What Were They Thinking?

The Nazi concentration camps of Auschwitz were actually three camps located near one another: Auschwitz I (built in April 1940 in Oswiecim, approx 60km from Krakow, all buildings intact), Auschwitz II - Birkenau (in Brzezinka, 3km from Osweicim, much larger, half the mens buildings and the gas chambers / crematoria are now in ruins) and Auscwitz III - Monowitz (in Monowice, 10km from Osweicm, opposite the metal factory as seen in Schindlers List, nothing is left of this camp or the factory).

Paul and I took an extensive 4 hour English tour of the two camps. Auschwitz was built to hold Polish political prisoners but in 1942 was greatly expanded to become the official site for the "Final Solution". The camps literally became death factories. It is estimated that between 1940 and 1945, a total of 1.5-2.0 million people were executed from 27 countries all over Europe with approx 90% being Jews. The site was chosen because of the central railway junction: 5-7,000 people came in by train each day (70 to a carriage, 7 days average trip, no food or water) and approx 85% were lead 400-600m direct to the gas chambers, executed, their hair cut, jewellery / gold teeth removed and incinerated. Hair was made into cloth, gold melted down and the human ashes used to fertilise surrounding fields. Paul and I saw mountains of original hair, suitcases, shoes, toothbrushes, showbrushes, combs, shaving brushes and sadly childrens clothes. It is estimated that 600,000 children were sent to these camps and the Russian Red Army only found 600 alive when they liberated the camps on 27 January 1945. What were the Nazi's thinking?