One of the main reasons that I chose to go to Poland was because of the strong historical connections to WWII. For some reason, this point of history is very important to me. I have learned about a lot of horrific things
done by the human race, but the systematic killing of over six million people has always, and will always stab at my heart more than the rest. So I chose to visit the places that are now most famous for these "war crimes". It is not something I would recommend... however it is something I wish I could insist that everyone go to once in their lives.
I have to start out by saying that this blog was particularly difficult for me to write. Taking the time to really reflect on this experience was probably harder than the tour itself.
We first started at Auschwitz, the more famous of the two, but surprisingly not the one in most of the documentaries and movies. My first thought, one that was echoed throughout the entire day, was simply how beautiful it was. Poland countryside was spacious and green with beautiful trees and flowers, it was not the desolate god-forsaken land that my mind pictured- this kind of a place is not where murders happen. I still don't know if that beauty made it easier or more difficult to digest what I was seeing... It certainly made it less intense, however I felt like it was almost unfair to the memory of these people, as if their tragedy was somehow less valid in this pretty place.
The tour led us through block upon block, each having been renovated to teach about a different aspect of the camps. Some were more focused on life of workers in the concentration camps, while others were more focused on numbers and geography. But every building started out with a hallway lined with the photographs of men and women who had died working in Auschwitz. Rows upon rows of eyes watching you... It had the effect of making me feel almost guilty to be alive. All of the exhibits were very well done, but some were just factual, and others more emotional. One room that I will never be able to forget was simply a huge mountain of human hair. It was probably twice my height and stretched all the way across a very large room. You could see individual people's hair... In braids, in clumps, blonde, brown... You see, the Nazis were not wasteful with anything but life. Anything that could be used would be, and the camps were instructed to shave all the hair off of prisoners, both women and men, as well as off of the bodies of dead Jews. It was then cleaned and stored for later use.
See that is how this regime became so efficient. Everything was done with extremely cold calculations. They knew approximately how many slaves would die each day, and so how many more workers would need to be deported to take their places. They knew how many bodies they could burn in a day, and exactly how much poison to use in the gas chambers as to not be wasteful. The only time emotion was involved was when it was used to terrify the prisoners into submission...
It absolutely makes me sick. I cannot tell you how many times I had to fight back to urge to be physically sick as we saw these places.
I walked through the original death chambers, and through the cremitorium... And my next thought was, "we are tourists being led through this like sheep, just like those people were herded here with no idea what was to come." .
Burkinau was much much more difficult for me to cope with. Auschwitz was originally a polish military base, so the bunkers there were made of brick and quite sturdy. Auschwitz II- Berkinau was constructed by prisoners when no more of them could fit in the first camp, so it was constructed quickly and with very few materials... Which meant much worse living conditions and quicker death.
My breaking point was in that bunker, where visitors have graffitied the walls almost everywhere. One particularly large marking was a very obvious swastika. A part of me just wanted to die right there. We have not come far as a society when you realize there are still people out there who will honor that sign, even in a place where the fear and horror of its meaning is still palpable.
The worst part though, was walking the road toward the crematoriums. We have all seen the pictures, and heard the talks, but it is something entirely different when you are standing there where these innocent lives were sorted for death and life like cattle. Then we walked the same road that they did towards the forests, behind which was death. Now, weeping willow trees spread their leaves through what was once a high voltage electric fence, sort of pacifying the long stretch of road. Of course, the nazis destroyed all three crematoriums and the gas chamber at Berkinau when they realized they were about to lose the war. Now, all that stands there are the ruins and a memorial in all different languages honoring the lives that were lost, and praying that their lives not be lost in vain- that we remember.
When I look around our world today, I see a lot of beautiful things... But I also see that we are beginning to forget. Look at the middle east for example, or north Korea! How many people must die before we are forced to turn more than a blind eye? Now... I am not saying that as a 19 year old, white, privileged female that I know how to fix a very complicated world issue. I have never studied politics and I know little about world affairs. But I AM claiming that as a member of the human race, we need to start
learning from our mistakes, and watching out for each other as fellow man kind
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