Auschwitz

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” ~ George Santayana

I battled with myself and my desire to visit Auschwitz. On the one hand, I feel that this area of Poland is meant to be regarded and treated with the utmost respect and solemnity. This area is essentially a giant cemetery to murdered human beings. I wasn’t too sure about the tourist attraction aspect of the site. I was worried that visitors would be disrespectful. I was concerned that I would not be able to travel through the site. On the other hand, I wanted to bear witness. I feel it is very important to bear witness to the lives that were lost. I feel that it is very important to bear witness to the horror and evil that occurred. I feel that it is important to bear witness to history.

Part way through our tour, the quote by Santayana was hanging on a wall in one of the blocks. I think that it nicely sums up the importance of visitors bearing witness to the crime that occurred at Auschwitz.

Arlyn had arranged with our AirB&B host, Tom, a ride from our accommodations to Auschwitz, which is over an hour away from Krakow, a tour, and a ride back. We met Tom at 1:15 and returned by 6:00.

On our way, we drove through Polish villages and the countryside. Tom talked to us a bit about where we were going and what we were going to see. He talked about his own father who had fought in World War II, landing on the beaches of Normandy two months after D-Day.

We arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau first. Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest of the camps that made up Auschwitz. It was supposed to be a camp for prisoners of war. It became the centre for the extermination of the Jews. About 90% of the victims of Auschwitz Concentration Camp died in Birkenau, approximately one million people.

We drove into the parking lot and right away I could see that the area was milling with people. Tom parked and gave us 40 minutes and some basic instructions for getting around and visiting.

The grounds of Birkenau are unimaginably huge. I knew that this was the biggest camp. I did not imagine the size of it at all. Peering along the barbed wire fencing, I found it challenging to find an end to it. Within the fencing, there are many barracks. Some are still standing, others have been destroyed. Sometimes, only the chimneys remain standing. Tom explained that at this site, there used to exist a small village. The Nazi removed everyone from the village, razed the buildings to the ground, then used the building materials to build the barracks that housed the people of the concentration camp.

Visitors first walk through the entrance under the guard tower through which trains would enter the camp. We follow the tracks, past multiple barracks and along side the barb wire fencing. There is a cattle car set up along the tracks to demonstrate how people would have been transported into the camp. Far back from the entrance are the ruins and remains of the gas chambers. Apparently, as the war was drawing to a close, the Nazis dynamited these buildings to hide evidence. Birkenau exists essentially as it did when the war finished. There is a memorial between two of the crematoriums. It is called International Monument to the Victims of Fascism. There are plaques in a number of languages around the monument stating, “For ever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity where the Nazis murdered about one and a half million men, women, and children, mainly Jews from various countries in Europe”. We walked back along the tracks and through the fencing to meet with Tom once again.

The entire time I was visiting Birkenau, all I kept thinking was how big this place was. I never had imagined it to be the size that it is. Knowing the singular purpose of this camp, the scale is overwhelming.

Three kilometres away, is Auschwitz. Auschwitz was the original camp. The original16 buildings had been a Polish army barracks. It was chosen as the site for a concentration camp. The first prisoners arrived in May 1940. This was our next stop. We entered the gates, as all prisoners did, under the sign, “arbeit macht frei”, which translates “work sets you free”. The prisoners must have found that saying to be extremely spiteful considering their living conditions.

Auschwitz is very organized. There are a number of two storey barracks, in rows, along stoned pathways that are lined with trees. There are patches of green grass growing in front of each building. Tom told me that there was no grass here when the camp was active as the prisoners had eaten it. Everything is orderly. Some of the barracks were originally only one storey tall and prisoners had added second stories to them. There is a visible difference in the colour of the brick from the first storey to the second storey.

We visited a number of the blocks while we were there. Some of the blocks were lined with photos of people who had come to Auschwitz and died there. Their framed photographs lined both sides of the hallway in three rows. The eyes of the people staring back were haunting.

Some of the rooms in the blocks were set up for SS Officers. Other rooms were set up with bunks that were stacked three tall. Many men would sleep together in one bunk. Some rooms were lined with straw. Others had straw filled mats that covered the floor. These were also areas for sleeping.

