Auschwitz & Birkenau

My first full day in Krakow was spent taking a day trip to Auschwitz & Berkinau. I had two full days in Krakow, and I decided to do this first in case there were any hiccups and I had to give it a go again the next day. I woke up early, and caught the bus to Oswiecim, the proper name of the town the Nazis relabeled Auschwitz. It took about an hour and a half to get there, and the bus was more like an oversized conversion van.

I'm a 20th century history junky, and have been waiting to visit the two camps for quite some time. I was laughing to myself though on the way out there. The bus / van driver had the radio on. The song "Rhythm is a Dancer" was promptly followed by Madonna and Justin Timberlake. I figured, here I am on my way to see something I have waited to see for some time, a very somber part of history, and I have the group Snap to help welcome me. The world is flat.

I got dropped off at Auschwitz I, which was the first of three camps established in the area. The entrance fee was free, and I only had to pay 3 Zloty for the English language guide pamphlet, which is a little over $1. I thought it was cool that the experience was so affordable for people. I'm not sure how much a guided tour is, but I prefer to move along at my own pace. Besides, the pamphlet was very informative, and every building you walked in had the history summarized on the wall for you.

The self guided tour began with a short film, which included images taken by the Soviet troops that liberated the camp. As you can imagine, the images were very powerful and hard to take in. This is the camp that has the famous Arbeit Macht Frei (Work Brings Freedom) over the main gate. As I walked under it, I almost got chills thinking about what actually happened there, and what it used to mean for someone to walk through that gate.

My first impression was that the camp wasn't that big. I knew Berkinau was bigger, but I thought the first camp would be bigger then it was. Don't get me wrong though, it did cover significant ground. I instantly noticed the barbed wire fencing and observation towers. There were various signs that indicted the barbed wire was electrified, and warned people to stop.

There was a peaceful calm about walking through the grounds by myself. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and it seemed like such a pleasant place. How ironic. I walked through the various barracks, which recalled what specifically happened in each building. One building contains the possessions taken from the people brought there. In one room behind glass, there were piles and piles of human hair. In another rooms there were piles of suitcases. In another eye glasses, and in another pots and pans. One room had the clothing of small children, and another the empty containers of Cyclon B used to gas prisoners.

Within Auschwitz I, there is Block 11, dubbed the "Death Block". It was basically a prison within a prison if you can imagine that. The courtyard of the block was sealed off, and within it were various stations of punishment and death used by the Nazis. The execution wall, at the end of the courtyard is where 1000's of people were lined up and shot.

The end of the Auschwitz I tour ended with a walk through of a crematorium. It was basically a test chamber to see what would work effectively to kill prisoners. It was left intact with the infamous smoke stack and everything. It was a very chilly feeling. When you walked inside, the first stop was the room where the people were gassed, and then the next room contained the ovens used to cremate the bodies. That was very heavy. The method for killing prisoners was basically perfected there, at which point, large scale killing moved to Berkinau.

After Auschwitz I, I made my way to Auschwitz II - Birkenau. I missed the hourly shuttle by 15 minutes, so I decided to hoof it to the camp. It took about 25 minutes by foot to reach it. It was in the neighboring town, just on the other side of the train tracks. As I was walking there, I knew I was getting close. I walked by quaint little countryside houses, and all of a sudden the infamous gate through which the trains traveled through appeared. Instantly I thought, who would want to live right next to this. Maybe after time, you just get used to it.

As I walked through the gate, the enormous size of the camp astounded me. In all, Berkinau covers 425 acres. That's huge. When the Nazis were retreating, they tried destroying the evidence. There still are a number of barracks standing, but many are just shells composed of concrete foundations, and brick chimneys. As I walked into the first barrack, again I got a weird chill. It's basically a wooded shack with large wooden shelves in it. The toilets were holes in the ground, and the wash room just a couple of tubs. I didn't take any pictures inside the barracks, it just didn't feel like the right thing to do.

At the very end of the camp were the two large crematoriums. Unfortunately, 75% of the people that arrived at this specific camp were sent straight to the gas chambers. This was composed mainly of women, children, and old men. Younger men were often retained to do manual labor. In their retreat, the Nazis blew up the crematoriums with dynamite. All that is left now is rubble. You can still see the steps though people had to walk down to get into the complex.

Many areas of the camp are marked with memorials where the ashes were dumped. The are various holes and ponds still visible for everyone to see. The holes still have a grey tint to them, which presumably are the ashes themselves.

The building I found most intriguing was the one used to register those that were actually retained. If you were selected to work at the camp, you first filed into this big room, where you had to take off all your clothes, and have your number engraved into your body. Often times, women that were selected to remain in the camp as workers were discovered to be pregnant once they took their clothes off. They were then sent to the gas chambers. The next room is where they cut off all your hair, and then the next room is where they had a mass shower. You could still see the water spouts on the ceiling. The next room is then where you received your striped clothing before going to your assigned barracks. This building also contained large steamers used to sterilize clothing taken from the prisoners, which was ultimately shipped to the center of Germany for distribution and use.

As I walked through all of this, it was again a very weird feeling. I got to waltz right through there, but the people that made it infamous did not. The whole time, I was trying to imagine what was going through their head. Many times I also wondered what the officers thought as well. I know not all of them could have carried this out without it at least weighing a little on their mind. Maybe their motivation was the fact that they too could be gassed or lined up and shot should they help anyone.

The rest of the day was spent slowly wandering through the grounds. It was quite a sight, and exceeded all of my expectations. Part of me didn't want to leave. I think if I lived near it, I would somehow be employed there. I think just the fact that it actually happened amazes me. That part of history just amazes me.

As I left the camp, I turned around a looked that the gate one last time. The tracks coming out of the camp eventually disappeared into brush and overgrown grass. It's hard to imagine a train full of people rolling by. When you visit a place like that, your perspective on certain things change. It's too bad that not everyone has the opportunity to go.