City Post: Auschwitz

When we were "planning" The Great Gallivanting, we didn't know what we wanted to see or do in Eastern Europe, but we knew we wanted to see Auschwitz. It's one of those lifetime experiences you just have to have for yourself. All too often in traveling, we get focused on the good and fun things and forget that atrocities have occurred in every region of the world which remain fresh on the minds of those who live there.

We stayed in Krakow at a party hostel, because it was the cheapest and we would only be there for two nights. We also had to book an Italian-language tour of Auschwitz, because all of the English ones were sold out. We didn't care if we wouldn't understand a word. We wanted to go.

The train ride into Oswiecim, the town where Auschwitz was located, was surreal. We were pulling through a normal-looking town where people lived and thrived, the same town where over a million met their deaths in the Nazi gas chambers. We both remarked that we couldn't imagine what it was like to live in a town like this, where massive atrocities haunt its history and tourists flock to observe it.

We managed to get in on an English-language tour once we got there (we weren't the only ones). The way it is set up is you reserve a time and language on the website. If the language isn't available, that means it is all booked up. There are self-guided tours available, but only after 16h30. If you can't get the language online, you can ask a tour guide when you get there if you can join their tour. It's not a guarantee, but it worked out for us.

The tour starts at Auschwitz I. Most people don't realise that there was the brick and mortar camp where the prisoners walked under the "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign upon entry, called Auschwitz I, and the camp where prisoners were received via train, housed, gassed, and cremated, called Auschwitz II - Birkenau (with some of this also occurring at Auschwitz I). There were also dozens of satellite camps which have long since disappeared.

It is hard to envision the horror that went on at Auschwitz I. It looks like a military garrison. Orderly rows of barracks-style buildings line grid-patterned roads. More than once, Jack commented that the scenes reminded him of various military exercises he'd been on, a stark contrast when lined up against what actually happened. It looked just like Disneyland at Fort Knox. Inside, however, was a different story. There were plenty of barracks rooms where far too many people were kept (over 700 per building). Some of them had straw mattresses; others only had straw.

In some of the buildings, there were interrogation and torture rooms. It is terrifying what the depraved human mind can conjure up. Restricted air rooms, standing rooms, and more lined many hallways. One building in particular was known for meting out justice. In consecutive order down the hall, you had holding areas, interrogation rooms, trial rooms, rooms where prisoners awaited sentencing, and rooms where prisoners awaited the completion of their sentence in the courtyard just outside. This sentence was inevitably death, either by firing squad or by a particularly torturous method we won't go into detail about here.

The museum areas of Auschwitz I simply cannot do the victims justice. There are heaps of prosthetic limbs, piles of luggage, and tons of human hair and spectacle. And this is only what was recovered in the aftermath. God only knows how much more was destroyed, either in the course of regular Nazi business or during their withdrawal as they attempted to cover up their crimes. It truly is difficult to make the emotional connection from what you see in front of you with the horrors that brought you to see these sites.

After our guided tour of Auschwitz I, we boarded a bus for Auschwitz II-Birkenau. It was several kilometers away, and served as the main receiving and concentration camp. As you walk through the gates through which the arriving trains would bring their victims, the enormity of the camp hits you. It is a massive open field. The train line goes on for a long time, all the way to the back where the crematoriums once were (called "the train to nowhere"), although the sorting area was about halfway down the track.

On the right side, you have one row of wooden buildings which served as barracks for prisoners. Behind them is a seemingly endless field of chimneys where other wooden buildings once stood. After the war, the nearby town needed to rebuild. They weren't thinking of preserving this camp for the future (who would?), and they cannibalised the wood for their own rebuilding efforts. The war was over, and life continued on. This one row of wooden buildings remained, and it was later preserved for future generations to understand what the conditions were like.

On the left side, you have a field of still-standing brick buildings. Many of these buildings were initially constructed using materials from the town of Oswiecim. The Nazis destroyed the town and used the rubble to construct the camp. These buildings remain, including a chapel, so you can see what it was like to be in one (well...see it as best as you can). Inside, there are original markings and drawings on the walls. These are from where prisoners were educating the children. Even under such terrible circumstances, they looked out for their posterity.

At the back of the camp are the ruins of the crematoriums and a memorial erected to commemorate those who were killed there. They are just a pile of bricks, destroyed by the Nazis to eliminate evidence of their crimes.

We were at Auschwitz on a beautiful day. Partly cloudy, a gentle breeze, and a beautiful view of mountains in the distance. It was so strange being in such a beautiful place where so much death and suffering occurred. Jack commented on it, and then Jo issued the reality check: what about in the August heat, the February frost, or the torrential rain? The Nazis would have shade, rain cover, and plenty of stoves. The Jews and other "undesirables" would not have had such comforts.

We headed back after the walking tour, although we could have stayed longer on a self-guided tour to explore more if we wanted to. There certainly was plenty to see, but we had to get back to Oswiecim to catch the train to Krakow.

No lessons learned, no favourites this time.

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