Last year I visited Auschwitz and Birkenau. A harrowing experience, and not one I want to repeat, but now, more than ever, these places should be visited.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 160 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Tag Archives: Auschwitz
The train tracks of Birkenau
The train tracks of Birkenau concentration camp in Poland lead off to the front gate. The camp is only a 5 minute bus journey from Auschwitz, along a road bordered by a train track. It’s surreal passing by homes, businesses and people walking about living their lives next to these places.
Tourists gather around the building, listening to their tour guides.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 240mm |
| ISO | 160 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
The Commandant’s House
The Commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, lived in the large house at the end of this road. It sits right outside the concentration camp where so many people were put to death, but a family lived here, and they are the subject of a 2023 movie, The Zone of Interest.
When I visited the camp last week, the guide made an offhand remark while pointing in the direction of a locked gate, saying, “That’s where the camp commandant lived with his family.” My group were on our way to Gas Chamber 1, so nobody went to look, but I stuck my camera over the gate and recorded a photo of an ordinary street with parked cars outside a red brick building and the family home further down. Watch the trailer of the movie, and you’ll recognise the shape of the roof in the background. Gave me chills.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 200 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |