Riding on the train to Oswiecim, Poland (the site of the Nazi Auschwitz concentration camps) was an eerie experience. I couldn’t help but think that these were the very same tracks that innocent people rode to their horrible deaths just a little over 60 years ago. Although nervous about what we might discover there, Rob and I felt compelled to visit this place.
Upon arriving in Auschwitz I (we discovered that there were actually 3 camps within a few kilometres of one another—Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II-Birkenou and a Chemical Factory—which is no longer there) Rob and I hastily joined the last English-speaking tour group of the day and were immediately put on a bus and taken to Auschwitz II- Birkenou. I was struck by how desolate it seemed. In the distance, we could see only a few barracks, but up close, only the foundation of these buildings remained. We found out along our tour that the Nazi´s tried to burn this camp down when they realized they were losing the war in an attempt to cover up the atrocities they had committed. This camp had 4 different gas chambers/crematoriums and over 200 barracks. The sole purpose of this camp was to ¨exterminate¨ people.
Most of the information on the tour of this camp was given inside one of the barracks (pictured). These barracks were modelled after horse stables intended to house 52 horses. Here, however, 400 people were shoved into one barrack. The barracks were lined with 3-tiered bunk beds in which 2 people were forced to share each straw covered bed. The barracks were monitored by German political prisoners, most of whom were particularly cruel and sadistic to the other ¨prisoners¨. We were also told of the latrines, housed in other building similar to those of the barracks, except instead of beds, it was lined with open holes to the ground. The people were only allowed to use the latrines twice a day, which wasn’t enough, especially for the vast amount of people suffering from illnesses. Those who accidentally soiled themselves were beaten.
After leaving this barrack, we were allowed to wander by ourselves for 15 minutes before the bus was to leave to take us back to Auschwitz I. Rob and I soon stumbled upon the railroad tracks (pictured), which we had learned were re-routed directly to the camp. As many as 70-90% of those who arrived in Birkenou were immediately taken to the gas chambers to be killed. These people (mostly women, elderly and children) were told that they were going to be allowed to shower. They were instructed to leave all of their belongings on the train, which were later removed, shipped to another area of the camp and sorted into piles of similar items. In order to keep the people from suspecting anything as they were undressing for the shower, they were told to neatly fold up their clothes, put them by their shoes and remember where they had left them in order to insure a speedy recovery of their items after their shower. Most never suspected that their life was about to end.
When we arrived back at Auschwitz I, I stopped in my tracks when I saw the sign over the entrance to the camp (pictured) which states in German ¨Work Makes You Free¨. I couldn’t help but wonder how many people, upon entering the camp and seeing that sign, were actually given hope that things might not be so bad afterall. This camp held prisoners as well as the offices and homes of many Nazi officers and their families. It was broken up into different ¨blocks¨, each of which had it’s own purpose.
The most horrifying block, referred to as the death block, housed mainly political prisoners and those who had been caught conspiring to escape from the camp. Those unlucky enough to make to this block were experimented upon in cruel ways which eventually ended in their deaths. In the basement of this block, the Nazis experimented on the best way to exterminate people. Some of the prisoners were kept in starvation cells and studied to see how long it would take for them to die without food. Others, after and exhausting day of work, were put into small, square cells (pictured) only big enough for 4 people to stand. They were sentenced to stand there for 12 nights in a row, or until they died of exhaustion or suffocation. The basement of this block was also where the first people were gassed with Zyklon B which caused people to suffocated to death. They experimented on 850 people here before they got the gas just right to be used in later in the gas chambers. Those not experimented on in the death block were immediately sent to the ¨death wall¨ (pictured), instructed to be stripped naked and then shot to death in front of the wall. The windows from the block next to the death wall were covered with black panelling (pictured) so that the pregnant women housed here to be experimented on to figure out how to sterilize the Jewish race would not see those being executed.
Today, many of the buildings in the other blocks contain artifacts from the time of the Holocaust. The most memorable and shocking room was the room of hair. Enclosed in a glass case from floor to ceiling is a display of human hair. After people were gassed to death, other prisoners were instructed to remove the gold (jewellery and teeth) from the bodies, as well as to shave the heads of the corpses. The hair was then made into a textile for commercial use. Some of the other articles on display were those that were taken away from the prisoners upon arrival. One case is filled with luggage marked with the name of the person, their country of origin and deportation date on it. Another case is filled with twisted pairs of eyeglasses. Still others are filled with dishes, baby clothes, shoes and even prosthetic body parts. All of these items begin to give an idea of the sheer number of people murdered there.
Being at Auschwitz was a very powerful experience. Rob and I wished that we had more time alone to absorb what we were seeing instead of being rushed from place to place by a tour guide. It was unbelievable to learn just how horrible Auschwitz really was, especially to discover that Hitler originally planned on killing 11 million Jews. At Auschwitz he managed to kill 1.5 million people, mostly Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals and Political Dissidents, some from as far away as Greece and Norway. When travelling in Prague, we visited one of the few Jewish areas to survive WWII. Hitler, it turns out, was preserving this area as a museum for his ¨Extinct Jewish Race¨ exhibit. I still can’t fathom how one person could have so much hatred for other human beings.
