The solution

I have visited several genocide memorials during my travels. Cambodia, Armenia, Israel and Rwanda. And they all ring out a tragedy beyond comprehension. How is it possible? How can anyone get the idea that some people are parasites and bugs that need to be exterminated? I learned during our visit to Auschwitz that Zyklon B, the gas used in the gas chambers, was originally designed to be a pesticide. That gave a chilling reminder of what the "solution" was all about.
I don't think anybody could claim that "I would never have done this!". Mainly because those who committed these crimes, where basically you and me. Just in another time and place. Nobody wants to be the bad guys. Nobody wants to believe that they are capable of heinous acts. It's like people driving like crazy. If you ask them if they're not afraid to crash and injure or kill themselves or others, they will most probably answer "I'm a great driver and in perfect control!". Too bad they only become bad drivers when they eventually do crash...
I do not think anybody are born evil. But with the right "incentives" I believe that many are capable of either accepting or ignoring what is happening. Experiments have shown that when influenced by peer pressure and the right authority, many people are "willing" to inflict pain on others.

I think most people know what happened during the holocaust, so there is really nothing to add, except show the pictures I took. And express a sincere hope that we do not need to build more genocide memorials in the future.

Auschwitz (concentration camp)

A urn with some of the ashes of people killed

Prisoners where strung up here by their
arms behind their backs as punishment

Execution wall at Auschwitz

Home of the camp director Rudolf Höss

The gallow where Rudolf Höss was hung
 for his crimes

The experimental gas chamber at Auschwitz

Opening through which the Zyklon B 
pellets were dropped, producing gas

Ovens where the bodies of the victims where cremated after
they had been gassed to death

Birkenau (extermination camp)

The barracs used at Birkenau were originally cowsheds

The toilet barrack

Cattle wagons used to transport people
to the extermination-camp

The "selected" where lead into a "clothing room" where
they where told to undress before going to "disinfection".

The "disinfection" wasn't to disinfect the people,
 but to "disinfect" the earth of these people...
 Afterwards, they were cremated in the rooms above.

Zyklon B was actually developed
as a pesticide...