The morbid exhibits throughout the museum showcase retrieved belongings of the prisoners of Auschwitz. Adjacent rooms are filled with thousands of combs, shaving tools and toothbrushes. Another casing is filled with over 43,000 shoes. Boots are piled elsewhere. Another space is filled with clothes, including children's sweaters, socks and mittens.
Everyday items become precious when taken unnecessarily.
Families' belongings such as pots and pans, teapots, cheese graters and thermoses have been salvaged, piled behind a glass window and frozen in time. A room the size of a small gymnasium is filled with suitcases, each one with a family name and place of origin painted on it. These were belongings of people who thought they were going home. About 7,000 prisoners were freed, over 500 children survived. Some 700 people tried to escape over the years, about 300 made it.