Magura Hotel Bielsko-Biala

... 4.5 million people were murdered in Poland. Many were Jews taken there from other places in Europe. I still can’t fathom the fact that we walked over grounds and saw rooms where so many innocent lives were taken- and in so many inhumane ways. I guess everything is still sinking in so I don’t have a good way to end this blog entry. Maybe I can just say that this should be our one and only entry that is hard to read- the rest should be happy and fun to read.

-Michelle

... and cemeteries over the years has not prepared me for today. This was a heart wrenching experience. I don't think this is everyone's 'cup of tea' to visit something like this place. To remember what has happened here hopefully enables generations now and in the future to show tolerance and humanity to one another - because this is as bad as it gets. Our next stop was Auschwitz 11 Birkenau. This is where the German Killing Industry really expanded to ...

Sadepaivalle oli hyva keksia jotain piristavaa tekemista, joten paatin lahtea pikku retkelle pieneen kaupunkiin nimeltaan Oswiecim. Saksalainen nimi Auschwitz saattaa olla joillekin hieman tutumpi. Jos joku joskus jostain syysta on taalla pain maailmaa ja haluaa kayda leirit katsomassa, niin vinkkina voin sanoa etta matkatoimistojen jarjestamat matkat kannattaa unohtaa. Niista pyydetaan 100 zlotya, kun oma matkani kokonaisuudessaan ...

... camps. Almost 1.6 million were murdered there, 90% of them Jews from almost every country in Europe. It was a sad site to see. People lost their lives in such a horrific way. It was very unreal and hard to imagine it really happened, but the truth is it did and what we saw there only enhanced the horror stories ...

... called Oswiecim. Although very traumatic and disturbing, I was glad to have visited as the tour guide was excellent, she explained that camp survivors returned to take the same tour and therefore she had 1st hand anecdotes of a more personal nature to add to the horrific statistics. I particilarily recall the story that there were so many prisoners to one bunk, that in order to ...

... germanic style square... But I especially remember the Frog and Beetle house... pretty much Art Nouveau! After this tour, we went back to the car to go to Kozy where he lives in a majestic rural house. I liked it, still heaten with wood. So we had a little lunch with his wife Katarina and then later on going to sleep. I read my book (The Pianist) quite late and I was having it hard to sleep, so I got a rough night. ------------ January 20 We all woke up early ...

... The others were the hallway that seemed to never end stacked to the ceiling with shoes, and the hallway 300 m long packed with fake limbs. I think this stuck out to me because at this time the amount of people who would have been able to get an artificial limb would have been miniscule, yet they were able to collect so many of them. Also because these people would have just immediately been sent to the gas chambers for being inferior to the already inferior race. The final ...

... in the middle of tents the previous day and told them to scram - but we have no idea if it was them or not. We had to leave early this morning so there was no time to go to the police station - plus the language barrier would be way worse than my experience in Italy. I think Charmara and Anshu are going to leave it until Germany where they hope someone will understand English. P.S. (Written several weeks later) I met someone in Lisbon who had also just finished a ...

... in Southern Poland. Mike said to expect something like a small Breckenridge; just a little more run down. Tiago asked us if the house that we were going to had electricity. We arrived around 8:30 AM, tired, hungry and cold. The closest place to eat was just down the street at a diner on the corner of an intersection. We couldn't really make out anything on the menu besides kakao and pirogue (a sort of dumpling stuffed with potato, onions and cheese.) We both thought ...

... v**laden und Abschied von den Lieben genommen. Langsam grub sich d** Bus durch den V**kehr wie ein Maulwurf durch das Erdreich. Nun wurde die Fahrt imm** schnell**. Wir ließen Stuttgart hint** uns und das Leben dort v**lor mit jed** Radumdrehung mehr Bedeutung. Es kämpfte **st mit den Erwartungen d** Reise, bis das Unbekannte schließlich üb** das Gewohnte siegte. Von Stuttgart bis Frankfurt fuhren wir läng** als vi** Stunden. D** Bus wurde von ein** Menschenhorde ...