Block 11 was the prison block. A prison within a prison. Here, prisoners who were accused of “crimes” would be brought. An SS Officer would hand down their sentence which was generally execution, either by firing squad or by lethal injection. In this block we also saw the cells in the basement. There were cells that had one small window in where prisoners would be sent in order to starve to death. There were cells that had much smaller windows in which prisoners would be sent to suffocate to death. Apparently, sometimes candles would be lit in order to speed the process of ridding oxygen from the cell. The last set of cells were the most startling. These were the standing cells. They are 31.5 inches square. Prisoners had to crawl in through a tiny door. Prisoners had to stand in these cells all night and then work a 10 hour day. There was no light in the cell. There was very little ventilation. Generally, there would be four prisoners in one standing cell at a time.

Between two of the blocks was the execution wall, called the Black Wall. No longer the original wall, a reconstruction was set up to show what the wall would have been like.

One of the blocks house the toilets and sinks that prisoners would use. They were inadequate for the number of people in the camp.

Block 4 is entitled Extermination. Block 5 is entitled Material Evidence of Crime. As we walked through these blocks, we saw pictures of women on liberation day. They were emaciated. Evidence included a lot of correspondence between SS Officials from the camp and headquarters or government. There was a display of eye glasses that had been taken from prisoners. There was an entire room dedicated to the shoes that were taken from the prisoners. At the time of liberation there were 43 000 pairs of shoes on site. There was a display of prosthetics. These would have been taken from World War I veterans. There were suitcases marked with the prisoners names on the front. There was a large room full of hair brushes and combs. There was a display of ceramic bowls and plates. There was a room full of human hair. Hair that had been cut off of prisoners who had been brought into the camp or after they had been executed. Unbelievably, the hair was sent to factories to be made into fabrics.

Outside of the Blocks, we saw a rudimentary gallows where prisoners had been hanged, and after the war and a trial, Rudolf Hoess the first commandant of the Auschwitz, was also hanged. Tom said that right until the moment of his death, Hoess believed and professed that all he had done at Auschwitz was the right thing to do. He was unapologetic and not remorseful.

The last stop, before exiting the camp was unexpected. We entered into the gas chamber and the crematorium. I didn’t have too much time to think about it prior to entering the building. It had not crossed my mind that this building would be open to the public. I shuffled into a large cemented room with a low ceiling with a large group of visitors. There were small ventilation holes on the ceiling which would allow the Nazis to pass Zyklon B through in order to execute the people inside. Walking through this room, it is very difficult to imagine the horror of the events that occured here. But it is also easy to feel the presence of all of the lost souls. Just outside of the cement room was another room with the ovens where Nazis would cremate the bodies of their victims.

The weather today was overcast and grey. It was suitable weather for our visit.

Everything was larger than I expected. I know the statistic that 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust. It is difficult to imagine 6 million of anything.

I read that many men or women would share one bunk. It is hard to picture the small size of the bunk, the large size of the barracks and know that many, many people share the same space.

The crowds of visitors were bigger.

The grounds of Birkenau were larger.

The train tracks were longer.

The barracks were bigger.

The fences were longer.

The blocks were grander.

The evidence of extermination was gigantic and overwhelming.

The gas chamber and crematorium was bigger.

The personal impact of this visit was deep.

As we were preparing to leave the grounds of Auschwitz, Tom said to us that, when the camp was operational, around every corner there was death. Now, we have life around every corner. We have people visiting from every nation around the world. And I guess that is the best way for people to be in a place such as this. In the hallowed grounds of these death camps, trees and grass now grow. I saw families visiting together, a baby crying as she was being pushed in a stroller by her parents. Normalacy in a place of extremely strange happenings. I saw people of all walks of life, here, together to bear witness. To remember.

*I found a really excellent website that explores Auschwitz in detail through the eyes of a tourist. If you are interested, I would encourage you to visit the site. http://www.scrapbookpages.com/AuschwitzScrapbook/index.html

Auschwitz Birkenau, entrance.

Auschwitz Birkenau, tracks.

Entrance to Auschwitz

Gates between the cremetoriums at Auschwitz Birkenau. I like to think that the gates remain open to allow the souls of those who died here move freely in their eternal rest. 

Block 24, Auschwitz