What to Expect When Touring Auschwitz-Birkenau

“For ever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity, where the Nazis murdered about one and a half million men, women, and children, mainly Jews from various countries of Europe.”

Auschwitz-Birkenau, 1940-1945

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Before visiting Poland and touring Auschwitz-Birkenau, I didn’t know what to expect. Of course I had learned about the Holocaust in school and in my adult life, but I had no personal connection to the event other than having empathy for fellow humans who were victims of a tragedy at such a large, heinous scale.

After going there personally and physically being in the place where it all happened, I will be the first to say that the American education system does not do justice teaching the actual weight and severity of the Holocaust, especially with recent events and political tensions in the US.

This blog post is meant to be educational from a tourist standpoint, to help you know what to expect if you also want to visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial. To be blunt, it is an extremely humbling, harrowing, and taxing experience, and the weight of the experience will vary for everyone.

Why Is Visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau Important?

For myself, being able to put myself in the actual location where the Holocaust occurred, standing in the actual barracks and gas chambers where innocent people were murdered, and seeing the remnants of the victims belongings was a life-changing experience that was extremely difficult, but necessary. These buildings and grounds were preserved for a reason, and I think it’s important to visit sites like Auschwitz-Birkenau to remind ourselves of the evil that can come from humanity, and to inspire a better future within current and future generations. It’s also incredibly important to respect, honor, and preserve the memory of the millions of victims who were murdered during the Holocaust, and supporting the preservation of this site is one way to do so.

Booking Your Tour and Getting There

As I mentioned, we booked our tour as an Airbnb experience, and we based our choice on reviews. There are other group tours you can find through popular sites like Viator or GetYourGuide as well. Of course, you can also just book your tickets ahead of time and travel there on your own, guiding yourself around both sites if you’d prefer to do so. I imagine some group tours include actual guided walks through both the Auschwitz and Birkenau camps, but our experience simply included travel to and from the site to Kraków and our entrance tickets, which you can pick up at the Auschwitz I museum site. From there, our guide let us walk through both camps on our own, with set meeting times to keep everyone on schedule.

If you book a group tour, you will likely receive your timed entry ticket with your group and visit each site based on your timed tickets. You will likely also receive a map and a headset that will recite information to you based on where you are at each site. This contains a lot of important information regarding the history of each area of Auschwitz and Birkenau (though it can be disturbing to listen to–do not be afraid to shut off or take off your headset if needed).

Birkenau Camp (Auschwitz II)

First, to clarify: the Auschwitz concentration camp was actually separated into two camps: Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II (Birkenau). We began our tour by taking a shuttle to Birkenau and walking through the camp, which is mostly outdoor grounds without any museum-like exhibits to view. You will enter through the main gates (pictured below) and immediately see the train tracks in front of you and rows of barracks to your left and right.

What to Expect in Birkenau

Your map and headset will guide you through the area and explain what you’re seeing. Some of the preserved barracks contain sectioned-off replicas of bunkbeds, food troughs, heating apparatuses, etc., and some of them are fully preserved and able to walk through. If you walk down the tracks (referred to as the “death road” lined with huge guard towers on either side), you’ll come to a solemn but lovely memorial for the Holocaust victims at Auschwitz-Birkenau; it is a large monument at the end of the train tracks, behind a row of 23 plaques containing the quote at the top of this blog post written in different languages.

If you go past the memorial and follow the path through the woods, you’ll come to a large building that was used as a bathhouse for newly arrived victims. There are some very moving memorial pieces in this building; mainly walls filled with photos and names of victims.

You’ll make your way back to the train tracks at this point, and if you want to venture to the right, you’ll find remains from the gas chamber and crematorium on site at Birkenau. The headset audio might be disturbing to you at this particular area. From here, you can follow the path through the right side of the grounds, viewing some of the barracks reserved for women and children. You’ll also see barracks no. 30, where Horst Schumann performed his horrifying sterilization and castration experiments and procedures on victims in the Birkenau camp, and barracks no. 25 (the “Barracks of Death”) where prisoners were held until they were sentenced to death at the gas chambers.

What to Expect at Auschwitz I

Auschwitz I is the main camp as well as the site for the main entrance, ticketing, etc. I tried not to take too many photos during my time on this tour out of respect, but I genuinely couldn’t even pick up my camera at Auschwitz I due to the sheer despair I felt the entire time walking around. The three photos below are the only ones I took during this section of the tour. This camp in particular is extremely unsettling, upsetting, and intense, so please take care to not overwhelm yourself while walking through.

When entering Auschwitz I, you’ll walk through the gate that reads “Arbeit macht frei” or “work makes free.” It’s a very disheartening start to this part of the tour. The grounds here are smaller than Birkenau, mainly consisting of rows of blocks, but you’ll find numerous different memorial exhibits inside a number of blocks that are worth visiting, including:

Block 4 (extermination exhibit containing hair of Holocaust victims)
Block 5 (evidence of crime exhibit containing 25,000 pairs of children’s shoes)
Block 6 (life of prisoners exhibit containing personal belongings of victims)
the wall of executions, between blocks 10 and 11
Shoah - Block 27 (Jewish memorial containing children’s drawings and book of names of all Holocaust victims)

All of the above blocks contain objects, rooms, and exhibits that are extremely distressing to view. Possibly even more distressing is the option to walk through a preserved gas chamber on site. If doing this, and while in all blocks, please remember to be respectful of the victims and of others around you.

Final Thoughts

Like I mentioned, and like you probably already assume, visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau is not a fun day trip to take lightly. It is a harrowing, yet incredibly important visit to make in order to pay respects to the millions of innocent lives lost during the Holocaust. There are moments during this tour that will be very intense and emotionally overwhelming for many. There are also some incredibly uplifting moments, like seeing photos of Holocaust survivors and their family in present day. Preserving sites like these is the first step in making sure that history does not repeat itself.

I hope this blog post helps you prepare for your visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau, and I hope you tour the grounds with respect, care, and humility. Remember that everywhere you walk on the grounds of Auschwitz-Birkenau, you are walking on the ashes of innocent victims who were sentenced to death. Also remember that in the end, goodness prevailed.

I do suggest planning something uplifting after your visit, and being open with your emotions as it’s an extremely mentally, physically, and emotionally taxing experience. Remember our history for what it was, but keep hope that we can continue to progress on a global level and create a better future free from the atrocities we’ve experienced.