Today we went to visit Auschwitz. Before I get into how it made us feel. Some facts:
Don't take the tour from the hotel or hostels. Go to the main Train station, there is also a bus stop. Catch a bus for 7 PLN direct to the camp. 14 return. Then 26 PLN if you want a tour guide which I do recommend. This totals 40 PLN as opposed to 100 PLN for a shuttle tour service. Worth the save! To save more, you don't need to take the guided tour. Just walk around on ya own.
More than 1,000,000 people died here of : gas chamber, starvation, malnutirition, shot, torture.
It was selected as the main site for a few reasons: 1. Poland had the biggest population of Jews (400,000 around). AND the location - it was in CENTRAL EASTERN Europe - which is far enough away from Western Europe, but still in easy travelling from all other points.
The place included people from all over Europe and even Russia. Plus the capture soldiers.
This facility was from 1939-1945. It was liberated by the Red Army (Russia) in 1945. HOwever after that, there was a different regime in place in Poland - the communist regime. Where those Polish people who co-operated with the Western Allies were condemned for treason and killed. They were not considered heros by the regime even though they saved so many lives in the war.
The camp is much bigger and much more organised than I could have imagined. The bunkers were the size of a 4 bedroom house. Which would house 700 people, sometimes more. The floorborads they slept on might have straw, but was filled with lice, ticks and their own waste products many the time.
This was a labour, concentration and a death camp. There were 3 locations. Which we could see 2. There were 5 gas chambers. Where people would sometimes be sentenced immediately upon arrival by the trains. Or they would work for a while, then die. THe only escape it seemed was death.
Some were able to escape, but this meant more punishments for those left behind. It was not easy to escape due to the mental games played with each prisoner. THe Nazi's really looked upon them as NOT human. Indeed, I saw room full of human hair shaved off. The clothes, shoes abd belongings like toothbrushes taken away. There was not hair brushes, socks, or warm clothes. It was often -30 in temp C. The Nazi's often played detah games with the people.
THe jews were the majority but not the only people here, homosexuals, gypsies, soliders, local populace that would resist.
It really made me feel numb at first, then horrified. How could so many be killed. How could so many kill. How could they allow themselves to be killed. The horror was so great, I can't even begin to imagine to live it myself.
I am glad I went. I am glad I walked the path of some who have died walking this. I hope it helps to keep me strong in the future and to remember that shallow things are not what is important in life. LIFE is what is important. ALL LIFE.
Ciao for now.
