# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
KL Auschwitz-Birkenau

All over the world, Auschwitz has become a symbol of terror, genocide, and the Shoah. It was established by Germans in 1940, in the suburbs of Oswiecim, a Polish city that was annexed to the Third Reich by the Nazis. Its name was changed to Auschwitz, which also became the name of Konzentrationslager Auschwitz.

The direct reason for the establishment of the camp was the fact that mass arrests of Poles were increasing beyond the capacity of existing "local" prisons. The first transport of Poles reached KL Auschwitz from Tarnów prison on June 14, 1940. Initially, Auschwitz was to be one more concentration camp of the type that the Nazis had been setting up since the early 1930s. It functioned in this role throughout its existence, even when, beginning in 1942, it also became the largest of the extermination centers where the "Endlösung der Judenfrage" (the final solution to the Jewish question - the Nazi plan to murder European Jews) was carried out.

Read more...

APPEAL

Let us build memory! Donate any documents and other historical items in your possession to the Auschwitz Memorial

Memory is not something that is acquired once and stays on forever. The moment that the last eyewitnesses and survivors pass away, we have to work together to build on that which remains: the testimonies of those former prisoners and the authentic artifacts connected with Auschwitz. Each item can have its own enormous meaning and should find its place in the collection of the Auschwitz Memorial. Here, it will be preserved, studied, and displayed. Its place is here.

ELŻBIETA CAJZER - DZIAŁ ZBIORÓW

THE OFFICE FOR INFORMATION ON FORMER PRISONERS

THE DATA BASE WITH PARTLY PRESENTED DATA ABOUT AUSCHWITZ PRISONER

"On Auschwitz" podcast

The official podcast of the Auschwitz Memorial. The history of Auschwitz is exceptionally complex. It combined two functions: a concentration camp and an extermination center. Nazi Germany persecuted various groups of people there, and the camp complex continually expanded and transformed itself. In the podcast "On Auschwitz," we discuss the details of the history of the camp as well as our contemporary memory of this important and special place.

All our podcasts: auschwitz.org/podcasts

Recent podcast:

On-line lessons

A visit to the authentic Memorial Site is a unique educational experience. However, people who do not have the ability to visit the former concentration camp of Auschwitz now have the opportunity to become acquainted with its history through education conducted via the Internet. See our online lessons here: lesson.auschwitz.org.

Poles in Auschwitz

After the liquidation of the Polish state and its institutions, the fundamental goal of German policy in occupied Poland was the exploitation of material and labor resources, and the removal of the local Polish population and ethnic minorities. This was done through expulsion and systematic extermination. The Polish lands were to be completely germanized, through German settlement in the depopulated area.

The first transport of Poles, 728 political prisoners, deported by Germans from Tarnów prison, reached the Auschwitz camp on June 14, 1940. This is why the Polish Parliament instituted June 14 the National Remembrance Day of the Victims of German Nazi Concentration Camps and Extermination Camps.

Read more...

Jews in Auschwitz

Until early 1942, the Nazis deported to Auschwitz only a relatively small number of Jews, who were sent there along with the non-Jewish prisoners, mostly Poles, who accounted for the majority of the camp population until mid-1942.

Read more...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
All over the world, Auschwitz has become a symbol of terror, genocide, and the Shoah. It was established by Germans in 1940, in the suburbs of Oswiecim, a Polish city that was annexed to the Third Reich by the Nazis. Its name was changed to Auschwitz, which also became the name of Konzentrationslager Auschwitz.

# data[].attributes.location_name
Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum - "Judenrampe", Więźniów Oświęcimia, Oswiecim, Poland

# data[].attributes.headline
Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum - "Judenrampe", Więźniów Oświęcimia, Oswiecim, Poland

# data[].attributes.subject
Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum - "Judenrampe", Więźniów Oświęcimia, Oswiecim, Poland

# data[].attributes.body
This is a very old building that was used for the nazi concentracon camps.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
KL Auschwitz-Birkenau

All over the world, Auschwitz has become a symbol of terror, genocide, and the Shoah. It was established by Germans in 1940, in the suburbs of Oswiecim, a Polish city that was annexed to the Third Reich by the Nazis. Its name was changed to Auschwitz, which also became the name of Konzentrationslager Auschwitz.

