Auschwitz II-Birkenau concentration & extermination camp
Brzezinka, Poland |
Camp fence and guard tower: unlike the Auschwitz I camp which was surrounded by two rows of barbed wire fence, the Birkenau camp had only one line and a ditch full of water inside the camp. The typical fence post was 3,3 m high and fitted with 24 ceramic insulators. There were concrete slabs underneath the fence to prevent prisoners from tunneling. Electricity for the fence was supplied by a high tension line from Siersza Wodna power plant to the main substation in Babice, from which two separate feeders ran to Auschwitz I and Birkenau, where it was connected to the fencing (400 volts at Auschwitz and 760 volts at Birkenau).
In the background, ruins of the men's camp.
Auschwitz II-Birkenau concentration & extermination camp
Brzezinka, Poland |
Camp fence and guard tower: unlike the Auschwitz I camp which was surrounded by two rows of barbed wire fence, the Birkenau camp had only one line and a ditch full of water inside the camp. The typical fence post was 3,3 m high and fitted with 24 ceramic insulators. There were concrete slabs underneath the fence to prevent prisoners from tunneling. Electricity for the fence was supplied by a high tension line from Siersza Wodna power plant to the main substation in Babice, from which two separate feeders ran to Auschwitz I and Birkenau, where it was connected to the fencing (400 volts at Auschwitz and 760 volts at Birkenau).
In the background, ruins of the men's camp.