Old Sentry Box at Auschwitz
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Old sentry box on Appellplatz
where prisoners assembled for roll call
The 1998 photograph above shows an old
sentry box that was probably there when this was a military garrison.
It stands in front of the Appellplatz or Roll Call Place, shown
in the photo below, where the prisoners had to assemble every
morning and evening to be counted. Every prisoner had to be accounted
for, to make sure that no one had escaped from the camp.
Place where prisoners
assembled for roll call
Old sentry box and
gallows in front of brick buildings
Behind the sentry box, in front of the
second low brick building, you can see the posts of a reconstructed
gallows. On July 19, 1943, there was a mass hanging of 12 Polish
political prisoners here in reprisal for the escape of 3 prisoners.
The gallows was not high enough and the victims died an agonizing
death, according to my 1998 tour guide.
The photo below shows the gallows, which
was left in place as a reminder to prisoners of the punishment
in store for anyone who escaped and was caught. According to
a sign in the camp in 2005, when Polish prisoners continued to
escape, their relatives were arrested and brought to the camp
as hostages.
Gallows where Polish
prisoners were hanged
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