Day Twenty One

DAY TWENTY-ONE

Well the day of our visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau (AB) arrived at last. Last night Glenn and I spent some time reflecting on the day ahead and what we would feel in going to the Nazi war camp. We woke early at around 6.15am and after a quick breakfast we left for AB located around 67 Kms from our campsite in Krakow. It has to have been the quietest Glenn and I have ever been on a drive in Europe thus far. I somehow knew that the visit to the camp would be a life changing experience and having got back to our campsite and typing up today’s blog, Glenn and I both agree that it’s not possible to go to AB and not be changed in some way.

The drive to AB was largely through small villages and forested areas and one truly got the impression that the Nazis had planned to locate this site far away from prying eyes. The oppressive sense that you felt once we drew near to the camp was almost tangible and we were shocked to see houses located right across the street from Auschwitz I. The main museum is located at Auschwitz I which was built first and the second camp is located around 3kms away and called Auschwitz-Birkenau II. The tour started with a 20 minute movie largely comprising live footage filmed by the Russian forces that liberated the camp at Auschwitz. The scenes shown in the movie were no doubt meant to prepare us for a tour around the real camp. I am sure that most people who had read about or watched History channel on Auschwitz, would have seen some of the images in the film footage.

It was walking down the same road through the gate entitled “Arbeit Macht Frei” – or “work will set you free” that really brought the true cruelty of this place to mind. We were part of a tour of 14 English speaking people and were accompanied by a guide throughout the 4 hour visit to AB. The guide was quick to point out that with the hard labor experienced by the prisoners at AB – of which 90% were Jewish, it was most likely that people would die within 3-4 months and thereby gain their freedom from this place of hell. We were taken on a detailed tour around Auschwitz and shown articles of personal effects, torture chambers and other areas too indescribable to mention on the blog. The final stop at the tour of Auschwitz was the crematorium and this really brought the killing that took place at AB to life. I have to say that I was largely speechless throughout the entire tour with the exception of the occasional – Oh no, or that’s unbelievable.

A little historical background that Glenn and I learnt for the first time today was that the Nazi’s murdered around 6 million Jews during the duration of the Second World War. The total Jewish population of Europe at the start of WWII was 11 Million and Hitler therefore murdered almost ½ the Jews in Europe. The polish Jews however were the worst affected. Poland had around 3.5 million Jews at the start of WWII and approximately 3 million of them were murdered by Hitler. The total number of Jews that live in Poland today is around 12 500. He succeeded in totally annihilating the Jewish population in Poland which by the end of the war meant that ½ the Jews that were murdered were Polish. The camp at Auschwitz accounted for around 1 million deaths and the camp at the larger Auschwitz-Birkenau accounted for around 1.5 million deaths. The camp at AB II accounted for the extermination and disposal of 437 000 Hungarian Jews in 56 days near the end of WWII. The most horrific discovery was that 20% of the Jewish people murdered were children under the age of 16 years of age.

We left the first camp by coach for AB II. This camp was largely destroyed by the Nazis to hide the evidence of their evil work at the camp but one could see the size and extent of the crimes committed by the Nazis when one walked around the camp. The camp itself is the size of 16 football pitches. It housed 150 000 prisoners in late 1944 and the Nazis murdered and disposed of 8 000 people per day at this camp. We were taken to one of the wooden barns in which up to 1 000 people were housed and shown their living conditions as well as ablution and washing facilities. I cannot go into details in the blog but needless to say, one can only imagine the horror these poor souls had to go through during their incarceration at AB and ABII. We spent some time walking around the camp outside and although it was around -8 degrees, one almost felt it was just the thing to do in remembering these people and the incredible demonstration of the human spirit shown during the 5 years of WWII.

I cannot recall ever having been so moved by an experience in my life and I have to say that although it was a somber experience to say the least, it was without a doubt the most important time we have had thus far in Europe.

On a lighter note, we had lunch at a restaurant near Auschwitz and Glenn had some kind of beef steak with mash potatoes and read cabbage whilst I enjoyed a Check steak with potatoes and cabbage. Glenn decided that instead of his usual cappuccino, he would have a Turkish coffee. I sincerely hope he will be able to sleep tonight since we leave at 7.00am for a long drive through the Czech Republic onto Vienna for 3 nights.