One should go to Venice
at least once in their lifetime.
And Auschwitz too.
Normally Viddy and I have a neat arrangement: I take and post the pictures on this blog and then she comes later and fills in the blanks with text. Her job ends up being more important than mine because I invariably choose more artistic photos, of a better quality, and those not necessarily portray the real subject, while she gives us the real information.
In the case of Auschwitz, I decided to write the text myself, since visiting this place was a lifelong dream of mine. Some people were shocked, others intrigued, but all were surprised about that fact. It always felt like it was my obligation, a mission, to be there. I have a tendency to like travelling to visit pretty things man and nature have created all over, but the ultimate counter balance for me are Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II Birkenau. Never, nowhere in history, were such barbaric things done to so many in such a short period of time.
Over two days we took a 6 hour study tour and I spent an extra 3 and a half hours on my own, making sure I saw everything that satisfied my needs. It is worth mentioning that such a big, busy place is expertly handled by the administration and the 300 guides in 18 different languages. Apart from the very few expositions that involve body parts, everything can be photographed. They leave it clear that they don't want to hide anything and they don't measure their words in describing all the gory details. They don't want people to forget what happened there to try to avoid its repetition.
Still not sure it was something I wanted to do, or I needed to do, but this was the last tick on my bucket list. And probably the most emotional.
And also, since I subscribe to the same ethic that none of it should be hidden or softened, I must advise that some of the pictures and captions might be really disturbing. But be sure that standing there, behind the camera, was a lot worse. However, the same way that the allies forced the people who lived next to the concentration camps to go in and witness what had been happening right under their noses, I too felt that is my obligation to post what I saw.
In addition to the two Auschwitz camps, we also went to Gross-Rosen and Plazsow in Poland and Mauthausen in Austria. And, by coincidence, our hotel in Linz was 2 blocks away from where Hitler lived for many years, in this "Most German town in Austria" as he used to call it. And finally, we visited Dresden, which was the stage of one of the most vicious allied bombings at the very end of the war.
The saddest thing of all is that we haven't learned from it. Right now, similar things to what happened there are happening in some parts of the world.
The purpose of this part of our trip was to learn a little bit more about all that went on during WW2.
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GROSS-ROSEN
After a long drive of about 6 hours we arrived at Gross-Rosen. The first reaction was strange. How can something so horrible have happened in such a bucolic place?
The building that was used by the Nazis as a Casino was transformed into the visitor's centre, where we watched an explanatory movie and visited the museum.
It sent shivers down my spine standing in front of this window containing the uniform worn by the prisoners. It was made of a really heavy cotton and that was all they had to wear, winter or summer. I had the same feeling, seeing the personal belongings found on the grounds.
The main entrance to the camp with the same sign found in many of the slave labour camps: Arbeit Macht Frei, "Work sets you free ".
The prisoners worked at the quarry right beside the camp. I hope the photo allows you to see the sheer size of the quarry.
Most of the original buildings were destroyed, leaving only the foundations. This was the basement where some prisoners used to work in an assembly line for Blaupunkt transistor radios. A lot of companies took advantage of the cheap labour provided by the prisoners.
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PLASZOW
Krakow was one of the very first Polish cities to be taken by the Nazis due to its proximity to the German border. Because of that, it was mostly unharmed, but almost nothing of the former camp was left standing. Nowadays the area is used as a park for the locals with signs at every entrance and on some memorials advising of the history of the place.
The popularity of Plaszow is due to the movie Schindler's List, filmed on this very same spot.
These above are the remains of the old Jewish cemetery destroyed by the Nazis.
There are a few different explanations for the meaning of this holocaust monument. The one I prefer is that is represents a common scene at the ghetto where, to avoid wasting bullets, the Nazi soldiers used to shoot jews five deep against a wall. Notice the Crack at their hearts level.
This is a view of the many kilometers of trails throughout the former camp. This one led me to the quarry below, used as a set in the Shindler's List movie.
