Auschwitz,
Poland
Friday, August 18, 2006
Today was a very surreal and sobering day. Auschwitz. As everyone Im sure knows Auschwitz was one of the largest and most deadly concentration camps that the Nazis created. 1.5 Million Jews alone died here, not to mention the other victims that died here as well. The tour started at the entrance gate with the famous saying "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work will set you free). From there we walked the cell blocks for a while as the tour leader explained some of the ongoings at the camp, as well as historical figures and facts about the Holocaust. Walking around was so surreal because if you were to enter with no knowledge of what has actually happened in this place you could easily mistake it for an apartment block complex, similar to any youd see in suburbia (except for the barbed wire around the edges of the camp, but when youre in the center of it you feel that way). Many of the cell blocks have been converted into different museums featuring different aspects of the war. First we walked into the cell which dealt with the acquisition of the Jews. The Nazis stretched their acquisition all the way out to Norway which I found to be amazing, theyre takeover was just as large as the Roman Empires, which I never thought would have been able to replicate. After that we went into several rooms about what happened to the victims while inside the concentration camps. The things in these were horrific. Those that stood out most were the collections of items from those who lost their lives while in the concentration camps. Of these, the MOST horrific were the collection of hair which weighed just about a ton, literally... Two thousand pounds of hair which was just a small portion of that collected... The reason they shaved it off was because after they had been gassed in the chamber the hair molecules collected some of the chemicals, so essentially they would have been re releasing the chemicals into the air if they didnt. 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 one was the collection of baby clothes, and I mean infants. It was shocking to see. After that we went into a cell block which explained the building of the gas chamber which was very interesting. Then we went to the holding cells where some "trials" were conducted before execution. These were mostly meant for those who were attempted escapees or uprisers. They also showed us this wall that was the execution wall, as well as the posts where people were hung by there arms to die. The wall was where they put there face on it and were shot in the back of the head, though some forced the soldiers to shoot them in the face. The reason the wall was secluded was so that when they were executed they couldnt become martyrs for the others in the camp and create inspiration for uprisings. It was so animalistic, so barbaric. We went down to the holding cells, which were about 1.5 square meters around. One person could barely lay down with theyre knees into their chest, and they fit 4 people in to each with no light or food. I sat in one for a minute or so and was absolutely taken aback, this is when it all really began to hit me. We also so the cell room where a priest chose to be taken and held there till death to replace a young boy who had tried to start an uprising. The priest survived for over 2 weeks before they took him outside and shot him. His cell is now a memorial. After that we were taken to the gas chambers for Auschwitz 1. This was pretty awful. You werent allowed to take pictures inside, but I dont think I would want to look onto those again. Inside they had lit some candles as a memorial to those that died in there. When you looked around you could see scratches and blood stains on the walls from those who tried to get out of the room. To think that so many were just shoveled into that room and gas canisters dropped in, then shoveled into the crematorium next door... it's so terrible. After this we drove down the road to Auschwitz 2, or Berkenau. There were actually 3 Auschwitz camps at this site, but the 3rd was still under construction when the Allies took them over. Berkenau was basically set up solely as a death camp, and much more killing happened here then at Auschwitz. We started by walking along the train tracks which felt as though they carried on forever. In the middle is where they were taken out of theyre cattle cars that they were brought in and told to either go left, to start work, or to the right, to be gassed. It was terrible. Again, I was also struck by how pretty the area was, and thought that it was so surreal to be saying that with what had gone on there. Im sure it was nothing as scenic as it was today... but just to have that now be part of my image of the concentration camps was shocking. We walked the grounds on the left side, which had more of the actual buildings still intact. The area for the two is so big that it would take you almost a day just to walk it, without stopping. This side contained alot of the womens barracks, including Anne Franks. We walked through quite a few and saw some of the living conditions. Wooden "mattresses" about double bed size were meant to fit 5 women, and they were stacked 3 high with the cement on the floor being the third level. You had to fight not to get the bottom because rats would crawl over you, and I mean literally fight. After that we saw the soldiers quarters which when I walked in thought was still the prisoners, they had it hardly better then those they were oppressing. Theyre was graffitti on the walls from the final days that was telling the Germans to not speak about what had been going on there. It amazes me that somehow they could justify theyre acts while at the same time still acknowledge the fact that they were wrong. Afterwards we walked to the crematorium and gas chambers which had been bombed out to hide evidence. Next to them was a pond which, at one time, had been rather large. Today it is a small pond, only a few meters, and is still grey and murky from all of the ash that had been dumped into it. They had a memorial plaque there which was rather moving as well. Afterwards we concluded our tour and had about 45 minutes to reflect, not nearly enough time as most of it had to be spent just walking back to the coach. I did get a few moments to walk around the massive crematorium and I almost lost it, but kept moving. I walked the grounds a bit more and then almost bought this book written by the doctor who ran the chambers there, but decided to wait on it. Not quite ready. Auschwitz is something that I think everyone should see in there lifetime, as it is the most eye opening experience I have had: both in terms of realizing the animal nature of humans, as well as the appreciation for life that I should have. To not ever have to suffer something half as horrific as what these people had to endure every single day is a blessing, one all should be thankful for....
After we left the camp we drove to Warsaw and had a brief driving tour of the city. We needed something to lift our spirits up so we decided to have a game of touch rugby which was awesome fun. I scored a few tries, including a diving try which I was rather proud of. I then went and cooked spaghetti bolognaise for dinner, then we went off to bed. Tomorrow is more history in the city of Warsaw.
