Prison tours are now appearing on our list of holiday experiences. For instance, you can take a tour around Alcatraz or a trip to Auschwitz. Have you added a prison tour to your bucket list – or are you starting to question the fascination behind them?
Although Auschwitz (Auschwitz – Birkenav) was a Nazi extermination camp rather than a prison there are some comparisons and contrasts. At Auschwitz millions of people, mainly European Jews, were imprisoned and murdered against their will. In prisons, people were held due to their crimes and may have been victims of torture and death. In both places, people lived imprisoned without freedom.
There are many historic prisons you can visit that didn’t involve the horrors of Auschwitz. These archaic places are where you can learn, and experience what it was like to live without freedom. This is a subset of dark tourism, often referred to as prison tourism or penitentiary tourism.
Two members of our team recently visited Auschwitz and wished to share their experiences. Plus, where else can you have similar experiences, as well as, the fascination behind them?
Prison Tours at Auschwitz – Birkenav
Auschwitz concentration camp is 70km west of Kraków, Poland. Throughout the year, over two million people visit Auschwitz – Birkenav museum and take a tour via air-conditioned van or on foot. However, you don’t need to book a tour. There’s the option to explore alone, although it is recommended to do your research first to get the most out of a trip.
If you opt for a tour of Auschwitz, you’ll walk in the footsteps of the people who were once brought there against their will by train. Following the track, you will find your way to the four camps that lay within as well as the salt mine. For a full history of everything known that occurred there, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum in Krakow is vital. To gain an insight into what you’ll see and learn we spoke to Cheryl and Olivia from the Free Spirit team.
What did you see and learn on an Auschwitz tour?
- An eye-opening and serial account of how people once lived there.
- Many unnerving statistics are shared. For instance, on arrival 100 people would step out of each cramped train carriage.
- You’ll experience the prisoner’s journey on foot from the track to the gas chamber.
- The gas chambers and how long people may have lived on-site before stepping into one. Some as little as 48 hours. Others may have been there for up to 18 months.
- The four camps included Auschwitz, Birkenau, a death camp, and a work camp. Across the camps, a hierarchy existed where people were segregated. Some had jobs, with a couple of small privileges. Others had little.
- Hut II was the ‘prison within the prison’ because up to 3000 people lived within it at one time. You’ll see how unsanitary the conditions were in towering bunk beds.
- The small things that bring the chilling reality to life, such as piles of shoes left by the people who were there. Plus, a wall of prisoner photos before their death.
- Some visitors come to pay their respects and pray for the people who never left the camps.