Auschwitz

When we disembarked in Kraków we dropped off our luggage at our hotel which was a condo complex that also rents out as a hotel. 

Next we had to find the bus that would take us on the 1.5 hour ride to Auschwitz. It's not a regular bus-more like a large van (those of you that work at the rec center imagine our transport vans-these just fit more passengers). There are a few stops along the way and at every stop more and more passengers got on board and people were left standing. 

Once we disembarked from the "bus" we were just outside the gates of Auschwitz. There's no cost to go into the memorial/museum but no large bags/backpacks are allowed so we had to check bags for 3 zlotys ($1). Also, we chose to participate in a guided tour for an additional fee-worth every zlotys. Our tour didn't start for an hour so we took the time to explore the camp on our own before our tour. 

I ended up in a building that had the history of how Poland was invaded and how the Nazi's systematically worked to remove the people of power in order to overcome the Poles. The people of Poland worked together to fight back-even civilians who were not in the military joined in the resistance. There was a photo of girls outs digging trenches to keep out the tanks. 

The Nazi's used fear, secrecy and lies to suppress anyone who stood in their way. This is a photo of teachers in Poland being led to their death (they were executed in front of everyone). The Nazi's eliminated people of power first-this included politicians, teachers and religious figures. 

There were more gruesome photos of killings and executions but the hardest ones to look at were those of the children. There are photos of children being hung by their necks and the gruesome angle of the necks made my stomach churn. Then I saw photos of children laying in mass graves and the emotions I felt are hard to describe. It was a mixture of sadness, disgust and disbelief-as much as anyone wants to believe that this is not real it's impossible. These photos speak nothing but truth and the truth is dark and terrible. At the bottom level of this building I was in, there were prisoners uniforms (real ones) that had been placed on wire mesh replicas meant to look like bodies-except there were no heads. The uniforms, some ragged and torn and others so thin you can see right through them, we're hanging on the wire mesh in such a way that the bodies looked hunched over-like most of the prisoners did when they lost their body fat from lack of nutrition. I walked down this hallway with the mock-prisoners in line two by two and no one else was nearby. It gave me a very creepy feeling that had me racing back outdoors. It was almost as if I had to be reminded that I was not trapped in this horror movie and that freedom was just beyond the doors. This really set the stage and emotional tone for the tour we were about to take. 

The beginning of our tour brought us here to the sign that says "Work will set you you free." Auschwitz was surrounded by an electrical wire fence and there were lookout stations where soldiers would shoot prisoners immediately for trying to escape. Many prisoners committed suicide by running to gates knowing they would be shot. 

Our tour guide was amazing and really did a fabulous job of telling us the history and stories about Auschwitz. At one point she took us to a board with numbers. She said the numbers only represented the people the Nazi's kept track of. Then she pointed to a photo of people coming off a train and hundreds being led to the gas chambers. She said that all those people were not given a number so they are not represented in the total count. The numbers we do know of, 6 million, are low compared to the actual number who perished. 

Ashes taken from different people who perished at Auschwitz as a memorial to everyone who suffered here. 

We went into a room that was filled with hair. Hair. Human hair. The Nazi's didn't waste anything that they took from the people they terrorized. After a group of people went into the gas chambers (700 could fit in one crematorium at one time) they sorted their clothes, shoes, glasses and shaved the bodies. The same was done with the people who were chosen to work in the camps. The hair (all different shades, 4 tons that were found after liberation, some were long braids) was used as textiles and there was an exhibit showing that it was used to make cloth. Human hair cloth. 

They saved and sorted baby clothes. Our tour guide said "What could the Nazi's possibly want with a 3 month olds sweater? They did not waste anything." I couldn't get past knowing that a 3 month old died in that sweater. 

The wire gates were endless around the camp. 

Another hard moment was walking down a long hallway with photos covering the walls of prisoners. Our tour guide told us to focus on the dates at the bottom-when they arrived at Auschwitz and when they died. The average length was a month. She told us about horrible experiments that were performed on prisoners. One thing that stood out was when she talked about the sterility experiments on women. Women were injected with poisonous drugs intravenously to make them sterile. Those women that survived and were liberated were forced to miss out on the chance at motherhood. This made me very sad. 

We all had our individual moments where we felt sad or emotional. One person in our group remembered when our tour guide showed us a picture of a family walking to the gas chamber. The family looks calm and is carrying suitcases. There are children and a mother. The tour guide said the Nazi's deceived people by telling them they were going to start a new life in a new place. When the people were asked to walk to the gas chamber they were told it was time to go see their new home. This eliminated any hysteria or screaming. Deceptive. 

The Nazi's tried to hide the evidence of the gas chambers by blowing them up. However, one crematorium survived. Our tour guide took us inside and asked that we be silet and no photos be taken in respect for the many lives that had perished in those rooms. Inside we could see numerous scratch marks from human finger nails trying to claw their way out of the chamber. It took 20 minutes for a person to die from the gas that was used (Zyclon B). 20 minutes of agony for the people inside. 20 minutes of torture. I could feel the despair and agony these people experienced as I walked through the chambers to the next room where their bodies were burned to ashes. 

This experience wasn't meant to make people feel depressed. I came here because the purpose is to remember that this happened in our history. People tried to eliminate an entire race. We shouldn't forget that this happened. Nor should we forget to honor those that died during this terrible time. This place to me reminds me to embrace differences, to keep an open mind when it comes to humanity and above all else it reminds me to love. 

Read about our adventure on the bus ride back into town next.