Neptun Tresna

... in order to gain an even deeper understanding of what that experience may have been like. Yes, it was a very solemn day, but in the end I felt a great sense of both hope and faith in humanity, for as long as memorials such as this stand we will be reminded of the past so that we may not repeat it.

The camps are about 70 minutes outside of Krakow in what was once a railroad hub, making it convenient to relocate prisoners there. I made the trip by bus which the ...

... close range, just to kill more Jews. There were even sadistic experiments performed on people (including twin children so German doctors could learn more about fertility) that would usually end in death or permanent disabilities before their inevitable death in another form.

There were standing cells for prisoners being punished. They would be forced to stand in a small area surrounded in brick for days at a time, then shoved out into the freezing cold snow to ...

... the same exact walk that they made, only they never came back." We eventually made our way to the piles of rubble that were crematorium 3 and 4 and the newly constructed memorial that is situated between the two. We then walked to the remains of Canada II, which were really just plots where the buildings once stood. Canada was a section of the camp made up of warehouses in which prisoners sorted the goods and possessions that were ...

... the walls of the approximate 30 buildings. We then went to Birkanau (Auswitch 2). The size of the second camp is simply astonishing. Not many building remain on site, but the perimeter fence is still standing. There must have been at least 300 buildings. I took the time to walk all the way down to the memorial, which lies between the two gas chambers. The buildings no longer there but the ruins remain. I took many photos of trees when at Auswitch. The trees and the forest ...

... than me - on that day he was trying to make me get up at... 5 am. Eventually we moved our butts before 6. There is no way that I`d get up at that time in Poland! Forget it! Marcin was sleeping on our backpacks again (what a slyboots, firstly he`s making me get up early, and then he sleeps off!:P), when I caught a pretty young Polish truck driver. He took us straight to our country and dropped us off in Jablonka. How ironic, as soon as we ...

... afternoon we made our way to Wawel, the beautiful old castle from the 15th century. Inside the castle we made our way up the Cathedral bell tower to see the imposing 200 ton bell from 500 years ago. The Cathedral and tower are from the 14th century. Then we made our way to the underground tombs of Polish kings. The cathedral has seen many coronations, weddings, baptisms ...

... it was $5 or 100. To not be modest for a second, it was freakin incredible. I saw so many kids come out of their shells and start to ripen into confident young adults during these two weeks. I know, it sounds like something some camp promoter would write on their brochure, but it seriously happened that way. Even some "troublemakers" came round and ended up being immensely helpful to us at the camp ...

... approxiametly 300 buildings and its own train line, where some prisoners were dropped at the 'selection' gate and others were taken straight to the Gassing Chambers without even being registered as POW's. Auschwitz I does leave you with the knowlege of what happened although its not until you walk through the actual living quarters at Birkenou that you can understand the real horror of what happened.

From what our guidebook told us, the bust station was about 200m South of the train depot. But, as we stepped out of the train car all that we saw where the bus station should have been was a giant hole in the ground with chain link fence around it and a sign of a bus with an X through it. Luckily, we happened upon a group of people: two traveler types that we had seen on the train talking to four Polish friends of theirs. When we asked where the bus station was they said ...

... diesem un**gründlich weiblichen Kleidungsbeistück zu produzi**en. Es wurden Besorgnis**regende Telefonate geführt, die von außen betrachtet dem Weltunt**gang gleichkamen. Diese jungen Frauen führten auf Spanisch, Russisch und Polnisch Streitgespräche am Telefon, wobei sie in ihren lauten Stöckelschuhen den Platz auf und ab rannten, auf und ab, klack, klack, klack. Eine Gruppe ält**** H**ren saß auf ein** Bank, das Schauspiel betrachtetend, sich in eine Wolke aus Rauch ...