This is the famous entrance to Birkenau (Auschwitz II) Concentration Camp. The picture is taken from the outside of the Camp. From May 1944 (but not before), the railroad track was constructed to enter directly into the Camp through its front gate. From

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This is the famous entrance to Birkenau
(Auschwitz II) Concentration Camp.The picture is
taken from the outside of the Camp. From May 1944
(but not before), the railroad track was
constructed to enter directly into the Camp
through its front gate. From that time on, all
trains, arriving with deportees from almost
entire Europe, would enter directly into the Camp
on one of the three (3) railroad tracks
constructed (as seen in the next picture).
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The same picture taken from the inside. Now, we
can see the entire railroad tracks complex from
within the Camp with the space between the tracks
known as the "Ramp of Death" because it was from
that place that the newly arrivals were selected
for who would go straight to the gas
chambers. This railroad tracks complex was built
only in early 1944 when it was realized that the
deportation of Jews from Hungary, including
Northern Transylvania and Subcarpathian Ukraine
--both annexed at that time to Hungary, would
exceed all previously known quotas. As a result
of that, Rudolf Höss, the commander of the
Birkenau Camp went two times to Budapest. There,
he met with Eichmann (head of Gestapo that was
responsible for resolving once and for all the
so-called Jewish problem) who, temporarily, had
moved his headquarters to the capital of Hungary.
Together, they were able to come up with an
understanding with the Hortyst authorities
whereby they could "adjust" the gassing and
burning from the Birkenau crematoria with the
rate of arrival of the incoming trains.
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Now we can see the "Ramp of Death" as it looked
in 1944. In the Spring and Summer of that year,
the 147 freight trains carried (in their over
6000 locked railcars with grated windows) 434,351
mothers and children, women and men. The entire
Jewish population from Hungary and Northern
Transylvania STOPPED HERE. In here, on this Ramp,
the GREAT SELECTION took place. From each
transport (consisting of some 3000 people) at
least 2000 have been selected for death. From
there, from that very Ramp that you see, that
looks so peaceful and tranquil, 2000 innocent
people were selected, that looked no different
than you, TO GO STRAIGHT TO THE GAS CHAMBERS. The
remaining thousand people were selected,
temporarily, for slave labor. In the picture,
you see two empty trains. From these trains, only
5 or 6 hours before, the previous transport was
disembarked. In the front of the picture, we see
small groups of SS-men inspecting the Ramp to see
that everything is ready for the "welcoming" of
the new transport. Further back in the picture,
we can see some prisoners (German "Haftlings)
from the so-called Komando "Canada" who are at
the end of their work of transporting and sorting
all the luggage collected from the previous
transport.
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The train stopped. The locked doors of the cars
are being opened. Each time, with no exception,
in front of each opened door, you would hear over
and over again the same two commands    The
First One Alle heraus! (Everybody out!) The
words pleased us. We could now breathe with ease.
   The Second One Alles dort lassen!   (Leave
everything there!) (All luggage stays in the
car.) That 2nd command stunned us How come
EVERYTHING ... all luggage? ... and the worm
winter clothes? ... and the bed linen? ... and
the baby diapers? ... and the leftover food? ...
and the family pictures and the books? ... and
the last water bottle? ... and the pouch with
medicine? ...  But no time existed for such
questions much less for answers. The
disembarkation had began.
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On June 9, 1944, in front of an emptied railroad
car, exactly as the one seen here, I was there
with my family. Squashed one into another,
nervously, we were eager to know Where we are?
What they intend to do with us? What fate awaits
us? With tremendous apprehension, we were
listening to the first words addressed to us
since our arrest and forced entry into the
ghetto. The monologue that was being addressed to
the newcomers sounded like this Gentlemen and
Ladies, We know that you are very tired, that you
had a very long and exhausting journey. Neither
food nor water was plentiful. We are sorry, but
this is not our fault. Now, that is behind you.
We will put you into a Camp. Those who are able
will work. All will live in normal conditions. We
are sorry that we have to give you some bad news.
To the Camp, where you would live and work, are
some 3 km and so happen that just today we do not
have transportation. Thus, we are asking now
that All females, mothers with their children no
older than 14, all men sick or disabled to go to
the left. The rest that are able to work, and
thus able to walk to the Camp, to stay put on the
right of the ramp. After the inhuman crowding in
the train, after the hunger and the thirst that
tormented us during the journey from the Ghetto
to the Birkenau , after the fear and desperation
that overwhelmed all of us and in particular our
mothers, the surprising "monologue" of
"understanding and kindness" gave us some
hope. This is how it happened in less than one
hour, in tens of minutes, families were separated
forever one from another.
