Auschwitz
I had booked to visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps on sunday afternoon so until then I would go and see some of the city of Krakow. The kindly truckie, Russell, who had given me a lift from Russia through to Lithuania had raved about how beautiful this city was. He felt that it was a standout european city.
When morning finally rolled round it was out to see the magnificent sights of the city. Every road had buildings to enjoy, look down the street and there would inevitably be another church or castle! With it being sunday there were services being held in most. At one there were some children being confirmed, and they looked absolutely gorgeous in their white dresses and the boys in their suits.
The next castle I saw was Wawel castle, this I walked right round, down along the banks of the Vistula river. Already busy with boats and boating trips, looking beautiful on a clear warm sunny day.
Buskers on the streets , an unusual combination of cello and recorder caught my attention. They were really very good and I enjoyed listening to them and contributed a little something into their cello case! While taking in one of the sights of Pope John Pauls churches. There are even tours that take in all of the places the former pope was associated with. The country is justifiably proud of such a fine man.
After lunch I headed for the pick up point to go on the Auschwitz tour, past yet another castle in another street! I suspect everyone initially comes to Krakow to see the ‘camps’ but the city enchants. Everyone I have spoken to has said that it was a beautiful city and I totally agree. The lively vibes of the square ,the hordes of people , the music in its many forms all add a character to the city unlike any other I have seen.
We duly got on the Krakow bus to take us to Auschwitz. It was a good hour’s drive out of the city. For the first fifty minutes the was a film about the camp in English as it happened to start with Italian subtitles. Of course the trip went very fast as things do if you are fully occupied. A fascinating and very sad story that we are all familiar with, but need to be reminded every so often of the devastating history of death to so many people from all corners of Europe.
Through the gates sign of ‘work brings freedom’!
Getting in and sorted, pay for the toilets, I still think this is an absolute cheek when you are already paying for tickets. Audio and earpieces for everyone to be able to listen to the guide. We had specific English, Italian, and Spanish guides to enable all of the tour to listen in their own language. We followed the guide down the metaled, stony roads between brick buildings two storeys high. That surprised me I had always thought the houses were sheds. They were certainly substantial and would have easily fitted in with any suburban street in the country.
We followed the history through the museum seeing personal items , like a room full of human hair shaved from the dead after gassing. Their shoes, cases with names on, most upsetting to me was seeing the clothes and shoes of the children that were so ruthlessly killed. Over 200,000 children lost their lives in this horrific episode in our history, a mere six hundred barely survived , most were twins . They had been used for experiments by the monster Megele.
These houses ended up housing more than a thousand prisoners in their rooms. Sleeping on straw palliases if they were lucky, on concrete floors.
The abject misery of the occupants can only be imagined and then probably not very well. We went down to a basement prison, where people were taken before they were killed or tortured. Some standing cells only. The prisoners could not move. I could not look at these, I found it claustrophobic just being there with the rest of the tour.
We were shown the wall where they were lined up and shot, where people had their hands tied behind their backs then hung up, with the resultant dislocated shoulders, Where yet others were flogged to death. The revolting stories that occured to innocent people guilty of nothing more than being jewish, others of helping someone and were seen doing so.
The summer day we were there was extremely warm, the guide told us the soldiers would have people standing in heat like that for hours and hours. At other times in mid winter in freezing temperatures. A child of ten was made to spend 20 hours standing in winter conditions. Of course the resulting frostbite and distress unbelievable.
From Auschwitz we rejoined the tour and moved on to Birkenau just a few mins away. Here were the huts that I was aware of, most of the wooden ones were gone, with just the chimneys of them remaining, scattered across a huge area. The brick ones still standing with the original three tiered bunks inside.
We walked down alongside the train tracks where the transports delivered the people to the camps.
Called the death road, people were told to go left or right by the flick of a hand from a doctor purely from how they looked. For most of the elderly, young and pregnant women it was death in the gas chambers, while for others imprisonment and a living hell.
We walked down the road to find a memorial to all those that had died and suffered here. Each nation that had victims was represented. They came from as far away as Norway in the North and Italy in the south, some twenty countries. Leaving the memorial there was the remains of the underground gas chambers, blown up and partially destroyed by germans trying to cover up their awful activities.
At this point I found the guide repeating information that she had already told us which spoiled the tour for me, personally.I wandered off and looked inside some of the huts with their bunks , the sloppy building that had been done in a hurry to accommodate so many people. The remains of toilets in a row in the one room, a washing area consisting of what looked like an long animal feed trough. Bottom bunks were on ground level and in wet weather became foul, as well as being the end recipient no doubt of the upper bunk inhabitants bodily functions gone haywire. Truly horrible.
Catching up with the group we were shown the childrens’ sheds, the efforts some of the adults shown on the walls a pictures, made to create a distraction for the kids. Drawings beautifully done, glassed over to protect them from damage. The sanitary blocks were next ,and here in two long rows were toilet long drops, I didn’t count them but there must have been over a hundred. Side by side, being allowed to go just twice a day, then herded like animals to sit next to others while having to go to the toilet. Probably shot for not following the rules as well. The washing facilities the same, it was only about getting the numbers through the system.
Trying to comprehend the horror impossible, one could not help but shed silent tears ,hoping it would never happen again. If we don’t learn from history we are doomed to repeat it. A famous saying I think by George Santanya.
After a full day of walking and sightseeing we headed back to Krackow, in contemplative silence. The film was shown again to allow spanish speakers to understand what had been previously said.
Having seen the places involved it was both enlightening and frightening that something like that could ever happen in the first place.
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