Epic Road Trip 2.0 Poland Part 2 Our Day At Auschwitz.......

Auschwitz



The twisted promise of 'Hard Work Brings freedom'

Dark, desolate, despair, hatred, fear, death........

(Please be forewarned that this is a dark and troubling blog. It was an important part of our travels and experience with Europe’s history, but without a doubt the most disturbing experience we’ve ever had. Some of the pictures are deeply saddening and quite graphic)

Before even arriving at the camp we all had a collective cloud that had begun to form over our heads before we ever left our hotel. Although the day shone brightly, there was a grey gloomy feeling to the day that we couldn't shake. Driving toward Auschwitz, before you even see the camp itself you see the train tracks. So many souls arrived via those train tracks, from freedom to almost certain death. As we entered the museum ticketing area we were met with the unshakable feeling of sadness and loss. You just feel it in the air all around. Unlike most museums where tourists go and chat and visit, Auschwitz held a solemness to it that seemed to affect everyone there. 

The Movie

When you start your tour of the "Museum" you first stop in to watch a movie at the entrance to the camp. It was this that shook Brendan to his core and left him feeling sad and shocked at the atrocities that were presented within the film. It is a clear and documented truth about the hell that went on within the walls of Auschwitz and Birkenhau. It speaks of the unimaginable nightmare that was life within those walls for millions of souls. It wasn't enough to break their victims bodies, the Nazis were determined to break the very essence of hope, love, light and spirit that lived within.....presumably they succeeded.

Auschwitz One

Rattled by the film, I felt chilled to the bone and was glad for a moment to walk out into the fresh air. But there was the camp itself as soon as you walked out the door to meet the guide. Expansive, dreary, institutional, cold and desolate. Above the entrance: Work Hard to Freedom written in German. This was to be the twisted irony of the victims’ lives. If they worked hard they worked themselves to death within a manner of weeks. If they were seen to be not working hard enough they were taken to the death wall or ‘showers’ and executed. There was no way out except through death, and as some visitors have said: "those who went directly to the gas chambers were the fortunate ones, for death came quickly to them." 

Auschwitz One was opened in 1940 and had been a Polish military barracks. So when the Nazis needed a concentration camp all they needed to do was surround the base with electrified barbed wire and watch towers and within weeks they had set up what would become the largest death camp the world has ever known. It was surprising really, the outer appearance of the buildings here were like a private school. The polish Army had built a series of buildings that were very impressive in appearance. The Nazis, of course, turned this into another cruel irony – beautiful on outer façade - desolate and inhumane on the inside. Auschwitz One is itself the "museum" with exhibits throughout the camp.

There are photos of victims and countless relics of their lives prior to the camp: hair brushes, shoes, shaving kits, dolls. All piled as heaps of what remains of those poor souls. For the Jewish prisoners, they arrived from ghettos across Europe that housed them in horrid conditions after being forced from their homes. They were each allowed one suitcase with up to 25 kg of possessions.

Naturally, most took their valuables and prized possessions. These they continued to carry with them to ‘relocation’ once they left the ghettos. Loaded 70 to a cattle car, the trains brought them to their new ‘home’. They each were given the impression that Auschwitz was to bring a better life. But as the cattle cars came one after another and each group of 70 prisoners filed out, their judgement was carried out right there and then. The Nazi doctors determined each person’s worth to the camp by a thumb to the right or the left. Older victims, babies and children to the right, young strong men and women to the left. For those who turned right, they had their possessions taken, were taken to a room and stripped bare, and then were directed to the "showers" where within 20 minutes of entering the room they were all dead.

A depiction of the death camp carved into marble - victims arrived and entered from the left, went down into an underground area where they stripped, they went to the 'shower room' shown underground on the right, then they were carried upstairs by Jewish prisoners to the ovens. The Jewish work crews were regularly killed as they were too aware of how the death camp worked.

Afterwards their heads were shaved, gold teeth pulled and jewelry removed before being unceremoniously thrown into the furnace fires that burned night and day in the crematorium. This was Auschwitz, and this went on for 4 long years.

Children were only spared if they were twins, or blond and blue eyed - for study and experimentation by Dr Mengele

A 'small' sampling of the loot acquired by the Nazis for re-use. It seems important to remember that each pair has a story - a Christmas gift, birthday gift, first pair of shoes, hand-me-down from an older sibling ...

The prisoners who were chosen to work were taken to a room, stripped of their clothing and possessions, given striped uniforms to wear and then had their heads shaven. With all the hair that was collected, the Nazis bagged it and shipped it to a textile mill in Germany where blankets, clothing and uniforms were made for the soldiers.

Once again, a 'small' sampling ... this time of the hair collected for use in textiles

The prisoners were bunked in a barracks and slept on cement floors. Their diet consisted of rotten vegetables, a piece of moldy bread and small pat of butter. Within these deplorable conditions, the women rarely lived for more than 3 months, the men no more than a year. They worked in the factories and the crematorium. At one particular factory, they produced the very poison (Zyclon B) that was used as the agent of death in the "showers."

Examples of the many cans of Zyclon B poison manufactured unwittingly by prisoners and used by the Nazis

Over the course of the 4 years more than one and a half million lives were lost. On the day of liberation by the Russians only 700 souls were saved. These were the prisoners too sick or fragile to transport further east into Germany, away from the advancing Red Army. Of those about 70 were children (twins) used by Dr. Mengele for experimentation. He had fled days before and, ironically, his escape likely saved the lives of these children. Other unspeakable experiments were carried out as well. Those included but were not limited to: poisoning to see how much a person could withstand before death; injecting different tissues and organs with bacteria to see how it would react on that particular area; and sterilization techniques both on men and women. The hell seems to have had no end. I just kept thinking to myself, "how could this be possible? How could human beings do this to other human beings?" I just couldn't comprehend that kind of depravity and inhumanity... I’m sure I never will.

