Photography at Auschwitz

Any of you who have been to Auschwitz notice any bird life.

Someone I knew who went there in the 60's remarked on the complete absence of birds.
 
arclight said:
Any of you who have been to Auschwitz notice any bird life.

Someone I knew who went there in the 60's remarked on the complete absence of birds.
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There was a fair amount when I went....considering the habitat. Birkenau has no trees at all, except for the very far end....and has some hedges around the edges, but given the size of the place there is very minimal habitat for birds. Hence why there isn't usually much to be seen there!

It isn't a coincidence like people imagine it to be...merely a fact of nature. There are numerous trees around the entrance to Auschwitz and I was literally tripping over crows on my visit :)

In response to you claim that you are equivalent to a holocaust denier if you don't take photographs...don't be so bloomin' disrespectful and arrogant.

People do not go to take photographs, most people go to appreciate the place for what it is, and to take time out to think and recollect. As I said, it isn't Big Ben or the Tower of London. I came back with 6 photographs to show people...it took me 2 visits over 2 days to take them.

Photographs of the place of how it is today, do not prove the holocaust happened...they just prove the place is there. :thinking:

Desantnik - As I said, I went twice in 2 days...I didn't see any coach loads of kids running rampage. I did see a couple of large groups of kids, and a fair number more smaller groups of kids...all walking round with their guides very well disciplined and looking interested in the place and learning of it's past. It ain't Alton Towers!
 
Does anyone know if there planning to close it in the near future or is this just speculation.
 
apologies for this story

my ex was half german by virtue of her mother, we regularly visited her relatives in germany, in 95, while on holiday, her grandfather asked me to accompany him to auschwitz and dachau so he could pay his respects, after a bit of thought i agreed. on arrival at auschwitz, albrecht (albert) and i followed the tour guide for the tour then wandered around by ourselves, i kept a respectful distance and allowed him to do what he had to do, after a couple of hours, albert said he wanted to sit in the bus and wait for the rest of the tour members, this was a sad day and my knowledge of auschwitz was shown to be the tip of the iceburg ! we returned home in silence

two days later and albert and i were on a plane to dachau, just outside munich, after auschwitz, i thought i was in for the same sort of experience, nobody ever mentions dachau much in the uk......not too many people have heard of it let alone know what happened there, however, NOTHING and i mean NOTHING could ever have prepared me for dachau, standing in the same spot as the bags of bones in the picture on the wall, seeing the pile of spectacles, the pile of shoes and boots, looking inside the ovens, touching the bullet holes in the execution wall at the far end of the camp, i remember concentrating so hard on keeping my emotions in check, i got a headache ! albert stood in front of the picture of several young women who were lying at the front of a pile of around two hundred of the dead, he stood for almost half an hour, looking, i walked up to him and was just about to ask some question or other when he turned to me and gave me a daisy he had picked and said " a present from my wife" then he touched one of the young women with his index finger "remember her even though you never knew her"........my emotions shot to hell, i cried.....

his wife, a dark haired german, was taken to auschwitz then moved to dachau to serve the german officers, she was a german girl executed by her own race !

sadly i had no camera as i hadn't found the joys of photography yet, if i had been able to take any photographs you can be damn sure i would post the flaming things all over the internet !

the world needs to be reminded of the holocaust, show the pictures and do the world a favour



ps they can't close any of the holocaust sites, they are protected under european laws apparently
 
Speculation as far as I am aware...the place is on the World Heritage site list, I don't think it'll be closed any time soon. I can just imagine the anti-semetic claims made by the Jewish community.
 
Spine tingling and thought provoking thread. I want to go this year, and as stated before, I'll take shots outside, but not inside (Regardless if they are allowed or not) out of respect.
 
NickTB said:
Spine tingling and thought provoking thread. I want to go this year, and as stated before, I'll take shots outside, but not inside (Regardless if they are allowed or not) out of respect.
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Keep your eye on Ryanair flights...loads to Katowice and Krakow which are both good for Auschwitz and dirt cheap if you can get some of their 1p flights :)
 
Knocker I'm surprised at you saying Dachau was a more disturbing experience than Auschwitz. Do you think that was down to visiting with Albrecht?

After my visit to Dachau I felt I probably wouldn't be able to handle Auschwitz, as I had been so disturbed by my visit and I felt Auschwitz would be much worse. Dachau, after all, wasn't an extermination camp but a transit camp. However I think the death toll for Dachau is 36,000.

I was supposed to spend the next week visiting customers in Germany but I couldn't really face being in Germany any longer and felt I had to get out to reset my mind.

