Auschwitz exhibition in Madrid

Spain

Community of Madrid

Madrid

Art & Culture

Sightseeing

Food & Drinks

Chrisa Lepida | Live the World

November 23, 2022

“Not long ago. Not far away” is probably the most breathtaking and thrilling exhibition that I’ve ever attended. Currently hosted in Madrid, the exhibition features more than 1,150 original artefacts and is not to be missed.

Historical background

Auschwitz: The genesis of death camps

After the start of the second World War, the chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, Adolf Hitler, implemented a policy that came to be known as the “Final Solution.” His vision was to isolate Jews in Germany by subjecting them to dehumanising regulations and acts of violence. He became convinced that the “Jewish problem” would be only solved with the elimination of every Jew in his domain. The famous “death camps” have been soon created and Auschwitz became the largest Nazi concentration and extermination camp. Auschwitz was deemed an ideal death camp location since it was situated near the center of all the German-occupied countries on the European continent while at the same time it was in close proximity to the string of the rail lines that were used to transport the detainees to the Nazi camps.

More than 1,100,000 people were killed behind its barbed wire while nowadays, Auschwitz is considered to be a universal warning of the dangers of hatred, intolerance and anti-Semitism.

The exhibition

Visiting this exhibition has left me somehow speechless. I couldn’t define my feelings but I could definitely say that everything felt at least "surreal". It’s that kind of exhibitions that literally slap you in the face and leave you wondering about the limits of the human barbarity. Rooms filled with shoes, clothes, items used for the dehumanising crimes, suitcases of the victims and much more, prove that those who survived Auschwitz lived through one of the 20th Century's worst acts of hatred and inhumanity- the realia exhibited simply terrify the visitor. Here are some of the pictures I’ve taken upon my visit. It’s a no doubt “must-visit” exhibition while in Madrid!