It’s been about 5 – 6 months since my last Poland entry.\u00a0 There are a myriad of excuses for this:\u00a0 tough school year, busy Xmas holiday, relentless work load…<\/p>\n
But I have to say I’ve kind of been avoiding writing this one on purpose.\u00a0 Why?<\/p>\n
Well, for starters, I don’t have any photos.\u00a0 Long story short, before we got off the bus at Auschwitz, we were told there was no photography, so I left my camera on the bus.\u00a0 Then it turned out that there was no photography in the buildings<\/em>, so I missed out on getting some snaps outside.<\/p>\n I’ve been able to get my hands on some photos.\u00a0 A big thanks to Alex Rubin<\/strong> and Anj Mulligan<\/strong> for letting me use theirs.\u00a0 I’m not entirely sure how using someone else’s photos will affect my narrative, but we’ll see.<\/p>\n The other reason I’ve been avoiding this one is because I wrote so damn much<\/em> about it.\u00a0 39 pages<\/strong> from my journal were devoted to this day.<\/p>\n Why so much?\u00a0 Well, to be honest, it was a pretty emotionally charged day.\u00a0 A lot of people were crying during the tour.\u00a0 My reaction was just to write down everything I could see and hear, as fast as I could.\u00a0 I hope I got everything right.\u00a0 Please correct me if I’ve gotten something wrong.<\/p>\n Anyhow, enough stalling.\u00a0 Here we go.<\/p>\n It was an early morning.\u00a0 I showered, shaved, sent some email, and then hung out in the kitchen\/common area with Yev, eating some cocoa-puffs while she boiled water for tea.<\/p>\n The breakfast lady was in a foul mood that morning.\u00a0 She stormed in to the kitchen and started rearranging things with a violent efficiency, clicking her heels.\u00a0 Yev and I were silent.\u00a0 Finally, I said “Dzien dobry” (good morning) to break the tension.<\/p>\n Wow.\u00a0 That was the last straw, I guess.\u00a0 The breakfast lady flew into a huge Polish rant as she stormed around us.\u00a0 We couldn’t understand a word, but she was clearly upset.<\/p>\n Yev said she reminded her of one of her Soviet schoolmasters.<\/p>\n I didn’t wait to see how the fury played out.\u00a0 I got out of there.\u00a0 Yev stayed behind.<\/p>\n Yev later told me that, after making a sandwich (which the breakfast lady saw her do), she made a super-quick pit-stop at the washroom, only to come back and find that her sandwich had been thrown in the garbage.\u00a0 Presumably by the breakfast lady.<\/p>\n We boarded the bus and were en route.<\/p>\n It was a tense morning.\u00a0 Tamara told us that the Auschwitz trip was optional, and so a few of us had stayed back.\u00a0 The bus ride was unusually quiet.<\/p>\n I think everybody was preparing themselves.<\/p>\n I wasn’t allowed to bring my camera (or so I thought), so I left it on the bus.<\/p>\n After getting off the bus, we read a multi-lingual sign that set the behavioural tone for the rest of the tour:<\/p>\n Througout the world, Auschwitz has become a symbol of terror, genocide, and the Holocaust. The German forces occupying Poland during the Second World War established a concentration camp, on the outskirts of the town of Oswiecim. In 1940, the Germans called the town Auschwitz and that is the name by which the camp was known. Over the next years it was expanded into three main camps: Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II-Birkenau, and Auschwitz III-Monowitz and more than forty subcamps.<\/p>\n The first people to be brought to Auschwitz as prisoners and murdered here were Poles. They were followed by Soviet prisoners of war, Gypsies and deporters of many other nationalities. Beginning in 1942, however, Auschwitz became the settling for the most massive murder campaign in history, when the Nazis put into operation their plan to destroy the entire Jewish population of Europe. The great majority of Jews who were deported to Auschwitz – men, women, and children – were sent immediately upon arrival to death in the gas chambers of Birkenau.