We drove to Prague and spent the rest of the weekend there, returning to Munich on Sunday evening ready for work the next day.
 
purpleclouds said:
Keep your eye on Ryanair flights...loads to Katowice and Krakow which are both good for Auschwitz and dirt cheap if you can get some of their 1p flights :)
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I just looked and from Stanstead around the times I want to go, prices are roughly £40 each return. Even that's not bad!
 
NickTB said:
I just looked and from Stanstead around the times I want to go, prices are roughly £40 each return. Even that's not bad!
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Me and the other half are going next month for 4p :LOL: Try out of Birmingham...might be a lot cheaper even with travelling over there :)
 
purpleclouds said:
Me and the other half are going next month for 4p :LOL: Try out of Birmingham...might be a lot cheaper even with travelling over there :)
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Yes was looking from stansted myself there are some for 1p it's the taxes and service charge how the money is made i guess, which is the nearest to auschwitz Katowice or Krakow ?
 
TG. said:
Yes was looking from stansted myself there are some for 1p it's the taxes and service charge how the money is made i guess, which is the nearest to auschwitz Katowice or Krakow ?
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Mine is 4p all in...only taking hand luggage and checking in online etc! :)

I know there are coaches that go from Krakow every hour...it's about £5 for a return ticket and it's about an hour and 15 minutes each way. I should imagine there are from Katowice too, but as it is less touristy there I don't know if it'd be as often! Alternatively you can take the train from either..should be no more than a fiver too, but would involve a 15 minute walk to the entrance :)
 
purpleclouds said:
Mine is 4p all in...only taking hand luggage and checking in online etc! :)

I know there are coaches that go from Krakow every hour...it's about £5 for a return ticket and it's about an hour and 15 minutes each way. I should imagine there are from Katowice too, but as it is less touristy there I don't know if it'd be as often! Alternatively you can take the train from either..should be no more than a fiver too, but would involve a 15 minute walk to the entrance :)
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Thanks for the info, i think when i get around to going i would probably take a train and walk, the thing i hate about coach trips is the limited time you can have, which can sometimes mean having to rush your photos, i've found this in the past going to other place's.
 
TG. said:
Thanks for the info, i think when i get around to going i would probably take a train and walk, the thing i hate about coach trips is the limited time you can have, which can sometimes mean having to rush your photos, i've found this in the past going to other place's.
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In that case... Train times and fares :)
 
trapper, i think dachau was worse for me because it's "all there" if you know what i mean, it's been rebuilt in places and the bulk of it is intact and just as it was left, i mean, bullet holes and gas chamber and ovens etc, auschwitz is a ruin mostly, still a mind blowing, emotion stirring sadness filled place though, being with a man looking at his wifes body in a picture at the place she died, watching him crumble and return to that time in 1945 was something so powerful it cannot be put into words, so maybe you are right, being there with albert probably had a profound effect on my views of the two camps. albert died in 2001, i went to his funeral (he requested i went in his will even though his daughter and i had long since parted) i still have the daisy he gave me, dried and pressed in a little wood and glass case !

i would advise everyone to go to see and experience dachau and auschwitz, be prepared though, no matter how life hardened and strong you think you are....you will discover you're nothing like you think you are !
i am toying with the idea of a visit to bergen-belsen but i'm not sure i could handle it.
 
T.H.Tommo said:
Kinda related- I have been to the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam (its not all dope and hookers ya know!) which is quite amazin, its all exactly the way its was when the family left. For anyone who has read the book it is a must visit.
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in 2000 I bought a new Ford transit from a garage in belgium I flew to Amsterdam with the intention of going to see the Anne Frank house, as I got off the plane I overheard the stewardesses talking about a 24 hour rail strike the next day so I had to abandon all my plans and get straight on a train, I don't suppose i'll get the chance to go again

Ever since I saw The World At War in the 70s i've had an interest in the 1940s, probably because it was such a world changing time

I don't see a problem of taking photographs of historical sites of any kind, photographing Auschwitz and displaying them on sites such as this keeps the memory of what happened there alive so people don't forget
 
I went there in 1997, took some photos on B&W film. A very powerful experience.

My teenage daughter went there last year with a school project, I can't recall the details but I think there is national funding for British schools to send kids there on some kind of educational project.
 
Photography aside, my daughter is doing her A levels, and pre/war/postwar Germany is part of her studies, she wants to visit Auschwitz, so I said we would fly over and spend a couple of days in Krakow, and visit Auschwitz.

Which is the best way to organise it, I've seen a few 'package' tours (flight/hotel/bus to camp) or is it easy enough organising hotels, bus journey and get a cheapo flight to Krakow?
 
Any of you who have been to Auschwitz notice any bird life.

Someone I knew who went there in the 60's remarked on the complete absence of birds.
Click to expand...

There were birds in the trees on the periphery. Life goes on in Oświęcim.
 