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In spite of the fact that innumerable times the
order "Alles dort lassen" (everything stays in
the cars) has been given, some, as we can see,
have disembarked carrying small pieces of luggage
or bags. The SS-men made believe that they were
not seeing. The important thing for them was that
everything to go as smoothly and, especially, as
rapidly as possible so to prevent any panic,
yelling, and crying, any altercation or violent
confrontation.
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General view of the "Ramp of Death" when the
evacuation of an entire train was complete. At
the horizon, further back in the picture, we can
see two buildings (on the left and on the right
of the railroad tracks), each having a tall
chimney. Those were the crematoria II and III.
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On June 9, 1944, in front of an emptied railroad
car, exactly as the one seen here, I was there
with my family. Squashed one into another,
nervously, we were eager to know Where we are?
What they intend to do with us? What fate awaits
us? With tremendous apprehension, we were
listening to the first words addressed to us
since our arrest and forced entry into the
ghetto. The monologue that was being addressed to
the newcomers sounded like this Gentlemen and
Ladies, We know that you are very tired, that you
had a very long and exhausting journey. Neither
food nor water was plentiful. We are sorry, but
this is not our fault. Now, that is behind you.
We will put you into a Camp. Those who are able
will work. All will live in normal conditions. We
are sorry that we have to give you some bad news.
To the Camp, where you would live and work, are
some 3 km and so happen that just today we do not
have transportation. Thus, we are asking now
that All females, mothers with their children no
older than 14, all men sick or disabled to go to
the left. The rest that are able to work, and
thus able to walk to the Camp, to stay put on the
right of the ramp. After the inhuman crowding in
the train, after the hunger and the thirst that
tormented us during the journey from the Ghetto
to the Birkenau , after the fear and desperation
that overwhelmed all of us and in particular our
mothers, the surprising "monologue" of
"understanding and kindness" gave us some
hope. This is how it happened in less than one
hour, in tens of minutes, families were separated
forever one from another.
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In no time, all mothers with their children had
assembled on the left side of the ramp. Look at
the little children at the left of the picture.
They look straight at you! Look at their
staggering innocence that they irradiate. In a
few minutes they will be marching towards their
death. Why all this? Who had the prerogative to
negate the right to live of more than ONE MILLION
such children that were condemned to such a fate
for the sole reason that were Jewish born? What
is to be done that similar such barbaric acts
that cry to heavens not to repeat themselves
nowhere and not ever?
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Here is another group of mothers with their
children assembled in front of the railroad
boxcars waiting to go, as they were told, to the
trucks that will take them to the Camp where they
will stay for the duration of the war. The still
picture cannot express, not even by a long shot,
the drama that is being immortalized. Think
about, if you will please, that those in this
picture think that they will be together, in no
time, with their families. I must confess, that
today after some 60 years, my deepest wound that
I still have, that was not able to heal and will
not be able to heal, is the one that was
inflicted on the "Ramp of Death" with the break
up of my family. I was separated without kissing
my mother ... Without embracing my twin brothers
nor the little one, Valentin ... Who could have
imagined that everything that the SS-men told us
was a big lie of an imaginable cynicism, that
when I was looking at my departing mother holding
the hand of Valentin and admonishing my twin
brothers not to stray away, in fact, I was
looking at my mother's last journey.
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A group of men waiting for their selection.
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Another group of men waiting for their selection.
Noticing that they are being photographed, they
all look straight into the camera.
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In this group that moves forward towards the
Commission of Selection, are some that do not
have any chance in being selected for work. They
will be taken out and sent directly to the gas
chambers. For example, the child from the first
row (the second from the left) is without his
mother as his father took him in his column with
the hope that he will pass. In fact, he has no
chance whatsoever as he --with certainty-- will
be grabbed from the formation and sent straight
to the crematoria. The same fate was in store
--as for many others-- for the two elders from
the center of the group that are holding canes.
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The grandfathers and the grandmothers, the
invalids, and the sick that could not any longer
stay on their feet, were grouped as well in front
of the railroad boxcars waiting for the trucks to
take them away. The trucks will come, they will
be taken away, but not to be transported to a
Family Camp but to go straight to the gas
chambers.
