Auschwitz-Birkenau
Holocaust death camp
Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest Nazi concentration and extermination camp, located in occupied Poland during World War II.
Over a million people, mostly Jews, were murdered there between 1940 and 1945, primarily in gas chambers.
The name has become synonymous with the Holocaust and industrial-scale genocide: After Auschwitz, poetry could never be the same.
Now a memorial and museum.
Complete destruction of a group
- genocideSystematic annihilation of a people
- ShoahNazi extermination of Jews
- death campFacility for mass murder
- gas chambersSealed execution spaces using poison
crematoria · Nazi · deportation · cattle cars · selection · Zyklon B · mass murder · atrocity
Central European republic
- KrakowHistoric Polish metropolis
- railroadPermanent track for trains
- watchtowersTall posts for surveillance
- barbed wireSpiked metal fence material
brick buildings · gate · ruins · birch forest
Those still alive after
- witnessOne who attests
- testimonySworn statement as evidence
- memoirWritten personal recollection
- oral historyRecorded interviews about the past
Elie Wiesel · Anne Frank · documentation · diary · chronicle · account · bearing witness · recording
Public exhibit space
- preservationMaintaining something's condition
- commemorationAct of honoring memory
- remembranceAct of holding something in mind
- survivor testimonyAccount from one who endured
education · monument · UNESCO · pilgrimage · eternal flame · barracks · artifacts · photographs
Profound moral wickedness
- atrocityUnforgivable mass cruelty
- inhumanityExtreme cruelty toward others
- never againPermanent refusal to repeat
- warningAlert about danger
conscience · moral reckoning · darkness · suffering · tragedy · horror · memory · duty
extermination
Complete destruction of a group
- genocideSystematic annihilation of a people
- ShoahNazi extermination of Jews
- death campFacility for mass murder
gas chambers · crematoria · Nazi · deportation · cattle cars · selection · Zyklon B · mass murder · atrocity · persecution
Poland
Central European republic
- KrakowHistoric Polish metropolis
- railroadPermanent track for trains
- watchtowersTall posts for surveillance
barbed wire · brick buildings · gate · ruins · birch forest
survivors
Those still alive after
Elie Wiesel · Anne Frank · oral history · documentation · diary · chronicle · account · bearing witness · recording · interview
museum
Public exhibit space
- preservationMaintaining something's condition
- commemorationAct of honoring memory
- remembranceAct of holding something in mind
survivor testimony · education · monument · UNESCO · pilgrimage · eternal flame · barracks · artifacts · photographs · archives
evil
Profound moral wickedness
- atrocityUnforgivable mass cruelty
- inhumanityExtreme cruelty toward others
- never againPermanent refusal to repeat
warning · conscience · moral reckoning · darkness · suffering · tragedy · horror · memory · duty · lessons
- Atrocity SitesBuchenwald, Bergen-Belsen, Sachsenhausen, Warsaw Ghetto, Rwandan Genocide
- Polish LandmarksWieliczka, Golden Gate
Auschwitz-Birkenauheaven
Sky or bliss
sanctuary · Eden · promised land · holy ground · sacred space
Auschwitz-Birkenausafe haven
Protected place of shelter
hospital · shelter · healing center · refuge · sanctuary city
Auschwitz-Birkenaumaternity hospital
Facility for childbirth
rescue operation · humanitarian mission · sanctuary city · refugee camp · UNICEF