It is obvious that Birkenau was built as a place to confine people. The barbed wire fences and the watch towers attest to that.

Below (from top to bottom): Gate (with barbed wire), main watch tower (seen from inside the camp), barbed wire fence, watch tower, main watch tower (as seen from outside the camp)

 

But in addition, the physical layout of the camp was intended to send a certain message to those it confined. The message was direct: your situation is hopeless. Don’t even think about escape. Don’t even think about fighting back. You are powerless. Further, the size of the place suggested an omnipotence that made it seem even more imposing and foreboding. This effect was deliberate. The purpose was to cow the prisoners into submission. And that made sense, at least for the operators of the camp. The prisoners were many and the guards relatively few. It must be remembered that despite its military trappings – uniformed guards, military ordnance, barracks, and barbed wire fencing – Birkenau was a civilian facility operated by civilians (albeit heavily armed). Thus, the operators of the camp had limited resources with which to impose control. So for them it was of critical importance that they achieve total compliance with their directives as quickly as possible. Paradoxically, one way to achieve that was to make the place seem less frightening. The purpose was to keep the prisoners from acting out. Various methods were employed. One was to designate certain park-like sections in the camp as rest areas where prisoners could relax before being “processed” (that is, before being gassed).

Below: “rest area” located near the crematories. Note the bucolic nature of the landscape – a smoke screen that concealed Birkenau’s real purpose.

 

Below: Jews resting in the “forest”, awaiting their fate, ca. 1944. Note the Jewish star affixed to their clothing. All were considered enemies of the Reich and expendable. (source: Bing.com)

Below: one of the places where the remains of the victims were tossed.

Below: Birkenau. The serenity of the scene belies its notorious past.

Another was to use veteran inmates to help ease the new arrivals’ anxieties. Yet another was to institute the farce of being “examined” by medical officers under the pretext of conducting preliminary “medical screenings”. The presence of the barbed wire fencing and watch towers manned by armed uniformed guards undoubtedly made such ostentatious procedures even more grotesque and superfluous, but they perpetuated a sham that was a prelude to murder.