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Finally, the groups of men and youngsters over 14
--on one hand, and the women, mothers and
children under 14 --on the other hand, are being
formed into two distinct columns. In the front of
each of the two columns, the SS-men from the
Commission on Selection are congregating. The
"Supreme Selection" for life or death is about to
begin.
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Each time, the selection begins with the column
composed of women, mothers and children. The
younger women who hold no children in their arms
are taken out from the line and directed towards
a designated place where the able for work
females were assembled. The rest, the
overwhelming great majority of the column,
advances almost non-stop to the gas chambers.
When the head of the SS selection committee notes
a young woman holding a baby (as seen in this
picture), he, in a rather polite tone, would say
something like this "Madame, I see next to you
an elderly woman that could be the child's
grandmother or an aunt. Leave the child with her
so to be able to get out of this column and join
those that will walk to the Camp." Some accepted
and conformed with the request, saving
temporarily, without realizing, their life.
Others, embracing even harder their baby, start
crying and shouting hysterically " I am not
giving up my baby. It is mine! I would rather die
than being separate from my baby!" "Madame please
do not provoke panic here" responded in a calm
voice the SS-man. "I did not order you anything.
I just made a suggestion. If you do not want,
that is fine. Please continue on your way." And
the woman happy of the outcome, holds her baby
tight with one hand and, with the other hand
wipes her tears on her way to the gas chambers
that were not further away than 500 or 600 meters.
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The selection begins in an orderly fashion. The
SS-men are calm and their tender words are able
to camouflage their unimaginable evilness. No
one, but absolute no one, from the moving column,
could have contemplated that with each advancing
step, each and every one of them was one step
closer to the inescapable end, now less than 500
meters away.
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The selection in the column for women, mothers
and children is near completion. After a few
minutes, the column for men and boys over 14 will
be start moving.
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The selection of men able to work had began.
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A group of adults and men selected for slave
labor.
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On the faces and the eyes of these women selected
for work, we can see their worry, anxiety, and
even fear. As if they were asking"When we would
see our loved ones from which we have been
separated?"
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Being selected for work, they began marching
towards the Camp for the females.
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Mothers, among them one grandmother, walk (some
with their children being held in the their arms,
others with them being held by hand) along the
railroad tracks, towards the gas chambers. From
their looks, it appears that they would think on
anything but their imminent death.
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Two mothers (one with a small baby in her arms)
are being surrounded by seven more children that
are walking on their last journey. It is truly
overwhelming to see the 3 boys in front. The one
in the middle --who could not be more than 4 or
5-- holds tight his two little brothers so as to
not get lost on the road towards ... Towards
what? Towards their death! How incredible is all
this ... and nevertheless, the crude truth is
that it did happen.
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This is one of the most circulated and most known
photograph. It has become the "symbol" of the
journey taken --along the railroad tracks-- from
the Death Ramp to the Gas Chambers. It was
followed by more than one million Jews, majority
mothers with children under 14, the elderly, and
the sick.
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What follows are four images that seem to
irradiate , finally, the return of a sense of
some normalcy. The mothers appear to be calm and
more tranquil looking at their children without
signs of fear. And yet ... the images that follow
reveal a grisly sequence of unimaginable
proportions representing the most dramatic moment
from their entire ordeal. The mothers that you
see in the pictures below were told that they do
not have much to go but, because they appeared to
be tired and saw a nearby greenery they decided
to take a short break. Seeing the trees all
around and some water fountains, the children
began running towards them. Finally, they could
drink as much water as they wanted. Others found
some leftover food in the their pockets and began
gobbling their find. The mothers regained their
smiles by watching their children. No one could
foresee the cruel truth. The bunch of trees
around them, whose shade was so much appreciated,
was planted there on purpose to camouflage the
building behind where the gas chambers and the
crematoria were located. To there, was no more
than 100 feet. The explanation for this
unscheduled break is as follows notwithstanding
the Prussic precision, this time, the
extermination process suffered a small snag. The
previous lot was not yet completely transformed
into smoke and ashes. Or perhaps that was
complete, but the disrobing chamber or the gas
chamber were not yet enough ventilated. In any
event, the new arrival had to wait a few more
minutes or even tens of minutes. After that, they
will proceed walking their last 90-100 feet to
their death.
