IT sounds like it must have been some kind of paradise, especially for birders. . .
"The ponds were surrounded by extensive reedbeds which teemed with great Great Reed Warblers and Aquatic Warblers.
"Bitterns boomed from deep inside the reeds, and, on the open water, Black-necked Grebes nested.
"Nearby, Kingfishers, terns and plover bred.
"Along the margins were dense willow beds, home to Marsh Warblers and the enigmatic Nightingale."
Yet this birding hotspot in Poland was to become a hell on earth, for it was here, during the 1939-45 war, that the Nazis chose to build the prison and extermination centre known as Auschwitz.
In his extraordinarily-researched new book, The Birdman of Auschwitz, Nicholas Milton explores both the birdlife in and around this place of a million atrocities and the part it played in the life of Günther Niethammer, one of the most diligent and enthusiastic birders of his generation who also happened to be a prison guard.
It seems incredible that, amid every day human suffering, Niethammer should have used some his spare time to go birding or to put up nestboxes within the grounds for Starlings, Black Redstarts and other species, notably corvids, that bred on or around the site.
He was scrupulous in his avian record-keeping and wrote a paper entitled Observations on The Birdlife of Auschwitz, Eastern Upper Silesia.
He noted, for instance, that Sand Martins nested in the banks created by construction of the prison, and Swallows nested in the roof of the guards' barracks.
Noted avian absentees included Corn Bunting, Red-breasted Merganser, Wren, Pied Flycatcher, Dipper, Long-tailed Tit, Buzzard and Chaffinch.
Meanwhile, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Crested Lark and Grey Wagtail were scarce.
Writes Nicholas Milton: "Niethammer was not just surveying birds, he was using them to turn a blind eye to the horrors going on in the camp."
However, to his credit, Milton does not turn a same 'blind eye' - nor does he skimp on the details of some of the atrocities that occurred .
To have done so would have been insensitive in the extreme not just to the memory of those who died but also to their descendants.
Writing with restraint, Milton has little sympathy for his subject but does not condemn him outright. He acknowledges that, though aware of what was going on, Niethammer was not an instigator of the suffering.
Indeed, he engaged one of the Polish inmates to help him in some of his ornithological activities.
Furthermore, he would have been under intense pressure to obey the orders of his Nazi superiors - or to face the consequences.
And, importantly, he also had family to support.
In a foreword to the book, broadcaster Chris Packham takes a different tack - he is unforgiving of Niethammer.
"For my part, I found no compassion for him," he writes. "I came to despise not just him but also those who shielded and protected him from his past.
"This enormously challenging story will undoubtedly trouble me for the rest of my life."
The Birdman of Auschwitz is published by Pen & Sword Books at £25 in hardback
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