The Train to Auschwitz

Photo essay: Largest Nazi death camp near Krakow, Poland

by Jahanshah Javid
08-Sep-2010
 

Auschwitz was a network of concentration and extermination camps built and operated in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during the Second World War. It was the largest of the German concentration camps, consisting of Auschwitz I (the Stammlager or base camp); Auschwitz II-Birkenau (the Vernichtungslager or extermination camp); Auschwitz III-Monowitz, also known as Buna-Monowitz (a labor camp); and 45 satellite camps >>> Wikipedia

>>> Auschwitz photos start here
>>> Photo essay starts here

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maziar 58

..

by maziar 58 on

jj you should've told him (the italian) caddy : sono persiano !

and then he would'd told you the carpenter's joke and.... he may even taarof at the end for the charges! believe me. 

nice pictures even though some were not zoomed in the right spots.  Maziar


Reality-Bites

Could not have said it better myself

by Reality-Bites on

Injustice is injustice

by Jahanshah Javid on

asadabad, it makes perfect sense that Israel should be condemned for its persecution of Palestinians. So should Palestinian terrorism (killing civilians can never be justified). Injustice is injustice, no matter who the perpetrator.

Now my question is, are Iranians who are so concerned about the plight of Palestinians equally angry and disgusted at the way IRANIANS are persecuted by the Islamic Republic?

Let's not be selective. Condemn injustice under any circumstance, by any person or group, or by any government.

================================

Prefectly put. Agree with every single point.


Javadagha

Purim and death of 75,000 Persians

by Javadagha on

Jews celebrate, every year. Through their Festival of
Purim/Yurim, Jews gloat about killing about 75,000 Persian men, women and children in cities of Hamedan, Shoush, Parse, and Babylon.

You do the math, given the population size then and now, which is worse in numbers? Purim or Holocaust?

Thank you Bijan for the reminder of 43,000,000 FORTY THREE MILLION other people being killed.


Anonymouse

Also the Killing Fields in Cambodia where 1 - 2 million died

by Anonymouse on

JJJ the scale of the genocide in The Killing Fields of Cambodia and under Khemer Rouge and as recent as mid to late 1970s is really large. 

1.4 to 2.2 million out of a population of around 7 million is a big chunk of the population.  Also a place to visit JJJ and some photos.

Everything is sacred


amirkabear4u

JJ

by amirkabear4u on

 you said;

"And it's also a reminder to me of the persistent and wide-spread persecution of Jews throughout history for nothing more than religious reasons, basically."

Among others the Romans did it too, at large scale, and that was about 2000 years ago before all the dictators were born.

I WONDER WHY.


Jahanshah Javid

Maybe

by Jahanshah Javid on

Maybe Princess. I'm not sure. I might not be using the words correctly. But I don't think we can explain it by saying that's just how the Germans operate. I think there's more to it. As you mentioned earlier, I think the problem is self-righteousness, which can be very cold and calculating.


Princess

Really, JJ?

by Princess on

Was this genocide really uniquely systematic?? Or does it only seem so because the perpetrators were too arrogant at first and ran out of time in the end to get rid of or hide all evidence. And finally, for whatever reason the jews have been much better at documenting these crimes than other genocide victims. Just think about it, how many other sites of genocide have you visited in your life?

Systematic annihilation is an integral part of the definition of the word genocide.

Remeber we are dealing with Germans here. Germans are known to be methodological in everything they do, so they are probably more systematic than the rest of us. That is partly why so much evidence still exists. So maybe, it was the "neatness" with which these crimes were commited that left a unique impression on you, but to me genocide is genocide whether it is done in an orderly or a messy manner.

I am not trivializing this monstrosity, because frankly it cannot be trivialised, but I believe it is improtant to put things into perspective, if we are to draw the right lessons from history.


MRX1

Thanks

by MRX1 on

Finaly interesting and meaningfull  pictures to see for all, instead of the usual 'my trip to Iran' pictures of chelokabab, bazar, ameh, khaleh and people  that no body knows except the person that post them here.


Anonymouse

Holocaust was NOT a myth!

by Anonymouse on

Akhmadinejad's ear should be twisted and taken here and his head (while ear being twisted) banged at each bed, wall and corner and asked is this a myth?  

Interesting pictures and BTW JJJ nice haircut! 

Everything is sacred


Jahanshah Javid

Injustice is injustice

by Jahanshah Javid on

asadabad, it makes perfect sense that Israel should be condemned for its persecution of Palestinians. So should Palestinian terrorism (killing civilians can never be justified). Injustice is injustice, no matter who the perpetrator.

Now my question is, are Iranians who are so concerned about the plight of Palestinians equally angry and disgusted at the way IRANIANS are persecuted by the Islamic Republic?

Let's not be selective. Condemn injustice under any circumstance, by any person or group, or by any government.


Jahanshah Javid

Unique atrocity

by Jahanshah Javid on

Thanks Princess. I think the genocide particularly against Jews during World War is unique not just in terms of scale, but how systematic it was. The round-up, imprisonment and extermination were carried out in a very methodical way. This was not an act of sudden rage like what happened in Rwanda in a period of months. Or the deaths of millions under the Ottomans, Stalinist Russia, Maoist China or even the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. What's mind-boggling about the Holocaust is the cold, rational thinking and process of eliminating "inferior" human beings.