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The human beings that you are seeing in this
picture --the children, and especially the
children (as if they were some angels descended
on earth), their loving mothers adoring their
darlings, the elderly with God's fear in them--
were guilty of one thing, and that was that they
were born as Jews. Because of it, they were
humiliated and lied upon as never before. They
have been humiliated and lied upon with an
unimaginable cynicism, a cynicism that is greater
than any barbaric or bestial act. These human
beings, innocent and pure, were told by their
captors, portraying themselves as superior beings
("übermensch"), to rest a little bit in the
nearby greenery before continuing with their walk
towards the promised family camp. In reality, for
each and everyone of this picture, that was to be
"the last stay of their lives." Tens of feet
apart, after the bushes of trees, the
well-ventilated crematoria were awaiting them
with an open door of the disrobing room and, with
the gas chamber ready to go with a capacity for
2000 people. The 15 ovens built above the gas
chamber were on so of not wasting any unnecessary
time with restarting them.
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Those in the front row have noticed that they are
being photographed and are looking calm and
natural towards the photographer. Those in the
back rows continue, in a rather relaxed manner,
their conversation. Maybe they express the hope
that the hardest part of their ordeal is behind
them. The shocking reality is however this all
of them that you see in this picture, after a
very short time, got up, passed the tree from the
back, entered into the building, were pushed and
shoveled into the gas chamber, and afterwards,
their corpses were transformed into smoke and
ashes.
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The children wait calmly. What were they waiting
for? No one had an answer. In any event, now they
could breathe fresh air, they could lie down,
they could sit up, and, if they so wanted, could
walk around. The mothers, as well, have regained
their peace of mind. The two from the right, as
if by magic, were even able to smile. For sure,
for the last time! After a few tens of minutes,
they will be disrobed naked, in the gas chamber
they will elevate their children towards the
ceiling for prolonging their lives for a few more
seconds.
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Who can ascribe any blame to these children?Who
dares to oppose preserving their memory?
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While the selection took place, with two thirds
selected for immediate death pushed into the gas
chambers and burned in the ovens and the rest
placed in the Camp to be exterminated through
other means slave labor, inanition, disease,
"Experimente an lebendingen Menschen" (medical
experiments), executions, etc., their luggage,
left behind in the railroad boxcars, were being
combed by the "Häftlings" (the prisoners) from
the "Kanada" detachment. The loot was sorted out
and placed into various categories such as shoes,
bed linen, men clothes, watches, jewelry, etc.,
and then deposited into one of the existing 30
warehouses not far from the "Ramp of Death." From
there, the sorted loot would find its way to
Germany.
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Six hours have passed since the deportees that
had arrived from the last Birkenau-Auschwitz
train left the "Ramp of Death." ... And now, a
new train is about to stop carrying another 3000
innocent Jews destined to die. ... And that
cycle continued, day and night, with no stop,
during the Spring and Summer of 1944.
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Holocaust Survivors and Remembrance
Project"Forget You Not"... preserving the past
to protect the future ...From Earth to
HeavenI N   M E M O R I A M   A D   V I T A M   
Æ T E R N A M
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And to Them I will give, within my walls, a
Memorial with an everlasting name "Forget You
Not" that shall not be cut off.Inspired from Isa
iah 565  Photo Credit United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum 
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At Birkenau, selected upon arrival, to go
straight to the gas chamber.
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"Dead Men will have indeed died in vain if Live
Men refuse to look at them."
A Mass Grave at Bergen-Belsen Camp
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Allied troops watch a passing cart laden with
corpses intended for burial leave the compound of
the Dachau Concentration Camp. Allied authorities
required local farmers to drive their loaded
carts through the town of Dachau as an education
for the inhabitants. (Photo Credit David G.
Briggs Collection, courtesy of USHMM Photo
Archives, May 1945, Dachau, Germany. L.B. Cuddy)
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Where on this EarthShall I Put a Gravestone for
YouMy People?Your RemainsHave Been
ScatteredUpon a Thousand CemeteriesYour
MemoryThe Graveyard Wind Blows Like Sand MONIKA
KRAJEWSKA
Who Will Mourn for Us?Those Who Gather Here to
RememberWho Will Understand?Those Who Touch
These Stones TenderlyWho Will Erect a Monument
for Us?Those Who SurvivedAnd Who Will Speak for
Us?All Those Who Perished ITZHAK KATZNELSON
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"Forget You Not"