The direct reason for the establishment of the camp was the fact that mass arrests of Poles were increasing beyond the capacity of existing "local" prisons. The first transport of Poles reached KL Auschwitz from Tarnów prison on June 14, 1940. Initially, Auschwitz was to be one more concentration camp of the type that the Nazis had been setting up since the early 1930s. It functioned in this role throughout its existence, even when, beginning in 1942, it also became the largest of the extermination centers where the "Endlösung der Judenfrage" (the final solution to the Jewish question - the Nazi plan to murder European Jews) was carried out.

Read more...

APPEAL

Let us build memory! Donate any documents and other historical items in your possession to the Auschwitz Memorial

Memory is not something that is acquired once and stays on forever. The moment that the last eyewitnesses and survivors pass away, we have to work together to build on that which remains: the testimonies of those former prisoners and the authentic artifacts connected with Auschwitz. Each item can have its own enormous meaning and should find its place in the collection of the Auschwitz Memorial. Here, it will be preserved, studied, and displayed. Its place is here.

ELŻBIETA CAJZER - DZIAŁ ZBIORÓW

THE OFFICE FOR INFORMATION ON FORMER PRISONERS

THE DATA BASE WITH PARTLY PRESENTED DATA ABOUT AUSCHWITZ PRISONER

"On Auschwitz" podcast

The official podcast of the Auschwitz Memorial. The history of Auschwitz is exceptionally complex. It combined two functions: a concentration camp and an extermination center. Nazi Germany persecuted various groups of people there, and the camp complex continually expanded and transformed itself. In the podcast "On Auschwitz," we discuss the details of the history of the camp as well as our contemporary memory of this important and special place.

All our podcasts: auschwitz.org/podcasts

Recent podcast:

On-line lessons

A visit to the authentic Memorial Site is a unique educational experience. However, people who do not have the ability to visit the former concentration camp of Auschwitz now have the opportunity to become acquainted with its history through education conducted via the Internet. See our online lessons here: lesson.auschwitz.org.

Poles in Auschwitz

After the liquidation of the Polish state and its institutions, the fundamental goal of German policy in occupied Poland was the exploitation of material and labor resources, and the removal of the local Polish population and ethnic minorities. This was done through expulsion and systematic extermination. The Polish lands were to be completely germanized, through German settlement in the depopulated area.

The first transport of Poles, 728 political prisoners, deported by Germans from Tarnów prison, reached the Auschwitz camp on June 14, 1940. This is why the Polish Parliament instituted June 14 the National Remembrance Day of the Victims of German Nazi Concentration Camps and Extermination Camps.

Read more...

Jews in Auschwitz

Until early 1942, the Nazis deported to Auschwitz only a relatively small number of Jews, who were sent there along with the non-Jewish prisoners, mostly Poles, who accounted for the majority of the camp population until mid-1942.

Read more...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
All over the world, Auschwitz has become a symbol of terror, genocide, and the Shoah. It was established by Germans in 1940, in the suburbs of Oswiecim, a Polish city that was annexed to the Third Reich by the Nazis. Its name was changed to Auschwitz, which also became the name of Konzentrationslager Auschwitz.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Gdańsk, German Danzig, city, capital of Pomorskie województwo (province), northern Poland, situated at the mouth of the Vistula River on the Baltic Sea.

First mentioned as a Polish city in 997 or 999, Gdańsk was part of the Polish diocese of Włocławek, as noted in a papal bull of 1148. It was granted municipal autonomy in 1260 and developed as a trade centre. In 1308 the Teutonic Knights seized the city, which they held until 1466, when King Casimir IV of Poland regained the territory after a 13-year war. Granted local autonomy by the king in gratitude for its loyalty, Gdańsk expanded greatly, reaching its peak during the Renaissance as the most prosperous port on the Baltic. By 1754 it had the largest population (77,000) of any eastern European city and annual grain exports of more than 200,000 tons.

The Swedish wars of the 17th and 18th centuries halted the city's economic growth and began its decline. In 1772 Gdańsk was seized by Prussia, which resulted in a rapid dissolution of trade through the port, and in 1793 it was incorporated as part of Prussia. Napoleon I granted it the privileges of a free city in 1807, but its territorial separation from Poland, as a result of the creation of a Prussian corridor to the sea, ruined its economy. Gdańsk appealed for reunification with Poland (1813-14), but, when the Congress of Vienna instead partitioned Poland among Russia, Austria, and Prussia, the city was relegated to the province of West Prussia. Gdańsk became somewhat industrialized but failed to regain its stature as a great Baltic trading port.