The lack of birds thing is often said about all sorts of places that have witnessed massive carnage, but its just an urban myth. Nothing really keeps the birds away!
 
Les McLean said:
Photography aside, my daughter is doing her A levels, and pre/war/postwar Germany is part of her studies, she wants to visit Auschwitz, so I said we would fly over and spend a couple of days in Krakow, and visit Auschwitz.

Which is the best way to organise it, I've seen a few 'package' tours (flight/hotel/bus to camp) or is it easy enough organising hotels, bus journey and get a cheapo flight to Krakow?
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Les, yes just best off with cheap flights! You can book tours in Krakow but they are generally over priced. There are coaches that take you from from the coach station at Krakow Glowny rail station (the main one) which are a fiver return, entrance is free anyway and you can walk around on your own. Alternatively you could join one of the tours when you arrive, they are about 50p if I remember correctly.

Hotels in Krakow are usually priced fairly...although I did (and am) opt for a hostel...£6 a night! OK it was in a rough area, but the one I am staying in next time is £10 and right next to the main rail station/shopping area...so not much of a difference!
 
purpleclouds said:
Les, yes just best off with cheap flights! You can book tours in Krakow but they are generally over priced. There are coaches that take you from from the coach station at Krakow Glowny rail station (the main one) which are a fiver return, entrance is free anyway and you can walk around on your own. Alternatively you could join one of the tours when you arrive, they are about 50p if I remember correctly.

Hotels in Krakow are usually priced fairly...although I did (and am) opt for a hostel...£6 a night! OK it was in a rough area, but the one I am staying in next time is £10 and right next to the main rail station/shopping area...so not much of a difference!
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Thanks for that :), sounds good although I don't think my old bones could put up with a hostel-perhaps 30 years ago maybe :), but I'll go with the rest.
 
Les McLean said:
Photography aside, my daughter is doing her A levels, and pre/war/postwar Germany is part of her studies, she wants to visit Auschwitz, so I said we would fly over and spend a couple of days in Krakow, and visit Auschwitz.

Which is the best way to organise it, I've seen a few 'package' tours (flight/hotel/bus to camp) or is it easy enough organising hotels, bus journey and get a cheapo flight to Krakow?
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Hotels are as cheap as chips Les, we stayed in the Hotel Campanile in Krakow, excellent location, basic but clean, it had great reviews on trip advisor, that sold it to us! We paid around £14 each for 5 of us to hire a minibus with an english speaking driver to take us to Auschwitz and Birkenau and back.

Krakow itself is an excellent city, a three course meal with wine comes in at less than £20, it's lovely and very safe feeling!

I really can't recommend it highly enough!

Dave
 
CarlukeDave said:
Hotels are as cheap as chips Les, we stayed in the Hotel Campanile in Krakow, excellent location, basic but clean, it had great reviews on trip advisor, that sold it to us! We paid around £14 each for 5 of us to hire a minibus with an english speaking driver to take us to Auschwitz and Birkenau and back.

Krakow itself is an excellent city, a three course meal with wine comes in at less than £20, it's lovely and very safe feeling!

I really can't recommend it highly enough!

Dave
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I must admit, the roaming groups of 3 police men and alsations did take any fear out of me! As soon as the sun had gone, they were out...must have been a group every couple of hundred yards!
 
I went to oradour sur glen a couple of years ago. Again it has a profound effect on you. Not seen so many people walking around in complete silence...
 
Hard to believe that ther are some [including very intelligent and highly placed people] that the holocaust didn't happen. I wonder if they have visited?

Dunc
 
Duncan.F said:
Hard to believe that ther are some [including very intelligent and highly placed people] that the holocaust didn't happen. I wonder if they have visited?

Dunc
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More than likely they have an agenda that they support with a lie.
 
arclight said:
More than likely they have an agenda that they support with a lie.
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Yeah it kinda looses you support when you are trying to reinvent and sell an ideology that created that. You'd need to find a way to make people believe that never happened and never would again if you want anything but lunatic support.
 
desantnik said:
Yeah it kinda looses you support when you are trying to reinvent and sell an ideology that created that. You'd need to find a way to make people believe that never happened and never would again if you want anything but lunatic support.
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Holocaust denial is what it is and is illegal in many countries.
Those that are behind the denial are not fools. They are intelligent, but have evil intent in that they wish to see the political system that brought about the holocaust reinstated.
As you indicate they cannot use the likes of Auschwitz as their flagship. People would be outraged.

Kind of wandering away from photography, but it is an emotive issue.
 
Sounds to me like you treated your subject very sensitively.

It is important to record things photographically for future generations, especially on such a subject, and not least because the deniers are having an impact unfortunately.

Somewould argue there are taboo subjects in photography, let's hope the Holocaust never becomes one of them.
 
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