Shortly after planning to visit Krakow, I realized that Auschwitz-Birkenau was a day trip away, and decided that visiting this site would be necessary to my research. In studying the role and legacy of spaces associated with human conflict, and the methods of commemoration used to educate people about these events, Auschwitz is an essential example. This was the largest of the concentration camps built by the Nazis during the war, and the most deadly. An estimated 1.1 million people were murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau alone. As a result, this site is the most notorious, and now, the best-preserved. Though the Germans intended to destroy the site and evidence of its existence, they succeeded only partially (only foundations and chimneys remain of wooden barracks, but the many brick buildings on the site remain largely intact. the crematoriums were blown up, but ruins remain on display).
Experiencing these buildings and understanding how they were used is the main premise of the museum. Several of the remaining barracks now host exhibits pertaining to the site’s history - one, for example, features displays of personal belongings removed from victims: entire rooms full of shoes, kitchen implements, suitcases, etc. These exhibits are simply displayed, however, with just a few informational plaques in each space, allowing photos, objects, and the space itself to tell the story.
Personally, I think this method of narrative exhibition design is more powerful than those intending to immerse the viewer in an alternate, constructed space: being in those rooms and seeing photos and belongings of those who had occupied the space was very powerful. I do recognize, though, that this strategy is particularly successful in a place like Auschwitz, where the buildings themselves are infamous for the events that occurred there - you just don’t need any additional material to convey the gravity of these events. Relying on the emotion of visiting the space itself would not necessarily be the best strategy for all commemorative projects.
In all, this was a very emotional and powerful experience. The material is very clearly presented, and moving through the site - experiencing moments depicted in now famous photographs, such as walking through the ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ gate or through barbed wire corridors - really engages visitors with the emotions of those who lived this experience.