in charge during the deportation of the Hungarian Jews.

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Block 11

Block 11 in the Stammlager was the prison block that was located in a walled courtyard. Most of the building was set up for torture of one sort or another.

Between Block 10 and 11 was the 'Extermination Wall' where thousands of prisoners were shot by firing squad. The windows of Block 10 looking over the courtyard were blocked in with wood. A guide informed me that the windows were shuttered so the prisoners in Block 10 could not see what was happening at the Extermination Wall.

A strange room near to the main entrance on the ground floor was a court room where people were tried before being taken into an adjacent room to undress before being taken out into the courtyard to be shot. I suppose its strange to me that the SS guards would take the time to put prisoners on trial with everything else that was happening at Birkenau. I wondered what sort of 'fair' trial it was?

In memory of all those who lost their lives in block 11 the Stammlager Auschwitz I












Block 11 has a basement containing a rabbit warren of corridors and cells. Looking through the small holes in the door of one of these cells reveals an empty cell with a square box in the corner with a hole in the lid, the toilet I presume.

Down one corridor are the apply named 'standing cells'. A meter square from floor to ceiling with a small trap door where four prisoners were forced to climb in and stand (lack of space prevented them sitting or lying) all night and then work the next day, then back to the cells and so on until the punishment ended or they died. The museum has cut away some of the wall of one of the cells to give an idea of how small it is inside the cell.

I first heard on the BBC documentary 'Auschwitz The Nazis and the Final Solution', that the basement underneath block 11 was the site where approximately 600 Russian prisoners were poisoned with Zyklon B for the first time. History describes what happened next.

Below I am looking down the very corridor where 600 Russian prisoners were murdered.

Walking around the many blocks of Stammlager I Part 1

There are many different blocks within the perimeter of the Stammlager, and they all look very similar. Alot of the blocks were administration and accommodation, but some had very specific uses. Over the next few blogs I have selected a few blocks and areas of the Stammlager that stick in my mind:

This was a scan of the main camp from inside the main gate. I believe the little wooden hut with pointed roof in front of the building is where the SS guards stood during role call, which could take several hours.

Here is a closer look at the hut used by the SS guards during role call. I believe this area was called Roll Call Square. Imagine having to line up for hours in the cold of the Polish winter or the heat of the Polish summer for hours, with little food or water, malnourished with unsuitable clothes.




Blocks 19 to 21. Named by the prisoners as the 'crematorium waiting room'. Supposedly the infirmary. From 1941 the SS guards carried out selections amongst sick prisoners.

First Trip to Auschwitz The Main Gate

Auschwitz, synonymous with the murder of over one million people. Of the many satellite camps that made up the Auschwitz complex in the 1940's two, possibly three are well known; the best known being Auschwitz Birkenau or Auschwitz II, the Stammlagger or Auschwitz I and possibly less well known Monowitz or Auschwitz III.

My first visit was to the Stammlager was I the heat of June 2009. Below is the first video I took of any camp. Its a shaky effort to take the main gate with a new camera. Also shows the block where the kitchens were housed.



Over the years I have taken several pictures of the main gate:

Beautiful Poland, Krakow

While Warsaw could be described as industrial, Krakow is a very beautiful city.

On our first visit we stayed in the Jewish quarter. During the war it became a getto for the Jews. Today it remains largely untouched and undeveloped with trees growing inside houses.

On the most recent stay we stayed close to the Main Market Square just after Christmas this year. In the snow and at night the Market Square is beautiful and the food and drink wonderful:

My emerging interest in the holocaust - Dachau

The first concentration camp I visited was Dachau Concentration camp near Munich back in 2003. This camp was a concentration camp set up in 1933 by Himmler, and I believe was mainly a labour camp, although there was also a lot of experimenting done on the human prisoners.

I had a spare afternoon during a conference and we decided to go and take a look.

The camp today, as you walk through the main entrance and passed some administration buildings, is basically a large square with the foundations and remains of several huts surrounded by a perimeter fence and watch towers with the crematoria and church at the far end of the square.

I do not have any photos or videos of this trip, However below are some postcards I brought at the time.

Top left shows the perimeter fence and a watch tower, other camps have the same layout.

Top right, this is the crematorium (looks similar to crematorium 4 at Auschwitz). It is located at the top of the camp just outside the main fence and through some trees. Apparently no one was gassed in this crematorium. They used Zyklon B to disinfect clothing and bedding. Interestingly, I remember there were three rooms, the first, entered from the right of the building (unsure of its use) lead to a middle room with a drain in the middle (apparently where bodies were stored until cremated) and then into the crematoria (ovens still in place). They reminded me of the 'Hansel and Gretel' oven in the nursery rhyme.

Bottom left shows the memorial sculpture located in the main square

Bottom right shows the main square through the barbed wire.

p.s. I am fascinated by barbed wire and how the Germans used it and its configuration.

At the top of the camp, furthest from the main entrance (first place where Albeit Macht Frei is used, Hoess used this famously at Auschwitz) is the original church. A small courtyard led to the church. I can still remember feeling very uncomfortable when I entered the courtyard.

On leaving the church to the right was a path that led to a modern church and a blind wall apparently where prisoner's were shot.

Poland is a beautiful country.

As most of the main Concentration and Death camps are located in Poland, I have travelled to Poland four times to date. While I found Warsaw very industrial, it was still nice, but Krakow and Lublin are beautiful cities.

What's nice about Warsaw is that it has suitable eateries! This is a picture taken this January, the first meal after a short flight with British Airways















Well bless my soul, I the same area we found a Lidl. It was about -7C below.

The Wasp on the Ramp

Hi to all,

This is my only blog. As the blog develops it will explore the journey I am taking through understanding the holocaust which occurred between 1939 and 1945 in Poland. There are also several questions I would like to answer.

Firstly, why the name holocaust and the wasp? During the first visit to Auschwitz Birkenau I was attacked on 'the ramp' by a wasp. I have attached a video which shows what happened.