Saturday, September 5, 2026

Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum

Behind the Barbed Wire is at Auschwitz Memorial / Muzeum Auschwitz.  

Collections  

Glasses
Glasses

The Auschwitz Memorial is more than extensive grounds and original camp blocks, barracks, and guard towers. It is also tens of thousands of objects of a special nature, special meaning, and special symbolism. 

• Above all, it is the personal possessions brought by deportees and found at the site after liberation. They make up a unique collection of items connected with the suffering of the people deported to Auschwitz to be killed immediately, and with those forced into slave labor by the Germans.

• It is also the objects connected with the life of prisoners inthe camp, which bear testimony not only to the primitive living and hygienic conditions and starvation, but also with attempts to preserve humanity behind the barbed wire of Auschwitz. 

• The Museum collections also contain objects connected with the SS garrison, the perpetrators of the crime.  

The nature of the collections

The Museum collections include:

• about 40 m3 of shoes;
• about 3,800 suitcases, 2,100 of which bear the names of their owners;
• over 12 thousand kitchen utensils;
• 470 prostheses and orthoses;
• 397 striped camp garments;
• 246 tallisim;
• about 4,100 works of art (including about 2 thousand of which were made by prisoners).

SS items  "The collections include the items connected with the perpetrators of the crime – the SS garrison. These are among others helmets and guard boots. There are also instruments used by the SS to inflict misery on the prisoners: whips and clubs used for beating, as well as the “goat” used during flogging."

SS helmet
SS helmet
Collar patch from the SS uniform
Collar patch from...
SS belt buckle
SS belt buckle
SS man’s confession of faith “Unser Glaube!”
SS man’s confession...
Chair from the camp commandant’s office
Chair from the camp...
Two-door wardrobe from the SS barracks
Two-door wardrobe...
SS motorcykle number board
SS motorcykle...
Whip
Whip
Dog tag
Dog tag
Witnter protection shoes of an SS guard with wooden soles and metal

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