Talk:Auschwitz-Birkenau

This article contains content imported from the English Wikipedia article on Auschwitz_concentration_camp. View the page revision history for a list of the authors.

If the town of Oswiecim ever gets its own separate page, it could be placed under Oswiecim -- but the KZ is definitely best known as "Auschwitz". (WT-en) Jpatokal 21:22, 28 Dec 2004 (EST)

Auschwitz is simply German name for Oswiecim, similarly as Danzig is German for Gdansk. (WT-en) Wojsyl 04:21, 29 Dec 2004 (EST)

That's right, but according to Project:Article naming conventions we have to use the most common name, and Google says Auschwitz 1,890,000 against Oswiecim 237,000. (WT-en) Jpatokal 04:42, 29 Dec 2004 (EST)

I don't have particularly strong feelings about this and maybe Auschwitz is indeed a better name for the title but for the sake of correctness: Project:Article naming conventions says "For remote or relatively unknown destinations where there just isn't a commonly-used English name, use the most commonly-used name in the local language". German is hardly a local language there so if we want to be inline with naming conventions it should be Oswiecim and Auschwitz a redirect. But I'm not against making an exception here, only consciously. (WT-en) Wojsyl 05:06, 29 Dec 2004 (EST)

Auschwitz doesn't really fall under "relatively unknown", and the German name is definately the one most commonly used in English. (WT-en) Blorg 11:35, 7 Nov 2005 (EST)

Auschwitz- The complex. Oswiecim- The town.

The town is indeed Oswiecim, no doubt about that. Its German name was Aushcitz, but this is a Polish site. The camp, however, was not a Polish site. It was a place created, named and operated by Nazi Germany. It's on Polish soil, but the camp itself retains its name, and it is widely used in foreign languages. I checked the Polish Wikipedia, and their article about Auschwitz is titled Auschwitz-Birkenau, and the Polish location names are obviously given a lower priority:

   * Auschwitz I (Oświęcim I), pierwszy obóz, głównie pracy przymusowej, pełniący również funkcję centrum zarządzającego dla całego kompleksu
   * Auschwitz II – Birkenau (Brzezinka), najpierw obóz koncentracyjny, potem także obóz śmierci wyposażony w komory gazowe i krematoria
   * Auschwitz III – Monowitz (Monowice), obóz pracy przymusowej w fabryce Buna-Werke koncernu IG Farben

--(WT-en) RamSobol

Name

I think it should be renamed to its full name (i.e. Auschwitz-Birkenau). 1Arena1hu (talk) 22:54, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

I agree, that's how the museum is named as well. I'll make the move in few days if nobody objects. Jjtkk (talk) 07:13, 9 August 2013 (UTC)

Seems logical to me. Ikan Kekek (talk) 07:52, 9 August 2013 (UTC)

Please ensure that a redirect remains from Auschwitz because imho a lot of travelers are not aware of the full name. jan (talk) 08:00, 9 August 2013 (UTC)

closing times are actually last admission times

Currently one can stay in the site until 8:30 PM.

Since buses stop working at 7:30PM someone should make this information clear. I tried but I think it's cumbersome. Feel free to improve. Tvdp77 (talk) 00:27, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

Add a "Cope" section?

It perhaps goes without saying that Auschwitz-Birkenau is not really anything like the places covered by our other destination articles. Without wishing to take away from the real suffering of victims and their families, I think we should acknowledge and advise about the emotional toll on visitors.

Before you even go, there's a kind of dread / anxiety weighing on your mind. When you're there, of course it can be upsetting (which is what you expect), but also disorientating, unreal and at times weirdly mundane (very unexpected). After you've left, the way you think and feel about the world will probably be permanently altered, and the memories, impressions and complicated emotions of the visit tend to linger and resurface at odd times even years later. And that's just from the perspective of someone with no known connection to the Holocaust; someone with more of a personal connection will no doubt be on a completely different level. But both types of visitor will be reading this article.

I therefore propose a short (or maybe not so short) 'cope' section so travellers know what to expect and how to, well, cope.

If people think this is a good idea, I'd invite other editors who have visited to contribute as getting several perspectives on what is an emotionally-complicated topic seems far preferable. In fact, I wouldn't really be comfortable being the sole contributor to such a section, because one person cannot possibly sum up a whole spectrum of different experiences.

On the other hand, is this whole idea and post just too obvious to mention, or else something that will vary so much for individual travellers as to make such a section pointless? Or maybe even out of scope? Your thoughts, please. --ThunderingTyphoons! (talk) 17:02, 20 October 2017 (UTC)

• Support. Nothing about Auschwitz shall ever be labeled "obvious". I know exactly what you mean, from having been at Berlin's Topography of Terror for a few minutes - I couldn't cope! and went, almost running, back to Potsdamer Platz. Ibaman (talk) 17:11, 20 October 2017 (UTC)
• I support this, too. I've deliberately avoided going to Nazi death and concentration camps: It was enough for me to cope with my irrational fear for the first week I was in Berlin that the Gestapo would grab me while I was throwing out the garbage or walking on the street and shoot me. There are other related articles that could probably benefit from a somewhat similar "Cope" section, such as the one on Dachau and the Lublin article, which includes a listing for Majdanek. Ikan Kekek (talk) 22:54, 20 October 2017 (UTC)

Thank you both for your responses, and for sharing your experiences. Would either of you be willing to help formulate a section? I'm in no rush (as always!), but it's nice to gauge opinions. Might put in a request for comment too. --ThunderingTyphoons! (talk) 22:48, 21 October 2017 (UTC)

I wonder if it would be best to have a Cope section at Holocaust remembrance—then we could link to it from this article, Dachau, Lublin, and other articles about Holocaust sites. Even the Yad Vashem listing in Jerusalem/West could link to it—visiting Holocaust museums can take an emotional toll too. —Granger (talk · contribs) 19:26, 22 October 2017 (UTC)

Good idea, although some brief remarks should be made in each of the location articles, too. As I mentioned, I have deliberately avoided going to all Nazi concentration and death camps. I did go to Yad Vashem when I was 12. It was a grim experience but I don't remember suffering from post-traumatic stress related to that visit. Ikan Kekek (talk) 20:22, 22 October 2017 (UTC)

There probably should be something on the main Holocaust remembrance page, and on other destination articles. I can only contribute personal experience to Auschwitz, though. --ThunderingTyphoons! (talk) 22:03, 22 October 2017 (UTC)

I plunged forward and started a short section at Holocaust remembrance#Cope, based on the comments in this discussion and my experiences visiting Dachau and Yad Vashem. I hope others will improve and expand it based on their own experiences and knowledge. —Granger (talk · contribs) 22:27, 22 October 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for starting that. --ThunderingTyphoons! (talk) 22:40, 22 October 2017 (UTC)

GPS

A1 and A2 had the same coordinates. I updated coordinates to 1 based on Wikipedia data (and synced this to wikidata). Could use double checking. Also note our description that says "Camp 2 is around 3 km from Auschwitz I" - that doesn't look like 3km on the map to me... Piotrus (talk) 02:24, 30 October 2022 (UTC)