Ruins of Krema II
View of collapsed roof
of Krema II oven room
The photo above shows the collapsed roof
of the above-ground crematorium in Krema II. Two braces have
been put against the ruins on the south side to keep the roof
from further collapsing. Efforts to preserve the ruins for posterity
are ongoing.
According to Holocaust historians, the
crematory ovens in Krema II were first put into operation on
March 13, 1943 when 1,492 women, children and elderly people
from the Podgorze ghetto in Krakow were put to death in the Krema
II gas chamber immediately after their arrival, and their bodies
were then burned. The final liquidation of the Podgorze ghetto
on May 13, 1943 was shown in the film Schindler's List; around
6,000 Jews in the ghetto, who were able to work, were sent to
the Plaszow forced labor camp, while those unfit for work were
sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau to be gassed and burned that same
day.
Ruins of Krema II oven
room, looking east towards the women's camp
The photo above was not taken with a
telephoto lens which would make the building in the background
look closer than it is. The red brick building in the background
is one of the kitchens in the women's camp and it really is that
close to the gas chamber building, separated only by a barbed
wire fence. Because of the proximity of the gas chambers to the
barracks at Birkenau, all the prisoners were aware of the gassing
of those who were unable to work. When periodic selections for
the gas chamber were made, they would bite their lips and pinch
their cheeks in order to attain the rosy glow of health that
would save them from a horrible death.
Closer view of the
photo above
View of the ruins underneath
the fallen roof of Krema II
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