Explore the moving memorial dedicated to those who died in the Holocaust and step back to the days of World War II as you walk through the gate of the infamous concentration camp where more than a million European Jews and other prisoners were confined or killed during World War II.
Auschwitz Birkenau Museum is for sure one of the most recognizable places in Europe if not in the World. The former Nazi camp is real proof of human cruelty. It’s going to be a full-day excursion (7-8 hours), visiting well maintained Auschwitz camp which became a memorial museum with intriguing expositions. The second part is a vast camp – Birkenau, situated just outside the city of Oswiecim.
Our English-speaking driver will pick you up from one of the chosen locations in the city center of Krakow. With a comfortable air-conditioned bus, you will drive to the city of Oswiecim. The ride will take about 1,5 hours.
The first steps begin at the well-known gate with “Arbeit Macht Frei” writing. The place was a work camp in the past and the prisoners were forced to do a destructive job. The route leads through the important places which show the daily life of prisoners, work, selection, and extermination. Each barrack is an original exhibition made up of belongings left by prisoners The combination of these items with the guide’s appalling stories helps you see through your own eyes what really happened here, and why we can’t remain indifferently to this place.
Accompanied by your knowledgeable guide, see a collection of sobering exhibits and documents in the original buildings. Visit the museum, including the area of Auschwitz I in Oswiecim and the Birkenau camp, Auschwitz II, for a sobering look at poignant exhibits about the complex, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Auschwitz II Birkenau is a vast open-space camp that shows the size of the murder committed here. You will see the field with many barracks, gas chambers, and crematoriums fenced with a barbed wire. Thousands of people were murdered in this place.
At the museum, founded in 1947 and home to approximately 150 buildings, discover the history of the site and personal stories about some of the prisoners.
With your professional guide providing explanations of what you see, take in the somber exhibits as well as preserved fences, watchtowers, and gas chambers of the Auschwitz-Birkenau complex before your ride back to Krakow.