These Pictures Show The Barbaric Inhumanity Of Auschwitz Concentration Camp

"Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory, there would be no civilization, no society, no future." — Auschwitz survivor and author Elie Wiesel

By
Gabriel H. Sanchez
by Gabriel H. Sanchez

BuzzFeed News Photo Essay Editor

Ullstein Bild Dtl. / Getty Images

The entrance of Auschwitz concentration camp after its liberation in Jan. 1945.

Jan. 27 marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day, commemorating the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp by Soviet forces in WWII.

From 1940 to 1945, the Auschwitz-Birkenau complex was the largest of the Nazi death camps, was comprised of three central hubs and dozens of subcamps. By the time it was liberated in 1945, some 1.1 million people — 90% of them Jews — had been murdered within its walls.

These pictures show the brutal and inhumane reality of life as an Auschwitz prisoner and the strength of survivors who, years later, returned to the former concentration camp as a brave reminder that its history must never again be repeated.

Warning: Some viewers may find the following images disturbing.

Galerie Bilderwelt / Getty Images

The arrival of Hungarian Jews in Auschwitz-Birkenau, in German-occupied Poland, June 1944.

Universalimagesgroup / Getty Images

The arrival of a deportation train, bringing Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz, circa 1942.

Roger Viollet / Getty Images

The barbed wires of Auschwitz, circa 1945.

Universal History Archive / Getty Images

A group of SS officers in Auschwitz: From left, Karl Hoecker, Dr. Josef Mengele, Karl-Friedrich Hoecker, and Richard Baer, who was a commandant of Auschwitz from May 1944 to Dec. 1944.

Afp Contributor / AFP / Getty Images

A photo of women deemed fit for work, taken in May 1944

Galerie Bilderwelt / Getty Images

Women in the barracks at Auschwitz, Jan. 1945.

Ria Novosti / Sputnik via AP

Auschwitz prisoners before the liberation by the Soviet army in Jan., 1945.

Mondadori Portfolio / Getty Images

Cremation furnaces at Birkenau-Auschwitz in Feb. 1945.

Lapi / Getty Images

A pile of discarded glasses of murdered prisoners, circa 1939.

AFP / Getty Images

Child prisoners are photographed in the 1940s on the orders of camp physician Josef Mengele, who carried out experiments on children and twins.

Imagno / Getty Images

Seven tons of hair from murdered prisoners were found after the liberation of the Auschwitz, 1945.


Sovfoto / Getty Images

A 15-year-old Russian boy, Ivan Dudnik, is rescued in 1945.

Gpo / Getty Images

Jewish youth rescued from the Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp show their camp tattoos on board a refugee ship on July 15, 1945.

Sean Gallup / Getty Images

Jack Rosenthal, who was born in Romania and at 14 was imprisoned at Auschwitz and other concentration camps, stands outside Auschwitz I on Jan. 26, 2015.

Sopa Images / Getty Images

People tour of Auschwitz II-Birkenau on Dec. 28, 2018.

Nurphoto / Getty Images

Miroslaw Celka, 93, from the Polish city of Sosnowiec, visits Auschwitz on Jan. 27, 2017.

Anadolu Agency / Getty Images

Holocaust survivors visit Auschwitz on Jan. 27, 2018.

Sakis Mitrolidis / AFP / Getty Images

Holocaust survivor Moshe Aelion at the old railway station in Thessaloniki, Greece, on March 18, 2018, during a commemoration marking the departure of the first train from the northern Greek city to Auschwitz.

Nurphoto / Getty Images

Auschwitz camp survivors, accompanied by their families, lay candles at the Victims Monument in Oswiecim, Poland, on Jan. 27, 2016.

Sopa Images / Getty Images

The main entrance of the former Nazi death camp on Jan. 16, 2019.