Auschwitz

I have grown up with movies about the holocaust - Warsaw Story, The Pianist, Schindler's List, and more. I have read about it extensively. As a photographer, I have also seen hundreds of gory images. It was not surprising that I had a desire to visit Auschwitz.

During my recent Poland photo-trip, I specially made time for that. Uncharacteristically, I stayed away from any trip preparation. It was almost like not reading the review of a movie as it might expose the plot.

Once there, I learnt it comprises not one, but three camps – Auschwitz, Birkenau and Monowitz. Startling, that this 10 sq. km. area accounted for murder of 1.3 million people, of which 1.1 million were Jews.

The entire place was quite organized. An entry arch with 3 words in German – 'Arbeit Macht Frei' (Work means Freedom) set me thinking about how ‘free’ the inmates there were. It led me into a complex with rows of warehouse look-alikes – 25 of them.

The first building I entered was a Gas Chamber. Thousands of prisoners were gassed to death here. It had 2 incinerators for the corpses. Suddenly, I found my mood turning sombre.

Walking around, I started reading the fact-boards. ‘The plunder of human beings was complete. Healthy ones were chosen for a slow death. The weak were shot or gassed. Their hair were shaven off for use as yarn, their gold teeth extracted and their valuables stripped.’

In a daze, I moved around the site. The scale of the holocaust was evident all around. There were glass-encased relics – victims' hair, clothes, suitcases, prostheses, spectacles, brushes and shoes.

There were terrible stories of one Dr. Mengele – a psychotic man who conducted half-baked brutal medical experiments on children – twins in particular.

I couldn't take it any more and stepped out. Only thing I wanted to see now was the rail track that used to bring the prisoners to Auschwitz. I learnt it was in Birkenau.

'Hell's Gate' or 'Gate of Death' was the notorious name for the arched entrance to Birkenau. Through this, the train would enter the camp, the prisoners would get sorted as healthy or weak and their fate would get sealed.

In both - Auschwitz, as well as Birkenau - I saw a lot of Jews. I could understand they were there to pay homage to their murdered ancestors who had faced the worst.

If you get a chance, do visit this solemn place. It has the power of confronting you with the barbarism of humans against humans.