From 1919 to 1939 it again had the status of a free city, under the Treaty of Versailles, with Poland having administrative governance over it. However, the Gdańsk legislative assembly, which was of German composition, tended to antagonize the Polish overseer whenever possible. Poland finally built another port on Polish territory at Gdynia, 10 miles (16 km) to the north. Gdynia grew rapidly, and Gdańsk also flourished. German control of Gdańsk increased as the German National Socialist ( Nazi) Party won a majority of the assembly seats in the 1933 and 1935 elections. In 1938 Adolf Hitler demanded that the city be given to Germany. Poland's refusal was used by Germany as provocation for its attack on Poland on September 1, 1939, which precipitated World War II.

Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. Subscribe today

Greatly damaged during the war, Gdańsk was returned to Poland in March 1945. Now fully reconstructed, it counts among its restored buildings St. Catherine's Church, sections of which date from the 14th century, and the medieval town hall. As Danzig it was the childhood home of the German writer Günter Grass, several of whose novels are set in the locality.

The city centre, known as Główne Miasto ("Main Town"), lies on the Motława, a tributary of the Vistula, 2 miles (3 km) inland. Not to be confused with Stare Miasto ("Old Town")-which lies to the west and is the site of several significant historic structures, including St. Catherine's Church-Główne Miasto was rebuilt after World War II to resurrect Gdańsk's 16th-17th-century architectural heritage. The city has two main port areas. The older Nowy Port ("New Port") is a major industrial centre for shipyards, metallurgical and chemical plants, timber mills, and food-processing facilities. The Polish maritime commission was first begun there in 1568 to handle questions of defense and trade. The shipyards launched their first warship in 1572. In modern times, shipbuilding there has been an important source of foreign currency. Labour unrest in the Gdańsk shipyards in 1980 led to the creation of the Solidarity union. The Gdańsk shipyards were sold in 2007 to Donbass, a Ukrainian shipbuilding company. The newer Port Północny ("North Port") is Poland's largest maritime development project (its first stage completed in 1975); it handles coal exports and petroleum imports, much of the latter processed at a nearby refinery. The city has an international airport and ferry connections to Sweden.

© Nightman1965/Fotolia

Gdańsk is an important cultural seat containing schools of medicine, engineering, and fine arts; a maritime centre; many fine churches, museums, theatres, and gardens; and a concert hall and an opera house. The National Museum and the Maritime Museum are important institutions. The Dominican Fair, one of the longest-running cultural events in the city, originated in 1260. The University of Gdańsk was founded in 1970. The nearby Westerplatte peninsula is the site of a monument commemorating the servicemen who fought there in the first battle of World War II, in September 1939. The forces at the Westerplatte fort withstood seven days of bombardment by the Germans before surrendering, and the fort remains the foremost symbol of Polish resistance. Gdańsk is part of the Trójmiasto ("Three-City") urban area, comprising the towns of Gdańsk, Gdynia, and Sopot. Pop. (2011) 460,276.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Gdansk | History, Facts, & Historical Buildings

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Gdansk, city, capital of Pomorskie province, northern Poland, at the mouth of the Vistula River on the Baltic Sea. An important cultural seat, it contains schools of medicine, engineering, and fine arts; a maritime center; fine churches, museums, theaters, and gardens; and a concert hall and an opera house.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Wieliczka Salt Mine: An Underground Monument in Krakow, Poland

# data[].attributes.location_name
Wawel Royal Castle, Wawel, Kraków, Poland

# data[].attributes.headline
Wawel Royal Castle, Wawel, Kraków, Poland

# data[].attributes.subject
Wawel Royal Castle, Wawel, Kraków, Poland

# data[].attributes.body
This is a 11th century castle

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Wawel is a limestone hill in the centre of Krakow upon the Vistula River with a complex of impressive historical monuments of unique historical and artistic values. This extraordinary sanctuary determines the Poles' identity, is their national and cultural symbol. Wawel used to be the seat of Polish rulers, their necropolis and place where the Polish history took shape.

The oldest ruler's seat was established at Wawel in the 1 st half of the 11 th century during the rule of Boleslav the Brave and Mieszko II. The pre-Romanesque complex of prince's residence was located in the highest south-east part of the hill. It included the residential building, the palace hall, the building with a corridor (cellar) and the Rotunda of St. Felix and St. Adaukt, the best preserved example of the pre-Romanesque architecture in Malopolska.
In the 2 nd half of the 11 th century the main building of the Romanesque palace complex, the two-storey hall of 24 pillars was erected. The remains of this structure were discovered under the northern wing of the present palace. The main palace church in the 11 th and 12 th century was the Romanesque basilica of St. Gereon (St. Mary of Egypt) revealed under the western wing of the palace and the Batory's Courtyard. Nowadays works are in progress to set up an architectural reserve at that site. The Church of St. Mary of Egypt was a three-aisle building with a transept, an eastern crypt and two towers in the west. It functioned till the end of the 13 th century.

