Sunset, Isla Floreana, Galapagos

Sunset, Isla Floreana, Galápagos

Sunset, San Cristóbal, Galápagos

The toilets, Birkinau.

Inmates were allowed one short visit per day. The job of cleaning them was coveted, because it meant you weren't going to the gas chamber that day.

The Barracks, Birkenau.

Most of the barracks at Birkenau were made from pre-fabricated horse stables. A stable designed for about 50 horses could hold over 500 men.

Rail line to the gas chambers, Birkinau.

An improvement to the system in Birkenau was to run the train tracks right into the camp. The prisoners were separated by doctors immediately upon arrival into those who would go to the barracks to be worked to death, and those who would go directly to the gas chambers.

Fenceline, Birkinau.

The ruins of barracks on the right side of the tracks. Both the Poles and Russians cannibalized the camp for scarce post-war building materials.

The fence line, Auschwitz.

The double row of electrified barbed wire that surrounded Auschwitz I. Some prisoners committed suicide by throwing themselves on the high voltage strands.

The test furnaces, Auschwitz I.

The “experimental” furnaces at Auschwitz I. These became obsolete when the bigger more efficient crematoria were installed at Birkenau.

Before they tattooed numbers on inmates at Auschwitz, they photographed them.

In the beginning each prisoner was photographed for the files and given a number. Later an SS accountant decided that the photo process was too expensive and time consuming. So it was replaced with just giving each prisoner a number, which was tattooed on their left forearm. Auschwitz was the only Nazi camp that tattooed the number.

Pile of children's shoes, Auschwitz I.

Children’s shoes ended up in a big pile.

Pile of empty suitcases.

Arriving Jews were told to paint their name on the suitcase, so they’d get it back later.

Empty canisters of poison gas crystals.

Used canisters of Zyklon B, the chemical used in the gas chambers. Dark humor: Gift in German means poison.

The entry gate, Auschwitz death camp.

Arbeit Macht Frei. Work will set you free. The comforting lie that greeted the new prisoners as they entered the camp.