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6<br />
GROSS-ROSEN<br />
Located about 65 miles southwest of Wrocław, the small,<br />
inauspicious German village of Gross-Rosen (today known as<br />
Rogoźnice) became the site of one of the largest and most brutal<br />
concentration camps in the Third Reich. Opened as a small<br />
satellite of Sachsenhausen in 1940, Gross-Rosen became an<br />
independent camp less than a year later and quickly grew into<br />
the largest in Lower Silesia with almost 100 sub-camps around<br />
the region. Known for its harsh conditions and high mortality<br />
rate, by the time the camp was liberated by the Soviet Army in<br />
early 1945 an estimated 125,000 inmates had been processed<br />
through its gates, 40,000 of whom never made it out alive.<br />
Today the former site of the camp serves as a memorial for<br />
those victims, as well as a public museum with several exhibits,<br />
an enlightening film and plenty of space for reflection.<br />
While names like Auschwitz and Dachau have been burned<br />
into the collective consciousness, lesser known but no less<br />
significant camps like Gross-Rosen serve to remind us of<br />
just how extensive, efficient and horrifying Hitler’s concentration<br />
camp system was. Those who take on the challenge of<br />
travelling to Gross-Rosen can expect to leave not only with<br />
an understanding of the history of the site and the tragedy of<br />
the Holocaust, but also with a reaffirmed respect for human<br />
life and the human spirit; the same respect for life that the<br />
Nazi regime’s failure to possess plunged the people of Europe<br />
into the worst hell imaginable only two generations ago.<br />
Visiting the Museum<br />
A visit to Gross-Rosen begins by visiting the parking<br />
attendant just inside the entrance gate, whose small<br />
kiosk also serves as the camp’s information desk. If you<br />
came by car you’ll have to pay 3zł for parking, which is<br />
essentially the camp’s admission price if you aren’t going<br />
on a guided tour or interested in seeing the film. Admission<br />
to the camp is officially free, but there’s really no<br />
reason not to pay the nominal fee of 3/5zł to see the quite<br />
excellent film; it’s offered in 30 or 60 minute versions<br />
and can be viewed in the former SS Canteen building in<br />
almost any language you want, whenever you’re ready.<br />
At this window you can also pick up some valuable info,<br />
maps and guidebooks to the camp in English.<br />
Visiting the camp takes a minimum of 2 hours, but can take<br />
up to 4 hours if you’re as thorough as we were. With travel<br />
time it is basically a full day’s outing from Wrocław. Be aware<br />
that there is no food or drink available at the camp, with<br />
the exception of a small Nescafe coffee vending machine<br />
near the bathrooms on the ground floor of the former SS<br />
Canteen. Though the machine does have a button labelled<br />
‘tomato soup,’ we strongly recommend you pack a lunch<br />
for your visit, rather than try your luck pressing that button.<br />
What to See<br />
Gross-Rosen Museum ul. Ofiar Gross-Rosen 26,<br />
Rogoźnica, tel. (+48) 669 18 87 79, www.gross-rosen.<br />
eu. <strong>In</strong> addition to the film, the camp consists of three permanent<br />
museum exhibits, as well as some small temporary<br />
exhibits. Like most former concentration camps, after its<br />
evacuation Gross Rosen was largely destroyed by the Nazis<br />
and today not much remains of the former camp buildings<br />
aside from their foundations and a few faithful reconstructions.<br />
For visiting tourists, the main sights of the camp can<br />
basically be divided into four sections, which we detail below.<br />
The Former SS Camp and Canteen:<br />
You’ll notice that Gross-Rosen today basically has two<br />
gates - the main entrance gate from the road and the historic<br />
entrance gate into the camp, beyond which prisoners were<br />
confined. Originally, this large area between the gates - including<br />
the present-day parking area and information point - was<br />
occupied by the SS camp and administrative buildings of<br />
Gross-Rosen. On the left side of the camp’s main road stood<br />
the barracks for the SS officers, beyond which was the official<br />
parade grounds and even a swimming pool for the officers.<br />