In the 14 th century the Romanesque palace complex was transformed into a Gothic residence. At the site of the "hall of 24 pillars" a new building was erected probably with three storeys. At the same time the upper castle was encircled with defensive walls. The entrance gate to the palace courtyard (to be later reconstructed) has preserved from that period. During the reign of Casimir the Great (1333-1370) the residential part of the castle was expanded by reconstructing the old buildings and adding new ones. For example, the representative and residential wing with the arcade cloister was erected.
At the end of the 14 th century, during the reign of Władyslaw Jagiełło, the great construction campaign covered the south-east corner of the palace. A new residential tower with external tracery decoration (the so-called Danish Tower) was erected. Inside one of the ground floor rooms there is a preserved ribbed vault with keystones presenting the coat of arms of Jagiellons and the House of Anjou (the Jadwiga and Jagiełło's Room). The arcaded gallery leading formerly to the alleged 'water tower' took its final shape. This bay was reconstructed with the recently restored coats of arms: Jagiellon Dynasty, the Eagle and the Pogoń (Chase). Since the 17 th century the building has been commonly known as the Hen's Foot.
The present shape of the palace was determined by the great reconstruction that took place in the years 1506-1534 during the reign of King Sigismund the Old. All the works were directed by Francesco of Florence, sculpture and royal architect. The masonry was conducted under the supervision of Master Eberhard of Koblenz and Benedict. The western and northern wing was erected on the basis of Gothic buildings; the eastern wing had new foundations. On the southern side a wall (curtain) was constructed with cloisters closing the Renaissance courtyard. A group of stone masons led by Bartolommeo Berrecci completed and installed Renaissance details in all parts of the palace. Some of window frames and portals had still the Gothic and Renaissance features. During the residence's reconstruction the old palace chapels, Chapel of St. Mary of Egypt and Rotund of St. Felix and St. Adaukt, were liquidated.

After the fire of 1595 Sigismund III Vasa renovated and expanded the northern wing under the supervision of Giovanni Trevano in collaboration, for example, with Ambrosius Meazzi and Giovanni Battista Petrini. At the beginning of the 17 th century a tower covered with Baroque cupola was erected at the north-east corner. Similar residential tower, the so-caled Sobieski Tower, was later added at the north-west corner of the palace. The interiors were fitted with the architectural and sculptural decor in the early Roman Baroque style. The viewers' attention was attracted by the frame vaults and ceilings completed by Tommaso Delabella, Venetian painter. In the years 1655-57 the palace was plundered by the Swedes who later recaptured the palace in 1702 and set up a hospital and barracks there. It was then that the largest fire in the palace took place. Since then, in the 18 th and 19 th centuries, it did not regain its former glory despite the undertaken conservation efforts. In the years 1804-1807 the palace was adapted for the barracks of Austrian troops, which included the walling up of the cloister arcades. The conservation works conducted in the year s 1854-1856 lent it the neo-Gothic shape.
In the years 1905-1911, when the troops left Wawel, a thorough restoration of the residence started under the direction of architects: Zygmunt Hendel (1905-1914), Ignacy Sowiński (1914-1916), Adolf Szyszko-Bohusz (1916-1939,1945-1947) and Alfred Majewski (1951-1983). In the inter-war period the palace housed the residence of the President of the Republic of Poland and the museum of historical interiors. In the years 1940-1943 it was the seat of Hans Frank, General Governor. Today the palace's host is the museum of the Wawel Royal Castle - National Art Collection.
The entrance to the palace's courtyard passes through the gate building reconstructed in the Renaissance style by Bartolommeo Berrecci. The elevation features the stone Piast Eagle with the date of 1370 originally found in the Casimir the Great's castle in Lobzow. In the hall there are shields with the coats of arms of Poland, Lithuania and the House of Sforza sculpted by Berrecci in 1534. The sub-arches of two arcades in the hall are adorned with rosettes authored by Francisco of Florence (1507) and Berrecci (1525). The classicist crown of the facade dates back to the end of the 18 th century.
An unforgettable impression is made by the arcaded courtyard with cloisters that encircle the three residential wings and the curtain wall in the south. On the second floor of the western wing there is a bay representing pure forms of the Florentine Renaissance designed by Francisco of Florence in the years 1504-1507. The decorative bay fitting, arabesque and candelabrum decoration and three polychrome coats of arms are the oldest examples of the Italian Renaissance ornamentation in the Polish architecture. Under the roof the eastern and southern wings are surrounded by the painted frieze with the busts of emperors and empresses authored by Dionizy Stuba in the years 1535-1536. Initially, the frieze adorned all walls of the palace on the courtyard's side.
Today the palace interiors include five exhibitions presenting the museum collections of the Wawel Royal Castle: "State Rooms," "Royal Private Apartments," "Oriental Art," "Crown Treasury," "Armoury" and "The Lost Wawel."