In the surrounding area of the camp there are still many houses from before the war, that were forcibly vacated to be used by Nazi officials.
And the most controversial of all is this one used by Amon Göth, Commandant of the Plaszow camp. The house is in its final stages of renovation.
Still related to the camp, this is the main square in the Krakow ghetto, a few blocks from Schindler's factory.
The Schidler's factory building was transformed into an extremely high quality museum showing all aspects of life during WW2 in Krakow. It is worth a visit. On Mondays, entrance is free, but tickets are limited and there are wait times. Best to get there at least half an hour before it opens.
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AUSCHWITZ - BIRKENAU
Crossing this gate was one of the most strange sensations I have ever felt in my whole life. It was if I was being physically held back and something inside of me knew it was wrong. I was only able to cross the threshold after the fourth attempt.
We arrived in Oswiecim (the original polish name for Auschwitz) around four o'clock and stayed in the hotel across the street from the main camp gate. That allowed me to go in for a few hours to visit the site without the crowds and on my own. That is because, to keep the visits manageable, if you arrive between 10am and 4pm you are obligated to join a tour group.
All guides wear a microphone and the participants wear headset receivers. Groups are usually around 20 people.
Ten of the barracks are assigned for country-specific exhibitions, while others, the most visited ones, show details of life in the camp.
This is the simplest way to show how many people visit Auschwitz. The memorial/museum was set up less than a year after the war ended. The first guides were the prisoners themselves and the used to wear their prisoner uniforms and even demonstrate how the corpses were loaded into the ovens in the crematorium. The picture I saw of that was horrific!
Close to Birkenau, that is about 1,5km from the Auschwitz main camp, there is the site of the old train platform, one of the many places where visitors come pay their respects. There is a Jewish tradition to leave rocks os pebbles on someone's grave.
Birkenau's size is unimaginable. Stuck in my head is the answer our guide gave to one of the visitors questions: "Crematoria number 5 was 1 kilometer that way."!
These barracks, used by women prisoners, were built with bricks from the evacuated surrounding houses that were demolished for this purpose. In fact, the Nazis cleared an area of 40 square kilometres of all Polish residents, when they built Auschwitz. This was partly done to create land for growing crops for food for the soldiers and partly to isolate the camp.
Inside the women's barrack.
Ruins of the crematoria blown up by Nazi soldiers before they left the camp, in an attempt to hide what was being done there.
Monument to the victims of Auschwitz-Birkenau inaugurated in 1967. Plaques in 13 different languages are displayed.
View of Birkenau from the control tower.
Above and below are the reconstructed gas chamber and crematoria number 1 in Auschwitz. They were restored to their original state after being repurposed as a bunker by the Nazis towards the end of the war.
The video below was taken from the official Auschwitz- Birkenau Memorial Museum just to illustrate the size and set up of both camps.
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MAUTHAUSEN
MAUTHAUSEN
The last camp we visited was Mauthausen, in Austria. Of the four, this was the best preserved and organized for visits. They have an impressive new building that houses administration services and screening rooms, where we watched an explanatory documentary.
Above is the main entrance gate now missing the nazi eagle statue torn down by the prisoners when they were liberated.
The internal patio didn't impress me much. That was until a saw a photo taken from this exact angle in the museum inside. It showed the area completely packed full of naked prisoners waiting for their barracks to be fumigated and their clothes steam cleaned. Vermin and bugs were a big problem there.
The area of the concentration camp between the barracks and the quarry became the memorial grounds. Many countries have erected monuments of remembrance very different from each other.
Roll call was a very effective torture tool used by the Nazis. All the prisoners had to stand outside for hours, sometimes more than twice a day, rain or shine, sun or snow, waiting for their number to be called. The photo below is a reproduction from their museum.
And while I write this all down, more than three months since my visit, the sensation is still overwhelming. Teary eyes and the feeling of an elephant sitting on my chest. And just imaging how THEY felt. Thank you for being a part of this journey with me.
