Auschwitz II Birkenau Intact Hearth Barracks

This is an intact hearth in one of the barracks at Birkenau. As bad as conditions were at Auschwitz they were that much worse at Birkenau. It was almost impossible for these small hearths to heat the interior of the barracks. This helps illustrate the contradictory missions of the camps whereby the Germans tried to exploit the slave labor as much as possible while also killing these same laborers as fast as they could. The Germans had utter contempt for the concentration camp victims and could care less how they died just that they ultimately did. (Picture taken by Steven Mercatante on September 5, 2014).