<\/p>\n When the SS realised that the end of war was near, they attempted to remove the evidence of the atrocities committed here. They dismantled the gas chambers, crematoria, and other buildings, burned documents, and evacuated all those prisoners who could walk to the interior of Germany. Those who were not evacuated were liberated by the Red Army on January 27, 1945.<\/p>\n On July 2, 1947, the Polish Parliament established the State Museum of Oswiecim – Brzezinka on the sites of the former camps at Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau. In 1979, these camps were formally recognized by UNESCO by their inclusion on its World Heritage List.<\/p>\n PLEASE BEHAVE APPROPRIATELY RESPECTING THE MEMORY OF THOSE WHO SUFFERED AND DIED HERE.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Next to this was a map of the compound.\u00a0 Again, no photos, so something like this<\/a> will have to do.<\/p>\n Looking at the map, my eyes were drawn to the familiar word “Canada”.\u00a0 It turns out that, when new arrivals came to the camps, their belongings were stripped from them and sent to a special area of the camp called Canada for sorting and searching.\u00a0 It was called Canada, because at the time, Canada was considered the land of plenty.\u00a0 Here’s Wikipedia’s take on it.<\/a><\/p>\n Near the signs were, of all things, gift and souvenir shops, called the “informatory”.\u00a0 Postcards, books, videos, photos…\u00a0 seemed a bit in bad taste.\u00a0 After seeing the gift shops, I noticed all of the smiling tourists around me, and I found that quite macabre.<\/p>\n It was particularly disturbing because of how quiet it was.\u00a0 There were also “keep silence” signs all over the place.\u00a0 So yeah, it was quiet.\u00a0 Really quiet.<\/p>\n As we approached the entrance, we heard birds chirping.\u00a0 It was overcast – the grass was still wet from the morning dew.<\/p>\n As we were reading the signs, Tamara had gone off to get the tour guide.\u00a0 On her way back, her face was covered in tears.\u00a0 She’d visited Auschwitz for a tour several times before, and firmly stated to us that she couldn’t bring herself to do it again.\u00a0 So she went off to go wait in the bus.\u00a0 It was an ominous moment.<\/p>\n All of the tour guides were dressed in black.\u00a0 Ours was no exception.\u00a0 After a brief, quiet hello, she gave us each a set of earphones and receiver.\u00a0 This is how she would communicate with us during the tour.\u00a0 This way, she wouldn’t have to yell for us all to hear her.\u00a0 Instead, the tour became very personal, and she was able to speak softly to each of us individually.\u00a0 I wrote in my journal that her voice was incredibly soft, caring, and soothing – and that she reminded me more of a nurse than a tour guide.\u00a0 I really think part of her job was to soothe, as well as to educate.<\/p>\n We headed towards Auschwitz I.<\/p>\n [simage=679,288]<\/p>\n Auschwitz I was the original concentration camp, and eventually became the central administrative hub of the complex.<\/p>\n [simage=680,288]<\/p>\n The buildings of Auschwitz I were military barracks, originally constructed by and for the Polish army.\u00a0 In the late 1930’s, Poland had been invaded, split up, and annexed to the Nazis and the Soviets.\u00a0 So technically, Poland ceased to exist.\u00a0 The Nazis saw the barracks in their new territory as “very convenient” for housing the growing number of Polish prisoners, especially considering the railroad junctions that led to it.\u00a0 The Nazis set up shop, and the land and buildings became Auschwitz I.<\/p>\n [simage=681,288]<\/p>\n Auschwitz I was originally established strictly for Polish prisoners, but eventually Gypsy’s and Soviet POW’s were held there as well.<\/p>\n Eventually, Auschwitz I got so packed with prisoners, that two more camps were built in close proximity.\u00a0 Those camps were named Auschwitz II and III.<\/p>\n This is the main gate to the camp:<\/p>\n [simage=715,288]<\/p>\n The gate reads:<\/p>\n Arbeit Marcht Frei<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Which translates to “Work Makes You Free”, or “Work Gives You Freedom”.