Birkenhau

Throughout the war, Auschwitz was developed into 4 different areas - but the most significant of these was to be Birkenhau. As the number of victims being brought to the camp increased so too did the need for larger "showers" and crematoriums. Auschwitz One was quickly overfilled, despite the cramming of over a thousand souls into each building. So a new, much bigger camp was built on the other side of the town and named Birkenhau. As Birkenhau comes into view we were struck at once by the vastness of the camp. The barracks seemed to go on for miles. To the left of the front gate are row upon row of brick long houses and to the right, wooden long houses.

Most of the wooden barracks are just heating chimneys and rubble now as many were destroyed after the war. We came to learn that the barracks to the left belonged to the women and the ones to the right belonged to the men. There was a section of railroad track that led through a gatehouse and right into the camp - all the way to the end where the first two gas chambers and crematoriums were positioned.

View back to the entrance gate from the end of the line

Our guide walked us out to the middle of the camp down the road adjacent to the tracks and the cattle car that sits stationary along the side of the tracks.

An original cattle car, used to bring 70 victims at a time from all over Europe to Concentration Camp Auschwitz

Where we stopped was the selection area. This is the spot where life and death was decided for all the Jews who were brought here between the Fall of 1941 until the day before liberation in January of 1945. Most of these victims came from Hungary and most of them were sent directly to the end of the line. We walked with our guide all the way to the end and once there were overcome. To the left of the tracks are what remains of the showers and crematorium #2 and to the right #3.

The rubble from Gas Chamber and Crematorium #2

Gas chambers 4 and 5 were built closer to the woods and were used for other victims. But 2 and 3 were primarily for those victims who came directly from the cattle cars. The Nazis blew up these facilities when they realized that the Russians were within striking distance, trying to erase any trace of the crimes committed there. In the middle of these two death chambers, at the very end of the railway line, now stands a large memorial to all the victims who died at Auschwitz.

We were escorted by our guide to the female barracks which all of us were horrified to see. When you watch programs about the Holocaust and they walk you through these barracks you feel that when you see them you will be prepared. You already know what to expect. But you just don't...... They lived in these hell holes with slabs of wood to sleep on and dirt floors to eat from. Their washroom was in a separate building and was a hole in the floor. Their insulation......the person sleeping next to them.

A painting made on the walls of a female barracks where children were kept with the women.

There were 8 women per bunk and the bunks were 3 high, the first one being on the floor.

Though the sun was starting to set you could see through the cracks in between the bricks, right through to the outside. Our guide reminded us how horrible it must have been during the winter months when Poland could dip well below -20 degrees Celsius. Even times of rest were torturous. 

Wash house

As our tour came to an end I walked out with our guide and asked her how this affects her day after day. She told me that most of the guides only do 2 tours per week because it is just too difficult to do more emotionally. They work the other days in the preservation centre. She spoke of the survivors that come here and the difficulty they have going through the camp, with all of the cruel memories here. She also spoke of the Memorial that they have in the Spring each year, when 10,000 or more Jewish people come to take part in the ceremonies commemorating their fallen family. 

From these horrors and unspeakable crimes of yesterday come the hopes of tomorrow, that with their story living on their memories will as well. It is through our ignorance of this history only that these horrors will continue to repeat themselves until we understand that we are all human beings. We are not different races, colours, ethnicity or religions. We are here on this planet having a human experience. No one better or worse than any other. When we learn that then and only then will we all live in peace and enjoy this human experience as one.

As quoted at the camp for visitors, Winston Churchill’s words struck us deeply as we left:

"Those Who Fail to Learn from History Are Doomed to Repeat It”

Although painful, we are immensely glad that these camps are
preserved and that we made them a part of our travels.





Here are a few more photos of the Auschwitz experience:

Sketches done by a survivor depicting the ringing of the wake-up bell (left) and the rousing of the prisoners by the capos - collaborating prisoners bribed into overseeing and disciplining other prisoners (right) 

 

More bitter irony - a band was formed from the prisoners and made to play at the beginning of the day and end of the day to help the prisoners to march in step through the gates to forced labour - thus easier for the SS to count them as they passed to ensure no one escaped.

 

The Death House - a dungeon used to interrogate and torture prisoners caught trying to escape, not working hard enough, or simply caught taking an apple from a tree.

 

'Stand up cells' - some prisoners were placed in cells for prolonged periods where they were so narrow prisoners could only stand.

 

Entrance to the courtyard where prisoners in the Death House were shot. The windows on the prisoner barracks to the left were boarded over to hide the details of what happened below.  

 

The Death Wall - the backdrop for the firing squad

 

A Survivor's depiction of the daily roll call

 

The SS Guard shack where the morning bell was located - visible in the artist depiction shown previously

 

The gallows - during roll call assemblies, sometimes lasting 18 hours, prisoners who collapsed were hung. Also, when a prisoner was found to have escaped, 10 other prisoners were hung here during roll call as a punishment and example to the other prisoners.

 

Diagram of the Gas Chamber and Ovens #1 located at Auschwitz One. this building alone survived the Nazi effort to hide their crimes in January 1945 as it was used as an air raid shelter due to its fortified construction (previously an ammo bunker in the polish Army Barracks)

 

Entrance to Gas Chamber #1

 

Perhaps the worst feeling in Auschwitz - the actual gas chamber where 700 victims were crammed in at a time and killed by SS guards who dropped Zyclon B pellets down through holes in the roof.

 

 

 

One of many memorials throughout the camp - this one outside Gas Chamber and Crematorium #1