Overwhelmed
Trip Start
Jul 09, 2009
1
66
76
Trip End
Dec 12, 2009
Zabrze,
Southern Poland,
Poland
Saturday, November 7, 2009
I have definitely become a pro at living out of a suitcase :)
I have quite a bit to write about and, as we leave for Kolding, Denmark tomorrow for the next week and I'm unsure of my internet status there, I want to leave you all with some reading material :) I'd like to post 2-3 posts tonight, each about a different topic. And this is only if time allows me to do so.
First I want to write about our experience to Auschwitz
A Public Shooting Wall at Auschwitz
. Wow. That left me in a huge tangle of emotions as it did the rest of the cast. I'm not quite sure I feel comfortable writing about this experience at this time. I'm not sure that there are words to describe the images that I saw and that keep replaying in my mind. I'd love to have a conversation with anyone upon my return, however. I would rather talk to you about my experience than write about it. I want to make it a personal experience for those of you that may never have the opportunity to travel there. Let me know when you want to talk.However, I'd like to provide you with a brief history of Auschwitz in this post. I'm not sure how long it has been for you since hearing or learning about World War II, the Holocaust, and/or Auschwitz. I learned about World War II in history classes throughout middle and high school. I took a history class during my sophomore year of college about World War II to fulfill a liberal arts requirement. We were supposed to end the semester by watching "Schindler's List". We ran out of time so I decided to watch it over Christmas break. If I recall correctly, it took me one week and one renewal fee to watch the entire movie. I could only watch it in 20 minute segments. It was just too horrific for words.
The following words are written on a sign outside the gate to Auschwitz (courtesy of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Historical Site Web site):
All over the world, Auschwitz has become a symbol of terror, genocide, and the Holocaust. It was established by Germans in 1940, in the suburbs of Oswiecim, a Polish city that was annexed to the Third Reich by the Nazis. Its name was changed to Auschwitz, which also became the name of Konzentrationslager Auschwitz.
The direct reason for the establishment of the camp was the fact that mass arrests of Poles were increasing beyond the capacity of existing "local" prisons. Initially, Auschwitz was to be one more concentration camp of the type that the Nazis had been setting up since the early 1930s. It functioned in this role throughout its existence, even when, beginning in 1942, it also became the largest of the death camps.
Division of the camp
The first and oldest was the so-called "main camp," later also known as "Auschwitz I" (the number of prisoners fluctuated around 15,000, sometimes rising above 20,000), which was established on the grounds and in the buildings of prewar Polish barracks;
The second part was the Birkenau camp (which held over 90,000 prisoners in 1944), also known as "Auschwitz II" This was the largest part of the Auschwitz complex. The Nazis began building it in 1941 on the site of the village of Brzezinka, three kilometers from Oswiecim. The Polish civilian population was evicted and their houses confiscated and demolished. The greater part of the apparatus of mass extermination was built in Birkenau and the majority of the victims were murdered here;
More than 40 sub-camps, exploiting the prisoners as slave laborers, were founded, mainly at various sorts of German industrial plants and farms, between 1942 and 1944. The largest of them was called Buna (Monowitz, with ten thousand prisoners) and was opened by the camp administration in 1942 on the grounds of the Buna-Werke synthetic rubber and fuel plant six kilometers from the Auschwitz camp. On November 1943, the Buna sub-camp became the seat of the commandant of the third part of the camp, Auschwitz III, to which some other Auschwitz sub-camps were subordinated.
Interessengebiet
The Germans isolated all the camps and sub-camps from the outside world and surrounded them with barbed wire fencing. All contact with the outside world was forbidden. However, the area administered by the commandant and patrolled by the SS camp garrison went beyond the grounds enclosed by barbed wire. It included an additional area of approximately 40 square kilometers (the so-called "Interessengebiet" - the interest zone), which lay around the Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau camps.
The local population, the Poles and Jews living near the newly-founded camp, were evicted in 1940-1941. Approximately one thousand of their homes were demolished. Other buildings were assigned to officers and non-commissioned officers from the camp SS garrison, who sometimes came here with their whole families. The pre-war industrial facilities in the zone, taken over by Germans, were expanded in some cases and, in others, demolished to make way for new plants associated with the military requirements of the Third Reich. The camp administration used the zone around the camp for auxiliary camp technical support, workshops, storage, offices, and barracks for the SS.
Our group went to Auschwitz I; the "main camp". The "main camp" was made up of 22 brick buildings called barracks. Our tour guide told us that at one time, there are over 140,000 registered and unregistered prisoners in Auschwitz (I, II and III).
From 1940 to February of 1942, Auschwitz was exclusively a concentration camp. It's main function was to cause a slow death to all who entered its doors; mainly through starvation. From February 1942 to October 1944, the "main camp" was a prison for those of various backgrounds (mainly those of Jewish ad Polish decent, and Gypsies). Simultaneously, it was to be used for the destruction of the entire Jewish population of Europe.
If you want to learn more about the Auschwitz camps, the history of World War II, the evacuation and liberation of the prisoners, etc..., please visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau Historical Web site. This Web site is run by the Auschwitz museum that we visited today.
Before I end this first post, I wanted to add something truly remarkable that proves that slowly but surely, our world is changing for the better. Today, Up With People Cast B 2009 traveled to Auschwitz. We supported each other, held hands, wiped tears, hugged, and prayed for those who lost their lives in the Holocaust. We observed, respected, listened and reflected while walking the pathways between 22 brick barracks that used to hold human prisoners; human lives. We being 90 students from 22 different countries. We being males and females. We representing from multiple faith backgrounds. We representing different sexual orientations. We representing various cultures. We representing different races and origins.
We, Cast B 2009, walking the streets of Auschwitz together; a place where this type of action was most certainly not allowed 60-65 years ago in the exact same place.
The world is changing for the better. I feel so blessed to be a part of that change.
