Photo essay

Around Auschwitz, rail tracks are aging reminders of its horror

Lines that transported over a million people to their deaths during Holocaust remain embedded in the ground, passing through bus stations, along roads and over countryside

Old railroad tracks once used to transport Jewish people and others from across Europe to Auschwitz, the Nazi German extermination and labor camp, runs along a road in the town of Oswiecim, Poland, January 23, 2025. (Oded Balilty/AP)
Old railroad tracks once used to transport Jewish people and others from across Europe to Auschwitz, the Nazi German extermination and labor camp, runs along a road in the town of Oswiecim, Poland, January 23, 2025. (Oded Balilty/AP)

OSWIECIM, Poland (AP) — During World War II, men, women, and children were transported from across Europe to Auschwitz-Birkenau, horrendous journeys in which they were packed into cramped cattle cars.

They arrived at an unloading platform, known as the ramp, where Nazi doctors made selections, deciding who would be murdered immediately and who would be used for slave labor.

Many of those rail tracks are abandoned but still exist within the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, stark reminders of the industrial nature of the killing. But they also extend beyond the memorial site, cutting through fields and running along family homes and a bus station, aging testaments of the horrors making their mark on life today.

In all, 1.1 million people perished at Auschwitz in gas chambers or from disease, starvation, and exhaustion. About 90 percent of the victims were Jewish, while Poles, Roma Sinti, and Soviet prisoners of war were also among the victims.

The camp was liberated by Soviet troops on January 27, 1945.

Nazi Germany established its largest extermination camp in Oswiecim — the name of the Polish town that was called Auschwitz under German occupation — because it was centrally located in Europe, with the railway infrastructure making it possible to transport Jews there from all across Europe — from Belgium, France, and the Netherlands, from Italy and from Hungary.

On the grounds of Birkenau there is a memorial in the form of a rail carriage dedicated to the memory of the 420,000 Hungarian Jews who were deported to Auschwitz from May to July 1944.

On Monday, the world will mark the 80th anniversary of the camp’s liberation, with elderly survivors of Nazi atrocities gathering with state leaders and royalty.

Railroad tracks once used to transport Jewish people and others from across Europe to Auschwitz, the Nazi German extermination and labor camp, are seen next to the former camp’s parking lot in Oswiecim, Poland, January 23, 2025. (Oded Balilty/AP)
Old railroad tracks once used to transport Jewish and others from across Europe to Auschwitz, the Nazi German extermination and labor camp, cut through the town of Oswiecim, Poland, January 24, 2025. (Oded Balilty/AP)
Old railroad tracks once used to transport Jewish people and others from across Europe to Auschwitz, the Nazi German extermination and labor camp, run outside the Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Poland, January 23, 2025. (Oded BaliltyAP)
Flowers lie on the old railroad tracks once used to transport Jewish people and others from across Europe to Auschwitz, at the former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Poland, January 23. 2025. (Oded BaliltyAP)
Old railroad tracks once used to transport Jewish people and others from across Europe to Auschwitz, the Nazi German extermination and labor camp, cut through the town of Oswiecim, Poland, January 25, 2025. (Oded Balilty/AP)
People visit railroad tracks and a carriage used for prisoner transports in WWII, just outside the former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Poland, January 25, 2025. (Oded BaliltyAP)
People visit the former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Poland, January 23, 2025. (Oded Balilty/AP)
Old railroad tracks once used to transport Jewish people and others from across Europe to Auschwitz, the Nazi German extermination and labor camp, runs next to a bus station in Oswiecim, Poland, January 25, 2025. (Oded Balilty/AP)
Old railroad tracks once used to transport Jewish people and others from across Europe to Auschwitz, the Nazi German extermination and labor camp, runs along a road in the town of Oswiecim, Poland, January 23, 2025. (Oded Balilty/AP)
Railroad tracks once used to transport Jewish people and others from across Europe to Auschwitz, the Nazi German extermination and labor camp, runs along stores in Oswiecim, Poland, January 25, 2025. (Oded BaliltyAP)
Snow blankets railroad tracks once used to transport Jewish people and others from across Europe to Auschwitz, the Nazi German extermination and labor camp, in Oswiecim, Poland, January 23, 2025. (Oded Balilty/AP)
Trees and bushes growing around the old railroad tracks once used to transport Jewish people and others from across Europe to Auschwitz, the Nazi German extermination and labor camp, in Oswiecim, Poland, January 23, 2025. (Oded BaliltyAP)

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