Poland Part 1: Auschwitz

"For the dead and the living, we must bear witness."

- Elie Wiesel

 
This past weekend I had the opportunity to take a guided trip to Poland with my program ECES. We left on a midnight bus to Poland on Thursday and arrived Friday morning in Auschwitz around 6:30 am to eat breakfast and then go to the camp. This year marks 70 years since the liberation of the camp so it has been really busy, which is why our tour guide wanted us to get there before the crowds. It was a dark and gloomy morning, fitting for the atmosphere of Auschwitz. We first stopped at the original Auschwitz camp, purely used for extermination. It was different than I was expecting. The camp was in the middle of the town and I was expecting it to be in the middle of nowhere. As we walked into the camp, the infamous banner "Work will set you free" hung above our heads.  

Auschwitz's primary function was an extermination camp so it mostly consisted of barracks and a crematorium. The average time spent alive at this camp was 3-6 months. Prisoners were stripped of all belongings and given very shabby clothing and little food. They were tortured by unbearably long roll calls in the freezing weather, starvation, over crowding, and "experimentations", amongst other things. Inside some of the barracks they had museums with the shoes, luggage, hair, combs, clothes, etc. taken away from the prisoners. The picture below shows some of the cans used in the gas chambers.

 

 

One room was filled with a massive book of all of the people who died in the Holocaust, and they are still searching. There is about 4 million names in this book, and over 2 million more names missing. 

 One side of the book ^

We then went to the 2nd camp of Auschwitz (three parts in total). Camp 1 became too full and wasn't doing an "effective" enough job exterminating so they created two more camps nearby. Auschwitz was a death sentence with no escape. Here is the entrance to the second camp where about one million people were killed.

Here is one example of the train cars people were loaded into. There would be approx. 150 per compartment, stuck in there for 1-3 weeks with no food or bathroom. As soon as they got off the train they were separated by men and women and strong and weak. Those who were strong were sent into the camp. Those who were weak (predominately women and children and elderly) were sent to the "showers" aka gas chambers. The second picture below shows the "Road of Death."

This is the end of the tracks and other side of the camp. The camp was massive and could hold 100,000 people at one time.

 ^ The remains of the gas chamber/crematorium. Once the Nazis found out that the war was over they tried blowing up the evidence. Even though they were destroyed, they were absolutely massive. My stomach churned just being there.

Living areas in the "nice" part of the camp. 7 men per wooden slot. 

Prior to coming to Auschwitz I had read a lot of books about Auschwitz/Holocaust and I also learned about it in school. I thought that I would be somewhat prepared for what I would see. It is one thing to learn, but totally different to take it in with my own eyes. Our guide says that everyone should see this horrifying place so that we will never have anything like it again. I know after seeing Auschwitz I am much more grateful for my country and the freedom that I have. I will never forget Auschwitz.