Today the most important site for visitors, however, is the<br />
former SS Canteen on the right side of the road.<br />
This building likely owes its survival to the fact that it was<br />
the most intact when the Red Army turned the site over to<br />
Polish authorities. During the life of the camp, this building<br />
was basically a recreation centre for off-duty SS men,<br />
including a mess hall, kitchen, store rooms and casino.<br />
Standing adjacent to it in a similar building would have been<br />
the camp commandant’s office and headquarters. Today it<br />
houses the Gross-Rosen Museum’s main exhibition - “KL<br />
Gross-Rosen 1941-1945” - and screening rooms for the<br />
film. All of the displays are in Polish, however they have been<br />
thoroughly reproduced in English in a rather hefty booklet<br />
that you should request from the museum attendant upon<br />
entering. Giving a detailed history of the camp’s creation,<br />
development and the cruel realities of everyday life there,<br />
the exhibition covers everything from escape attempts to<br />
the fates of the perpetrators. <strong>In</strong>cluding extensive first-hand<br />
accounts, artefacts, plenty of maps - including a large<br />
Wrocław <strong>In</strong> <strong>Your</strong> <strong>Pocket</strong> wroclaw.inyourpocket.com<br />
3D scale model of the camp - and even original art made<br />
by survivors, the exhibit is highly informative and upfront<br />
without seeking sympathy . Don’t miss the shocking<br />
stained glass windows in the first room, and bear in mind<br />
that the only bathrooms in the camp are in this building<br />
(both upstairs and down); they will seem really far away if<br />
you need them later.<br />
The Quarry:<br />
Gross-Rosen owes its existence and its location to the granite<br />
quarry located directly next to the camp. ‘Quarry means<br />
death’ was the ominous phrase spoken by the camp’s<br />
prisoners, who knew they wouldn’t last long if they were<br />
assigned to work there. <strong>In</strong> the first two years of the camp,<br />
however, it was unavoidable. As the camp grew, inmates<br />
would quarry stone 12 hours a day on starvation rations<br />
while being terrorised by SS officers only to build prison<br />
barracks in the evenings. The camp’s own doctor, who went<br />
on to work in other camps later in the war, described the<br />
living conditions he saw at Gross-Rosen as worse than at<br />
other camp for the simple fact that all of the prisoners were<br />
employed in the quarry. The mortality rate was extremely<br />
high and the average lifespan of a quarry worker at Gross-<br />
Rosen was not more than 5 weeks. Make a right from in<br />
front of the Prisoners’ Camp Gate and walk up a small hill<br />
to see and reflect on this rather picturesque pit where so<br />
many men were worked to their deaths.<br />
The Prisoners’ Camp Entrance Gate:<br />
Gross-Rosen’s most iconic<br />
building is the completely<br />
restored prisoners’ camp<br />
entrance gate with its infamous,<br />
obligatory and<br />
insincere mantra Arbeit<br />
Macht Frei (‘Work Makes<br />
You Free’) emblazoned<br />
above the granite archway,<br />
beyond which there was<br />
actually almost no chance<br />
of freedom. Topped with<br />
a watchtower, flanked by<br />
two wooden guardhouses,<br />
and surrounded with what<br />
was once an electric fence, here you’ll find the museum’s<br />
other two primary exhibits. <strong>In</strong> the guardhouse on the left<br />
side is the permanent exhibit ‘Lost Humanity’ which gives<br />
a general but succinct and enlightening overview of Europe<br />
in the years 1919-1945, focussing on Hitler’s rise to power,<br />
the growth of German fascism, the origin and development<br />
of the concentration camp system - described as ‘Hitler’s<br />
extermination apparatus’ - and the plight of Poland trapped<br />
between two totalitarian regimes bent on expansion. <strong>In</strong> the<br />
guardhouse on the right side is the exhibit ‘AL Riese - Satellite<br />
Camps of the Former Concentration Camp Gross-Rosen,’<br />
which details the sub-camps of Gross-Rosen located in the<br />
Owl Mountains southwest of Wrocław along the modern-day<br />
border of Poland and Czech Republic. Established in 1943<br />
as the tide of WWII began to turn against the Third Reich,<br />
