Poland Auschwitz-Birkenau (#2376)

From the guard tower, the foundations and chimneys indicate the expanse of wooden barracks.

The tour had been 2.5 hours, the guide was thorough, providing both excellent information as well as some time to reflect on what you were seeing. However, the logistics of running multiple tours through the camp at the same seemed to remove the viewer from the horror. As a very small example, you don't walk away from this view with a sense of the thousands of emaciated and self-sullied prisoners mulling and flailing about in this space -- or of the number who chose suicide by jumping on to the electrified fences.