Information about the main exhibition is available here: LINK
National Exhibitions at the Auschwitz Museum
In addition to the main exhibition, the Auschwitz Museum houses eleven so-called national exhibitions in former prisoner blocks at Auschwitz I, the main camp. These complementary exhibitions focus on the specific history of prisoners in relation to their nationality and country of origin. They illustrate the connections between the German occupation of the respective countries and the history of the camp. Visitors can currently explore eleven national exhibitions: Jewish, Roma, Polish, Dutch, French, Belgian, Hungarian, Austrian, Slovak, Czech and Russian.
The “Shoah” Exhibition by the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem
This moving exhibition explores the lives of European Jews before the Second World War, the ideology of German National Socialism and the systematic extermination of Jews in German-occupied Europe. A special room is dedicated to the memory of children murdered during the Holocaust. The exhibition also includes the “Book of Names”, a collection of all names of Shoah victims documented by the Yad Vashem Institute.
The “Before They Departed” Exhibition in the “Central Sauna”
This exhibition is located at Auschwitz II-Birkenau, at the opposite end of the site from the main entrance, several hundred metres beyond the ruins of the gas chambers and crematoria. Prisoners used the term “Sauna” for the washhouse where newly arrived prisoners were registered. Their civilian clothing was taken away, they were shaved, disinfected and tattooed with a prisoner number. It was a place where people were dehumanised and reduced to “numbers” in the camp records. The exhibition provides a powerful account of this painful process. The washhouse also contains an exhibition of photographs of prisoners and their families found in luggage brought with them on arrival. These images offer a moving glimpse into the victims’ private lives before the Holocaust.
The Judenrampe
An extended visit may include the so-called Judenrampe, or Jewish Ramp. This railway siding lies approximately one kilometre south of Oświęcim railway station, between Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Transports carrying people destined for murder in Birkenau’s gas chambers arrived here. Victims were selected at this location: some were chosen for forced labour, while others were murdered immediately. Families were separated, possessions were stolen and victims were selected for cruel pseudo-medical experiments conducted by SS doctors. In 1944, in preparation for the planned murder of hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews, a new ramp was built within Birkenau itself, close to the gas chambers. The Judenrampe has now been restored and is open to visitors. Two historically accurate railway wagons from the Second World War are displayed on the tracks.
Auschwitz III-Monowitz
The largest of more than 40 subcamps belonging to the Auschwitz concentration camp complex was situated on the opposite side of Oświęcim. Monowitz was established to support construction of the Buna chemical works operated by IG Farben. Prisoners were exploited there as slave labourers. The camp itself has not survived, but a monument commemorating its existence can be visited as part of a tour of Oświęcim.