the work camps of AL Riese were created to build what many<br />
believe was to be a massive underground headquarters<br />
for Hitler. The project was eventually abandoned, but not<br />
before over 194,232 square metres of secret passageways<br />
were dug into the mountains by prisoners, some 3,648 of<br />
whom died during the work. While the exhibit does much to<br />
explain why sub-camp Riese had such a high death rate, it<br />
rather disappointingly doesn’t indulge in speculation about<br />
Hitler’s plans for the project, which remains one of WWII’s<br />
greatest mysteries. Displays in both guardhouse exhibits are<br />
presented in English, Polish, French, German and Russian.<br />
wroclaw.inyourpocket.com<br />
GROSS-ROSEN<br />
A Brief History<br />
Gross-Rosen Concentration Camp came into being<br />
on August 2nd, 1940 when a transport of prisoners<br />
was sent to the SS-owned quarry on a hill above the<br />
small German village of the same name (today known<br />
as Polish Rogoźnice) and essentially forced to begin<br />
building the camp themselves. Soon more and more<br />
prisoners were being sent and by May 1st, 1941<br />
Gross-Rosen had grown enough to gain the status of<br />
a self-reliant concentration camp. Conditions in the<br />
camp in its first two years were especially harsh with<br />
12-hour work days spent excavating granite from the<br />
quarry, insufficient food rations and violent abuse from<br />
the SS officers and staff who were actually awarded<br />
military decorations from Nazi command for inhumane<br />
treatment of the prisoners and executions. While the<br />
famous Nazi motto written above the camp’s gate<br />
and divulged to the inmates was ‘Arbeit Macht Free’<br />
(Work Makes You Free), the administration actually<br />
phrased it a different way, operating the camp under<br />
the acknowledged motto of ‘Vernichtung Durch<br />
Arbeit’ (Extermination Through Work). At the camp’s<br />
start prisoners were forbidden from receiving mailed<br />
parcels, however the administration later reckoned<br />
that changing the policy would allow them to continue<br />
serving the same starving food rations. All packages<br />
were inspected and any valuables were stolen, but<br />
food was allowed; thus, in the Nazis’ view, people in<br />
occupied countries became partly responsible for<br />
feeding the inmates. Due to the deplorable conditions,<br />
Gross-Rosen was regarded by the Nazis themselves<br />
as among the worst of all the concentration camps.<br />
An increasing emphasis on using prison labour in<br />
armaments production lead to the large expansion of<br />
Gross-Rosen in 1944, when it became the administrative<br />
hub of a vast network of at least 97 sub-camps<br />
all across Lower Silesia and the surrounding region.<br />
While several hundred Jews had been prisoners<br />
of the camp between 1940 and 1943, most of its<br />
population were Polish and Soviet POWs. However<br />
as camps further east began to be evacuated, a<br />
vast influx of Jews began to arrive in Gross-Rosen,<br />
including prisoners from Auschwitz for whom a whole<br />
new annex of the camp was built specifically in the<br />
fall of 1944. [Readers familiar with the story of Oskar<br />
Schindler may know that some of his Jewish workers<br />
were sent to Gross-Rosen on their way to Brünnlitz,<br />
which was itself a sub-camp of Gross-Rosen located<br />
in Czech Republic.] Between October 1943 and January<br />
of 1945 as many as 60,000 Jews were deported<br />
to Gross-Rosen, mostly from Poland and Hungary.<br />
Gross-Rosen also had one of the highest populations<br />
of female prisoners in the entire concentration camp<br />
system at this time.<br />
One of the last camps to be evacuated, in early February<br />
1945 the Germans forced some 40,000 prisoners,<br />
half of whom were Jews, on brutal death marches to<br />
the west which lasted days, and even weeks in some<br />
cases. With no food or water, freezing conditions,<br />
and an SS policy of shooting anyone who looked too<br />
weak to continue, many of the former inmates did not<br />
survive to freedom. Gross-Rosen was liberated by the<br />
Soviet Army on February 13, 1945. It is estimated that<br />
125,000 prisoners went through the camp, 40,000<br />
of whom perished.<br />
September - December 2012<br />
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