Ruins of prisoner barracks, with what look like partly-destroyed fireplaces, stand silent in the cool March afternoon, while the death gate looms behind them.
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Tags: Auschwitz Auschwitz II - Birkenau Holocaust Shoah concentration camp death camp extermination camp Nazi National Socialism NSDAP WW2 World War Two history Jews genocide museum memorial Auschwitz Birkenau State Museum 2020 March 2020 winter 2020 winter travel Poland Oświeçim ruins guard tower death gate
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75 years after the liberation of Auschwitz and the end of the Holocaust (when I took this picture in 2020), the most notorious site of the Final Solution sits sprawling in a light March rain. A storage area for restoration materials hides behind a screen fence on the left, while an old building stands behind an electric fence on the right; the sewage treatment plant is off-screen behind it. Water in a drainage ditch reflects the pale sky above it, and points toward a house in the distance (most likely on Pławianka) where laundry hangs on a clothesline. About 18km further away, the Beskid Mountains are visible.
Imagine hanging your laundry on the line and seeing the ruins of a concentration camp in your back yard.
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Tags: Auschwitz Auschwitz II-Birkenau Birkenau Holocaust Shoah concentration camp extermination camp death camp WW2 World War Two war history Poland Europe Europe 2020 winter 2020 2020 March 2020 winter travel Oświeçim memorial electric fence guard tower drainage ditch genocide
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"To the memory of the men, women, and children who fell victim to the Nazi genocide. Here lie their ashes. May their souls rest in peace."
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Tags: Auschwitz Auschwitz-Birkenau Auschwitz II-Birkenau grave death Holocaust genocide Nazi raining winter winter 2020 March 2020 concentration camp death camp extermination camp Shoah Jews Poland Oświeçim Europe WW2 World War Two memorial Auschwitz Birkenau State Museum
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The Auschwitz exhibit just opened at the ROM the other day. I plan to go to it, even though obviously I've seen the remains of Auschwitz in person.
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Tags: Auschwitz Birkenau Auschwitz II-Birkenau Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Holocaust Shoah gas chamber crematorium Crematorium II Crematorium 2 death ruins remains death camp extermination camp concentration camp genocide World War Two World War 2 WW2 Poland Europe history Nazi Germany Final Solution Oświeçim
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I was commenting on one of www.flickr.com/photos/eridony/ 's photos today about old motels or other facilities that have been bypassed by bigger highway projects.
Here's one on Lakeshore Road in Mississauga, just past the border with Toronto/Etobicoke. Lakeshore Road (called Lake Shore Boulevard once it crosses into Toronto) is still a major road, but the QEW/Gardiner Expressway a few kilometers to the north allows drivers to drive across the southern portions of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) without any stoplights. I was going to use the term "much quicker", but that really depends on what time of day you're driving!
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Tags: motel accommodations Mississauga GTA Greater Toronto Area Lakeshore Road lodging old phone booth The Ivy The Ivy Motel roadside motel Mom & Pop motel retro motel legacy motel Ontario winter January iPhone iPhone SE iPhone SE 2nd gen snow parking lot
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