Auschwitz-Birkenau

Our first full day in Krakow saw us making the journey out to the concentration and death camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau. On a lovely, sunny day it was hard to imagine that this is the place where hundreds of thousands of men, women and children suffered and died at the hands of the Nazis. Yet as our guide, Anna, took us through the camp and museum at Auschwitz there was no doubt that here had taken place one of the worst episodes of human history.

The entrance gates to Auschwitz: Work will set you free.

We saw barracks where people lived in atrocious conditions, images of carriage loads of people being sorted, rooms filled with human hair. We learnt that of each trainload of people only about 20% made it into the camp, the rest were sent straight to the gas chambers. We heard how the Polish people were forced from their homes and resettled elsewhere so that their houses could be demolished and the land, and materials, reused to build the camp at Birkenau. We also learnt that many of those who were imprisoned and died here were Poles, those who were educated, leaders or clergy and were imprisoned to prevent them from leading an uprising against the Nazis. We heard over and over again how all these people, Jews, Gypsies, Poles, Soviets and many others, were treated as animals, not as human beings.

Barracks at Auschwitz.

In the midst of the stories of death and suffering in these camps we also heard about Maximillian Kolbe - a name that would be familiar to many - and we saw the cell where he eventually died. His story is one of great courage and love for his fellow human beings. A flicker of hope in the face of so much hatred and destruction.

Auschwitz

Whilst Auschwitz felt like a museum, Birkenau felt deserted and eerie.

The entrance to Birkenau.

Not long before the liberation of the camps the Nazis attempted to destroy the evidence of their crimes by setting fire to the gas chambers and crematoriums, the ruins have been left as the Soviet soldiers found them at the end of January 1945. Many of the barracks have been preserved so visitors can try to imagine what life was like for these men, women and children. You can walk along the train tracks and match locations where you are standing to images of transports of people being separated from their loved ones, their belongings left behind and their fate decided by a member of the SS.

 

One addition though is the international memorial for all those who died at these camps, as well as the many other camps in the area.

The International Memorial at Birkenau.

At this memorial there are plaques in every language that was spoken in the camps, they all say the same thing: "For ever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity, where the Nazis murdered one and a half million men, women and children, mainly Jews, from various countries of Europe. Auschwitz-Birkenau 1940-1945".

 

This visit was a powerful one that brought a new layer of understanding to events we have learnt and read about many times over. It was a difficult, sad and confronting experience but an important journey. As Anna said at the end of our tour: "It is good that people come here because this isn't just about Jewish history, or Polish history or German history, it's about our shared human history".

 

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