And it's also a reminder to me of the persistent and wide-spread persecution of Jews throughout history for nothing more than religious reasons, basically.


Jahanshah Javid

Yes he did

by Jahanshah Javid on

Faramarz, the Italian driver did overcharge me big time. And as always, I paid and didn't argue when I'm ripped off.


Jahanshah Javid

"Daddy was here"

by Jahanshah Javid on

More pictures I forgot to post:
//iranian.com/main/image/120499


afyoun

Sephardic & African Ancestry

by afyoun on

Journalist Jean-Paul Mulders and historian Marc Vermeeren used DNA to track down 39 of the Fuhrer's relatives earlier this year.

DNA tests reveal 'Hitler was descended from the Jews and Africans he hated. (Daily Mail)

Read More


Jahanshah Javid

101-120

by Jahanshah Javid on

I just woke up and checked the photo essay. I left out photos 101 to 121... I added them now. Starts here:
//iranian.com/main/image/120472


Khar

YES IT DID HAPPEN....

by Khar on

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it"  -George Santayana

IRI leadership or perhaps the whole Islamic world should take this tour!!! 


Ari Siletz

Organized insanity!

by Ari Siletz on

.

asadabad

Bijan

by asadabad on

You are absolutely right!  If we condemn the Holocaust, then by the same logic and standards everyone must also condemn the extermination of the Palestinian people.  It is a travesty of justice that the horrors of the Holocaust are used to justify the expulsion, killing, and starvation of the Palestinians.

If Israel-supporters had any heart, they would condemn the brutalization of the Palestinians.  This is about respecting other peoples suffering.  

Moreover, it's not just the Palestinians who are being silenced by the Holocaust Industry.  Armenians have suffered at the hands of people like Elie Wiesel who seek to downplay their mass-killings in order to prop up the "Holocaust uniqueness" doctrine.  This is the abuse of history and the misuse of antisemitism! 


Roozbeh_Gilani

Lesson of History to Iran's Islamist regime's leadership:

by Roozbeh_Gilani on

You will be dragged from your high throne by the will of the people. You'll lose your wealth and power,  You'll be tried like the criminals your are and hanged for your crimes against the people. your torture houses (Evin...) your secret burial places (Khavaran...) will be used as evidence against you murdering cowardly  criminals. 

 


Princess

Never ceases to shock

by Princess on

It is true that the Jewish population of Europe were not the only victims of these heinous crimes, but that is besides the point. What matters is that here crime scene has been preserved as an evidence frozen for eternity. An evidence of what mankind is capable of doing to another when they follow a self righteous ideology guided by blind hatred. The Nazis thought they were right and that they in fact were working towards the “betterment” of the world.  The fact remains that these are definitely not the first crimes of their sort in human history, nor are they the last. These are just the best documented. I find it truly heartwrenching to watch how in this case the victims have become perpetrators themselves.  Thank you JJ for sharing these. I grew up with having the crimes of the Nazis beaten into my head in history lesson after history lesson. I can tell you no matter how often you see these scenes of disturbing images and how familiar you are with them, the scale and magnitude of the evil cruelty and blind hatred never ceases to shock.


Faramarz

Great Pictures J.J.

by Faramarz on

Wonderful pictures and a sobering experience. Thanks for sharing JJ.

That Italian Tour Guide looks like a trouble maker! Did he overcharge you?

I hear that in Poland food is bad, beer is great and the girls are friendly!

Did you hear any new Polish jokes while you were there?


The Prince

Thank you JJ

by The Prince on

NO time to sit down and weep though. Same thing is happening in your homeland RIGHT NOW!  The man and the nightmare are alive and kicking my brother...

If the monsters today have not been able to kill as many as Hitler and Stalin did, it is not because they are nicer. It is because THEY CAN'T. Despite all the shit that is going on today, I think the world is a little bit of a better place! 

Some day we will have a museum in Evin!   

 


Bavafa

Thanks JJ for a great

by Bavafa on

Thanks JJ for a great report and thank you Bijan for a great comment.

Mehrdad


Q

Eli Wiezel wrote about the very room you visited,

by Q on

in "Night", that's where his father, being forced to help burn corpses began to lose it and go senile by the time they marched to Treblinka.

Thanks for the photo essay, it was a good service.

As to your apt question "Are we caught up in politics?" You have your first two "Yes" answers below.


Fred

Thank you

by Fred on

Thank you for the heartfelt report. I live to see the day when in a democratic Iran professional reports like this can be made about Islamist Rapists’ crimes against humanity.  

By standing ideally by for a long time allowing the Nazis to do this, the civilized world lost a lot. Unfortunately Rwanda, Darfur and too man other places including Iran are testament to the fact that the lesson has not been learned.


Bijan Douli

very sad that how cruel people can be!

by Bijan Douli on

They should have all the israeli soldiers visit this place before dropping chemical bombs on the innocent palestinian children and before the talk of nuking Iran. They should teach the israelis that palestinians and arabs are not "dog" or "dirt" as they call them, they are also human and let's not forget semite as well.

BTW how many non-jews died in WWll? 43 million? why don't we hear about them? Were they not human as well? Even 3 million japanes died.

When I die, I want to be cremated. Best way to go!

To the day that we treat all people equally regardless of their religion, nationality, ethnic origin.