On Thursday I visited Oscwiecim, or more commonly known by its German name, Auschwitz. As you can tell by the pictures, it tends to be a very eye-opening and somewhat depressing experience. But, none-the-less, I would totally recommend a visit.
You will notice I did not smile in the photos here. It wasn't exactly Disney World.
So, at Auschwitz you have the opportunity to walk through many of the old "barracks" of the concentration camp. They have all been turned into museum-like exhibits. Some of them honoring different nationalities of Jews who were killed there. One example would be the Dutch building with pictures and stories including those of Anne Frank's family. Anne Frank, by the way, died there one month before it was liberated.
You can also visit barrack's which housed Poles who were found to be hiding Jewish people. And, just a note, there were all sorts of prisoners of different faiths, nationalities, and even political personalities who died there. However, the majority were Jewish.
View through a window:
You can visit barrack's that have been preserved with the old beds, toilets..and thats really all there was in them. No privacy with those toilets of course. Just a small room with about 10 of them lined against the wall. So gross.
There are buildings with all the shoes and glasses and suitcases and other odds and ends that people had brought with them, which had been confiscated by the S.S. Piles and piles of things that were there and saw so many bad things happen...All those people's belongings which were taken away. Sooo sad.
Then there was the hair. There was a huge glass wall with a mound of hair left over. Obviously everyone got their heads shaved. They generally used it to make mats and nylon for the army. But, some hair was apparently left over at the end of the war.
I also visited the gas chambers where over 7o,000 people were put to death when they thought they were getting a shower. I actually walked through it. Complete silence is always observed.
There is another place which were the small cells of the victims of science experiments as well.
And of course, there were photos of hundreds of people who were starved, mutilated, and abused. These photos include those of children, even the one's that Dr. Mengele used for his experiments.
There is a wall, which people were shot at, now it is a memorial with flowers and candles all the time.
And, lastly a hanging post.
You can even see all the towers where the S.S. officers sat watch and you can imagine it in your head. The barbed wires are still there too. It is such a dismal place, but a very moving experience.
After I visited now I feel sick to my stomach if I ever hear a joke about Jewish people or Auschwitz or anything related. I didn't think it was ok before, but now I just think its sick.
Why can't we all just get a long?
"Germany has concluded a Non-Aggression Pact with Poland... We shall adhere to it unconditionally... we recognize Poland as the home of a great and nationally conscious people."
Adolf Hitler - 21st May 1935
"As soon as the idea was introduced that all men were equal before God, that world was bound to collapse."
— Adolf Hitler, 26 February 1942.
"The struggle for world domination will be fought entirely between us, between Germans and Jews. All else is facade and illusion. Behind England stands Israel, and behind France, and behind the United States. Even when we have driven the Jew out of Germany, he remains our world enemy.
- Rauschning, Hitler Speaks, p. 234
We are the joyous Hitler youth,
We do not need any Christian virtue
Our leader is our savior
The Pope and Rabbi shall be gone
We want to be pagans once again."
- Song sung by Hitler youth
1.1-1.6 million people died there. 90% were Jewish. These were people from almost
every European nation.
At Auschwitz I (the place I described above) 70,000 people died. Many were Polish intelectuals, German homosexuals, and Soviet prisoners of war.
The entrace to Auschwitz I is the famous sign below which means “Arbeit Macht Frei” or "work will make you free." Irony.
At Auschwitz II Birkenau (below) 1.1 million Jews died, 75,000 Polish died, and 19,000 Gypsies.
I also visited there. It is the camp more commonly known as "Auschwitz." More people passed through those gates than those of Auschwitz I.
This is where prisoners arrived by German rail from all over Europe. When the people exited the those tracks they were separated into 4 groups: 3/4 went to the gas chambers each time, which included all children, all women with children, all elderly, all the weak; group 2 was used as slave labor in industrial companies but still over 300,000 died of beatings, executations, starvation, and illness; group 3 were multiple births (twins, triplets) and little people who had brutal experiments performed on them including castration with out anesthetic; group 4 was a group of women who worked in "Canada," obviously not really Canada, but they separated all the belongings of the other prisoners for the Germans.
And I must also mention Auschwitz 3 and other satellite camps where many others died.
In any case, you can sort of sense in Europe that no one really talks about the war too much. They know what happened during that time and they have all accepted things are different now. The EU has a lot to do with the outlook. It is a much more peaceful and unified time for the continent.
Before and AFter in the barracks (like sleeping in a barn like an animal):
So, now for the lighter version of the day. A drive through Polish countryside to visit Wadowice, the home of JPII. Yes, that is right...it always returns to JP.
So, Wadowice, is actually quite a lovely little town. I imagine it got lovelier after JP became Pope, but whatever. I visited his house, which was pretty big. It is a museum so you put on slippers and slide through looking at all JPII's "stuff" including many photos of his life, his clothes, his baby bassonett, random religious memoribilia...etc...Quite intriguing to get a glimpse into his home life and how he grew up and to see his old winter coat...haha.
Ironically, Karol Jozef Wojtyla, grew up next to a beautiful church. On this particular day in Wadowice there were hundreds of American (English with my accent..yes!!) pilgrims celebrating mass together there.
And lastly, what would Wadowice be with a monument of none other than their hometown boy (picture with Monika and Rajmund)?
Here are my lovely Polish countryside photos:
The day concluded with potato pancakes. Very traditional. They were topped with sweet cream and sugar. Yum!
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