Auschwitz

Okay so obviously we went to Auschwitz while we were in Poland but cannot remember the exact day. We took a hour and half bus ride outside of Krakow through beautiful Polish countryside on a gorgeous sunny day. It just didn't feel appropriate knowing that we were going to such a dark and dismal place. You couldn't help but wonder what the people on the trains to the camps were thinking.

There is no eating, drinking, smoking or use of electronics inside the camp. But you didn't even have to tell us that, it didn't even feel right to chew a piece of gum. We were only allowed to take pictures outdoors, so there are none of the inside of the buildings, prison cells, gas chambers or of the crematoriums. But we did see all of this and many exhibitions inside. The most haunting were the rooms full of the peoples hair, prosthetic limbs, glasses, shoes, suitcases (with names on outside), and every kind of belonging. The was literally an entire room full of about 5 tons of human hair piled nearly to the ceiling. Analyzed hair specimens showed most to be women's hair and with traces of the poison used in the gas chambers (cannot remember the exact name). The Nazi's collected the hair in massive bags and sold it to factories who made a special haircloth out of it, used to make uniforms, jackets and whatever else.

There were hundreds of pictures of the first prisoners to arrive at Auschwitz (in mug shot style) as these were initially used to identify prisoners. They included the date of birth, occupation, date of arrival to the camp and date of death. Most people did not last more than 3 months, some much shorter, and nearing the end of the war thousands of people at a time were sent immediately to the gas chambers upon arrival. They then changed to the tattoo method as there were just too many people. Auschwitz was the only concentration camp that tattooed their prisoners, usually on the left forearm and on the legs of babies and children.
















This is called the death wall. It is unknown how many thousands died by gunfire in front of this wall. Prisoners would be lined up along this wall for varying reasons such as not working fast enough and disobeying. The prison cells were contained in the basement of the building to the right. There were "standing cells" where prisoners would crawl through a knee high door and would be left to stand with up to 3-4 others in a brick walled cell the size of a common shower (maybe 4 sq feet), many died of suffocation. Unbelievable. The front wall of one was taken down so you could see the size and stand in the space but no one actually did. It was too vivid and haunting and just felt wrong.







All the pictures above are taken in Auschwitz I. Auschwitz II (Birkenau camp) is next. They are a short bus ride apart. In the Auschwitz I there is still a crematorium that was not destroyed by the Nazis. It only contained 4 ovens in a room right next to a gas chamber (fit about 700 people at a time and was much smaller than birkenau gas chambers). About 70,000 people were murdered here and then be piled onto and then transported by a trolley on rails to the next room where about 3-6 people would be put into an oven at once. There was only a single chimney to each crematorium which is pictured above. The walls and ceiling are black. There are no words that can describe the feeling inside this building. Even now typing this it gives us chills and brings tears to our eyes as we try to describe it and remember it.

Birkenau pics to come...we need a break.

Okay so Birkenau camp (Auschwitz II) was a short bus ride for us away from Auschwitz I. They allied forces aerial photos of the entire area are massive. Here are the famous train tracks that are shown in all images of the Holocaust. There is a huge memorial at the end of the tracks at the back of the camp between the 2 massive crematoriums. 1.5 Million people were murdered by the Nazis, mostly Jews. However it is important to remember that the word 'Holocaust' encompasses all those hated (or feared) by the Nazis and those who would not fit into Hitlers vision of a perfect Germany. That also includes homosexuals, gypsies, mentally and physically handicapped and others.

This place is absolutely massive, you could barely see the end (or edges)of the camp with the naked eye. As you will see below, there are 2 sides to the camp (men and women) which are divided by the train tracks in the center. The gas chambers (which could fit I think around a 1000 people at a time) and the huge crematoriums (which were run like a death factory) are at the back of the camp near the trees. There are only ruins left as the Nazis destroyed them nearing the liberation. The women's side had brick barracks and the men wood (not sure why) and each held hundreds (exactly?)of people. Each had a special (and not particularly warm) heating system with a brick chimney. If you look carefully, you can see the surviving smoke stacks of the wooden barracks. There are only about 20 wooden barracks left. They almost stood like ghostly symbols or memorials of all those who lived and died here. It is barely imaginable how many people occupied this place.

Unfortunately (or maybe not), most people did not sleep one night in the camp. They were off loaded from trains (which were essentially cattle cars), and then sent immediately to death. They were told they were going to take a shower and subsequently stripped of their belongings, clothing, hair and even gold teeth and sent to the gas chambers. The Nazis used mechanical lifts to transport the bodies to the crematoriums which were a level above the gas chambers. The selection of these unfortunate souls is depicted in the black and white photos below where the famous Nazi doctor (name?) points to their fate. You can see the shadow of his thumb pointing towards death in the picture. The others were sent to the barracks only to become slaves working 16 hr days summer and winter in barely anything but prisoner garbs and wooden clogs.

We were there on a strangely and inappropriate beautiful day. They surrounding area and drive to the camps was also gorgeous. It took about an hour and a half. There are people who to this day literally live in houses meters from the fences. Eerily, there was a fire burning in the distance and you could see and smell the smoke. Probably not near what it was actually like but ominous just the same. If anyone has read the book 'Night,' you will remember an account of the author about the horrors on the transport trains. A woman in one of the cars was literally screaming (they others thought from insanity) about seeing and smelling fire and smoke long before they arrived or could even know about their fate. She, like so many others died on the train before arriving at the camp.
























So this is a very long and unavoidably depressing blog entry, but we felt that we it was important to share what we experienced at this horrid place. It was not very long ago and still very real and present as a symbol of what evil can exist in our world. So as we have all heard many times, it needs to be remembered so it will never happen again.

PS:this computer is not working and there are still 10 pics to post...the frustration continues...as soon as we can