<\/p>\n Surrounding the entire camp was a double electric fence:<\/p>\n [simage=717,288]<\/p>\n [simage=714,288]<\/p>\n The camp orchestra, composed entirely of prisoners, would play lively German marches as the prisoners were led into the camp.\u00a0 It was humiliating and dehumanizing.\u00a0 This also made it easier for the guards to count and keep the prisoners in step.<\/p>\n The men and women were then separated, and sent to different barracks.\u00a0 There would be 800-1000 <\/strong>prisoners assigned per barrack, which only had 2 stories.\u00a0 The prisoners in Auschwitz I were cramped to the extreme.<\/p>\n [simage=719,288]<\/p>\n The roads we walked down were all empty and quiet, but it wasn’t hard to imagine them filled with the noise of thousands upon thousands of prisoners, being crammed into the buildings.<\/p>\n It was pretty disturbing.\u00a0 In this shot, you can see me scrambling to scribble all of this information down in the background.<\/p>\n [simage=686,288]<\/p>\n We then entered one of the barracks, which had been converted into a museum.<\/p>\n [simage=688,288]<\/p>\n A sign loomed overhead reading:<\/p>\n The one who does not remember history is bound to live through it again.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Auschwitz was almost in the center of occupied Europe.\u00a0 With the already-established railroad system, the Nazis were able to send over 1,000,000 prisoners to Auschwitz.\u00a0 The majority of those prisoners were Jewish.<\/p>\n It didn’t start out that way, but at some point during 1942-1943, Auschwitz became an extermination camp.<\/p>\n A sign on the wall broke down the prisoners as follows:<\/p>\n 1,300,000 sent to Auschwitz 90% Jews<\/p><\/blockquote>\n A large, glass, transparent urn in the barracks held human ashes in rememberence.<\/p>\n During the original invasion of Poland, the Nazis focused on capturing\/executing as many Polish monks, priests, lawyers, leaders, and educated people as possible.\u00a0 This was their method of “destroying” Poland’s culture and identity.\u00a0 After an uprising in Warsaw, 13,000 Poles were sent to Auschwitz I as punishment.<\/p>\n Many photos were taken at Auschwitz by the SS for their own use.\u00a0 Those black and white photos lined the walls of the museum.\u00a0 We weren’t allowed to take photographs, so I can’t show them to you, but I can describe some of them.\u00a0 Imagine black and white, blurry photos of extremely thin, extremely gaunt, bald people, wearing prisoner garb.\u00a0 Imagine seeing photos of them digging graves for themselves, or jumping to a particular height for a guard’s amusement, or running at top speed in a big circle “just because”, so the guards could watch.<\/p>\n SS “doctors” were always present at prisoner arrival to “conduct selections” on who could work and who could be executed immediately.\u00a0 There were photos on the wall of women, children, and old people, being sent to their death.\u00a0 They look calm, because they didn’t know.<\/p>\n The Jews who weren’t executed immediately were put to work.\u00a0 Some were sent to Auschwitz III, which was a work and manufacturing camp.\u00a0 Prisoners were forced to make things there for the Nazis.<\/p>\n Other prisoners became Sonderkommandos<\/a>, which means they assisted in the execution of other prisoners.\u00a0 Sonderkommandos would work in the crematoriums and gas chambers, and were forced to witness and commit various horrible atrocities against other prisoners.<\/p>\n Gassing of prisoners took place underground.\u00a0 A single gas chamber would have 2000 prisoners crammed inside of it at one time.\u00a0 Prisoners who entered the gas chambers were told that they were taking showers.\u00a0 Fake faucets in the ceilings and walls helped sell the illusion.<\/p>\n After the doors were shut, crystals of Cyclone B<\/a> were dropped in through openings in the ceiling.\u00a0 After 20 minutes, all were dead.\u00a0 Sonderkommandos would then go in and carry the bodies to the crematorium.<\/p>\n Before the bodies were cremated, Sonderkommandos had to cut off the hair from the women.\u00a0 The hair was packed into bags, and sent elsewhere to be turned into hair-cloth and other textiles.\u00a0 The ashes of the prisoners were used as fertilizer.