A couple of summers ago, Rich and I ventured to Poland for a holiday. Guide book in hand we had a marvellous time in Warsaw and although a clunky paperback is a lot to carry when out for the day, when in Poland it was essential if only for the handy phrases in the back!

If you have access to a good computer and a little bandwidth, it’s possible to see Auschwitz in aerial photos using NASA’s World Wind application.

I (we) visited Poland last week and must confess that I knew nothing about the place before I went, apart from the fact that it’s just become an EU member, which meant there were no visas needed.

Whilst in Poland we visited several of the Nazi Concentration Camps, including Oświęcim (Auschwitz I), Birkenau (Auschwitz II ) and Płasz?w. These are the photos we took at those camps.

This is the site of the PÅ‚aszów concentration camp (phonetically pw-ash-ov) which lies 20 minutes walk south of central Krakow. A set based on the camp’s plans was reconstructed and featured extensively in the movie Schindler’s List. To the right of the panorama is a villa used by the camp’s commander, Amon Göth.

Schindler’s factory still stands today.