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  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim050.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim051.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim003.jpg
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim005.jpg
  • Polling stations in the town of Oswiecim, Poland during the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, June 20, 2010.
    Ghitis_PolishPrezElections_019.jpg
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim012.jpg
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim014.jpg
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim018.jpg
  • Polling stations in the town of Oswiecim, Poland during the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, June 20, 2010.
    Ghitis_PolishPrezElections_011.jpg
  • Polling stations in the town of Oswiecim, Poland during the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, June 20, 2010.
    Ghitis_PolishPrezElections_008.jpg
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim007.jpg
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim008.jpg
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim023.jpg
  • Polling stations in the town of Oswiecim, Poland during the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, June 20, 2010.
    Ghitis_PolishPrezElections_023.jpg
  • Polling stations in the town of Oswiecim, Poland during the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, June 20, 2010.
    Ghitis_PolishPrezElections_003.jpg
  • Polling stations in the town of Oswiecim, Poland during the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, June 20, 2010.
    Ghitis_PolishPrezElections_001.jpg
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim019.jpg
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim028.jpg
  • Women prepare for an Easter procession around an old church in the Oswiecim town square. The church is across the street from the restored Jewish Synagogue and education center
    Auschwitz_017.JPG
  • A nun plays badminton with school children on the banks of the Sola river in Oswiecim, Poland. About a mile down the river lies the concentration camp Auschwitz.
    Auschwitz_003.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim009.jpg
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim011.jpg
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim015.jpg
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim017.jpg
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim025.jpg
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim026.jpg
  • Polling stations in the town of Oswiecim, Poland during the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, June 20, 2010.
    Ghitis_PolishPrezElections_006.jpg
  • Polling stations in the town of Oswiecim, Poland during the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, June 20, 2010.
    Ghitis_PolishPrezElections_004.jpg
  • Polling stations in the town of Oswiecim, Poland during the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, June 20, 2010.
    Ghitis_PolishPrezElections_002.jpg
  • Parents set up their children for pictures outside a pre-war Oswiecim church after their First Communion.
    Auschwitz_018.JPG
  • A modern cemetery in the town of Oswiecim with smokestacks from the town's chemical factory looming in the distance. The factory was built by Nazi Germany during the war and used prisoners from Auschwitz to run it. After the war the new communist government expanded the industrial complex, which employed about 12,000 employees. After the fall of communism in Poland the factory became privatized and now only employs about 1,500 people.
    Auschwitz_014.JPG
  • A few high-rise apartment buildings in the center of Oswiecim sometimes referred to as "Manhattan" by residents.
    Auschwitz_008.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim002.jpg
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim021.jpg
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim022.jpg
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim024.jpg
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim027.jpg
  • Polling stations in the town of Oswiecim, Poland during the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, June 20, 2010.
    Ghitis_PolishPrezElections_020.jpg
  • Polling stations in the town of Oswiecim, Poland during the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, June 20, 2010.
    Ghitis_PolishPrezElections_017.jpg
  • Polling stations in the town of Oswiecim, Poland during the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, June 20, 2010.
    Ghitis_PolishPrezElections_015.jpg
  • Polling stations in the town of Oswiecim, Poland during the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, June 20, 2010.
    Ghitis_PolishPrezElections_010.jpg
  • Polling stations in the town of Oswiecim, Poland during the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, June 20, 2010.
    Ghitis_PolishPrezElections_007.jpg
  • An elderly man from Oswiecim locks his bike to a sign at Auschwitz II - Birkenau directing visitors to the Auschwitz I museum site.
    Auschwitz_020.JPG
  • A street vendor sells balloons in Oswiecim during a Polish laborer's holiday festival.
    Auschwitz_005.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim001.jpg
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim006.jpg
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim016.jpg
  • Polling stations in the town of Oswiecim, Poland during the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, June 20, 2010.
    Ghitis_PolishPrezElections_014.jpg
  • Polling stations in the town of Oswiecim, Poland during the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, June 20, 2010.
    Ghitis_PolishPrezElections_005.jpg
  • A mother and son in their strawberry patch in a village bordering Oswiecim.
    33_D_Ghitis_LandofOs.jpg
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim013.jpg
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim020.jpg
  • Polling stations in the town of Oswiecim, Poland during the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, June 20, 2010.
    Ghitis_PolishPrezElections_009.jpg
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim082.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim029.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim033.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim036.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim046.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim047.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim049.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim055.JPG
  • Polling stations in the town of Oswiecim, Poland during the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, June 20, 2010.
    Ghitis_PolishPrezElections_013.jpg
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim073.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim080.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim089.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim092.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim096.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim010.jpg
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim030.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim048.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim065.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim074.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim098.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim035.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim056.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim059.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim031.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim034.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim038.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim040.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim041.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim043.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim045.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim053.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim057.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim060.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim061.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim064.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim068.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim075.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim077.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim078.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim081.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim086.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim090.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim091.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim093.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim094.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim095.JPG
  • At the end of the infamous railroad tracks is a city of red brick and barbed wire fencing. To see it is to gaze into the face of death. The human mind can't comprehend what more than 1,000,000 murders looks or feels like. Nevertheless, the same number of living people pay homage to the lost souls at Auschwitz-Birkenau every year. Very few venture into the adjacent Polish town.<br />
<br />
O?wi?cim's history has enormous proportions compared to its physical size. It's been overrun by invading armies for centuries, it's had times of peace and prosperity, it was home to the worst incidence of genocide that humanity has ever known, and it is a former industrial center now struggling with Poland's 21st century economy. Most people settled after WWII, when the communist government attracted thousands of families by expanding the Nazi I.G. Farben factory (Auschwitz III - Monowitz) into an enormous complex. The number of residents jumped from about 15,000 before the war to about 50,000 afterward.<br />
<br />
The word Os in Polish means axis. It titles the Auschwitz Museum's monthly publication to represent cooperation among local institutions for Holocaust-related dialogue. But residents of Oswiecim live within a paradoxical axis. The psychological scars on the land can be as difficult to look past as those on a burn victim's face. Getting to know the town reveals a more complex reality, but there is a constant reminder of its traumatic past. Is the town's identity forever intertwined with the Nazi's xenophobic monstrosity, or will there ever be two separate entities?
    Oswiecim100.JPG
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DANNY GHITIS

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