There is no right way to arrive at Auschwitz-Birkenau, and no ride passes through it casually. This was the largest of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camps, built during the occupation of Poland near the town of Oświęcim, which the Germans called Auschwitz. Between 1940 and January 1945, at least 1.1 million people were murdered here, the vast majority of them Jews deported from across Europe, along with Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war and many others. On 27 January 1945, Soviet soldiers liberated the camp, and that date is now International Holocaust Remembrance Day. UNESCO listed the site in 1979 as a memorial to the victims and a warning to humanity.
The memorial has two main parts. Auschwitz I, the original camp, with its brick barracks and the gate bearing the cynical slogan Arbeit macht frei, houses exhibitions on the history of the camp and the lives of the prisoners. Birkenau, about three kilometres away near the village of Brzezinka, is vast: rows of wooden and brick barracks stretching into the distance, the railway line and ramp where trains arrived and selections took place, and the ruins of the gas chambers and crematoria, blown up by the SS as they fled. Walking there is overwhelming.
Practical matters deserve respect too. Entry to the memorial is free but requires a reserved time slot, and during the busiest hours, especially in the warmer months, visits are only possible with a guide. Book well in advance. Allow at least three or four hours, and dress and behave with dignity; this is a cemetery. Large bags are not allowed inside, so plan where to leave your riding gear; there are facilities at the visitor centre.
Oświęcim, a town of about forty thousand, has all the ordinary services; it also has a Jewish centre and a restored synagogue that tells the story of the town's Jewish community before the war. The surrounding roads are flat and busy, linking Kraków, about an hour to the east, with Silesia and the Czech border. After a visit, many people need time to sit in silence before they can ride again. Take that time.