Since 1905, when the Austrian troops left Wawel, works had been conducted to restore the interiors according to the historical character. Traces of the building's adaptation for barracks were removed. The Renaissance vaults and frescoes were reconstructed, and the frame vaults were installed modelled on the 17 th century ones in the Podhorce Palace. Window frames were supplemented, and portals were reconstructed. Instead of non-preserved Renaissance tile stoves, five other stoves of the 18th century were brought from the Wisniowiec Castle in Volhynia. The most valuable set of exhibits consists of the Renaissance tapestries woven around 1550 at the commission of King Sigismund Augustus. They were made in the workshops of Brussels weavers according to the patterns by Michiel Coxcie, an excellent painter. The collection currently includes 138 items, and is the largest and most valuable set of fabrics in Europe.
The palace can be reached by two reception stairways: the Envoys' Stairway (Poselska) in the eastern wing, following the Italian models of the end of the 15 th century (present stair masonry dates from 1927), and the Senatorial Stairway also with the entrance from the courtyard in the northern wing, constructed by Giovanni Trevano after the castle's fire in 1595.
In the ground floor part of the eastern wing one may note the Gothic-Renaissance portals from the 3 rd decade of the 16 th century, the item produced in the workshop of Master Benedict as an expression of symbiosis of the northern and Italian forms. Here resided the Krakow governors (officials who managed the royal property and administered the castle) and their deputies.
The rooms on the 1 st floor featured mainly private royal apartments, and rooms for the court's retinue and guests. Nowadays, similarly to other palace interiors, they are richly fitted with works of art that evoke the atmosphere of the royal residence of the 16 th and 17 th centuries. Some chambers avoided the destruction caused by the fire of 1702, and preserved the Gothic-Renaissance portals of the 2 nd quarter of the 16 th century, the Renaissance vaults and partial frescoes. In the Danish Tower Sigismund III Vasa conducted alchemical experiments. In the years 1927-1939 it housed the (currently recreated) bedroom of Ignacy Moscicki, President of the Republic of Poland.
The most picturesque rooms of the palace are the interiors of the Hen's Foot. Two rooms cover the frame vaults with plafonds. The marble portals and fireplace date back to c. 1600, while the interior furnishing comes from the 16 th and 17 th centuries. On the 1 st floor of the eastern wing of the palace there is one of the best preserved Renaissance interiors of the castle. The polychrome vault and wall frieze (extreme) copies the Italian painted friezes with famous figures. Sigismund's tapestries with the Satyrs' motive hang on the walls.
The rooms on the 2 nd floor were of representative nature and were used for various court ceremonies. They are mostly Renaissance in style with the exception of the northern wing which bears the signs of early Baroque. The preserved portals and vaults come from the inter-war period (1918-1939). The most famous interior of the palace is the Envoys' Room, also known as the Under the Heads Room. From the old ceiling with sculptures made by Sebastian Tauerbach, a wood carver, about 1540, only 30 sculpted human heads (out of the original number 194) were preserved. It was one of the most beautiful Renaissance ceilings in Europe. Among the interiors of the 2nd floor one may distinguish the following: the Tournament Hall with the wall frieze by Hans Durer (brother of the famous Albrecht) from the 4 th decade of the 16 th century, Military Inspection Room with the frieze presenting the parade of troops authored by Antoni of Wrocław, the Bird Room, the Eagle Room, and the Senator's Hall also known as Tanecznica (Dancer).
See also:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Wawel is a limestone hill in the centre of Krakow upon the Vistula River with a complex of impressive historical monuments of unique historical and artistic values. This extraordinary sanctuary determines the Poles' identity, is their national and cultural symbol. Wawel used to be the seat of Polish rulers, their necropolis and place where the Polish history took shape.