Matt,
our guide, explains that people were brought here for two reasons: 1) to be
exterminated, 2) to work in the concentration camp. A 3rd category was the Auschwitz Prison
where people who disobeyed the rules in the concentration camp were sent to be
punished and executed usually by firing squad.
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| "Work Will Make You Free" -- entrance to Auschwitz |
To
say this was a sobering visit is an understatement -- I don't think I will ever
stop asking myself "How could this have happened in the period just before
I was born -- not 1,000 years ago -- but in my parents' lifetime?"
 |
| Buildings of Auschwitz |
 |
| Where prisoners were executed by Firing Squad. |
We
first toured the buildings that had to do with extermination. The Nazis had no use for the very old, the
very young, pregnant women, young mothers with children and of course people
with any kind of infirmity. All of the
above individuals were sent to the gas chambers almost upon arrival at the
camp. Others who were strong were sent
to work in the concentration camp either in factories or outside on the farm
portion of the camp.
These
statistics say it all:
We
toured several of the buildings -- all were depressing and so very sad. Collections of victims' belongings are
displayed from shoes, utensils, hair (everyone was shaved), clothing,
suitcases, and books. Just to see the
massive mountains of belongings and knowing that this is but a small portion of
what was collected before victims were sent to the gas chambers -- most victims'
belongings were sent to warehouses in Germany.
 |
| All the Traveling Bags and Baskets -- |
 |
| A young woman's outfit --- |
We next
toured the buildings
where those working in the camped lived -- all dormitory
style bare bones accommodations.
Everyone wore prison-type uniforms.
Some
prisoners were victims of medical experiments from injections which caused
disease so they could be watched and when they died their bodies could be
autopsied to testing various sterilization procedures on young women. Josef Mengele, known as the "Angel of
Death" operated here -- his interests included how identical twins reacted
to the same disease -- when one died he would kill the other to allow side by
side autopsies.
 |
| Shoes are so personal! |
 |
| Some of the Faces and their clothing. |
The unthinkable happened at
Auschwitz --- and although the weather was awful and it was uncomfortable traipsing through these buildings and around the camp --- it made me think of how unbearable it must have been for those who lived and died here. Nobody living today can even imagine what most of the people endured here in this "hell on earth".
Birkeneau
-- also known as Auschwitz II -- began in October 1941 and is just down the road
-- but we all opted to skip our scheduled visit since we had seen enough -- so
the bus driver drove by Birkeneau on our way back to Krakow.
As
difficult as it has been to learn about the details of what happed in this
place -- I am thankful that I was able to make this visit -- hopefully it will
make me more tolerable of others for the rest of my life.
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| Model of the Crematorium/Gas Chamber. |
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| Entrance to the actual Crematorium/Gas Chamber. |
We
arrive at Restauracja Mieszczanska with the tag line: "Eclusively here you have the
opportunity to try delicacies based on traditional Polish recipes". We did have very Polish dishes and enjoyed
it all ---
 |
| Our wonderful Servers at Restauracja Mieszczanska. |
The
Polish people are friendly, fun-loving and oh so resilient --
Thanks
for Reading.
Pat
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