\u00a0 Everything was reused.<\/p>\n At one point, we entered a room in the museum, where behind a large pane of glass, we saw mounds of human hair that had been found at the camp.\u00a0 Massive quantities of dead prisoners hair.<\/p>\n This was the point in the tour that most people started to lose it.\u00a0 Lots of tears.\u00a0 Lots of crying.\u00a0 I kept scribbling.<\/p>\n Any belongings or valuables brought by the prisoners into the camp were sent to the camps called Canada I and Canada II for processing.\u00a0 The plunder ended up being part of the evidence that was used to prove the atrocities that had happened at the camp.\u00a0 Like the piles of hair, we saw piles of glasses, piles of shoes, piles of Jewish prayer shawls, combs, brushes, suitcases, clothing, prosthetics, crutches, pottery, bowls, cutlery… everything was sorted.\u00a0 The quantity was simply horrifying.<\/p>\n In my journal, I noted that the lighting in the barracks was quite muted, but that the exhibits (the hair, combs, etc) were under bright flourescents.\u00a0 It was really macabre – like seeing a body at a morgue.<\/p>\n The next part of the exhibit was even more horrifying.\u00a0 It turns out that 20% of the victims of the camp had been children (90% Jewish).\u00a0 There was a room, absolutely packed to the brim, with children’s shoes.\u00a0 So many shoes.<\/p>\n And that’s the thing – I noted this in my journal:\u00a0 it’s not just the atrocity itself, but the sheer size <\/em>of the atrocity that is so horrifying.\u00a0 The piles of shoes and the hair really gave us a sense of that size.<\/p>\n Of the prisoners that weren’t immediately executed, 50% were Jewish.\u00a0 Many were Polish.\u00a0 All were treated like property.<\/p>\n There were some prisoners who were given some of the responsibilities of the guards – for example, being in charge of work units.\u00a0 These prisoners were always German criminals.<\/p>\n The prisoners were deprived of all of their human characteristics.\u00a0 No names.\u00a0 Just numbers.\u00a0 Photos were originally used for identification, but this was eventually changed to tattoos because a prisoner’s appearence would change too much.<\/p>\n The Nazis were meticulous record-keepers.\u00a0 Prisoner IDs were linked to prisoner files that held details such as education, age, and history.<\/p>\n Hunger was rampant among the prisoners.\u00a0 There wasn’t nearly enough food for all of them.<\/p>\n One sign we saw gave us a breakdown of the daily life of a prisoner.\u00a0 I couldn’t get it all down, but the pattern was obvious:\u00a0 prisoners were slowly killed with work.\u00a0 They were punished and beaten.\u00a0 Most lasted less than a year.<\/p>\n All non-Jewish children became prisoners.\u00a0 These children were also often subject to horrific “scientific” experiments by Dr. Josef Mengele<\/a>.<\/p>\n Among other things, Mengele apparently wanted to find ways of creating twins and triplets, so that German “Aryans” could reproduce quickly.<\/p>\n Other atrocities were performed by Dr. Carl Clauberg<\/a> who tortured Jewish women, in an attempt at finding ways of sterilizing them.<\/p>\n It was a lot to take in.\u00a0 We went back outside.<\/p>\n We were at the execution wall.<\/p>\n [simage=718,288] Prisoners, often naked, were shot in the back of their heads.\u00a0 It is estimated that 10,000 prisoners were shot at this wall.\u00a0 There were also posts were prisoners could have their arms strung up behind them for hours, as torture, and as punishment.<\/p>\n There were also starvation cells.\u00a0 In one of those cells, Saint Maximilian Kolbe<\/a> was starved to death with 9 other men.<\/p>\n Eventually, we entered a building where the first experimental mass killings took place.\u00a0 There were suffocation cells.\u00a0 There were cells where prisoners were forced to stand all night.\u00a0 Pretty horrific.<\/p>\n The “camp hospital” existed for propaganda, to keep the purpose of the extermination camp a secret.\u00a0 The hospital was really the “crematorium waiting room”, since selections would often happen there.<\/p>\n Roll call was also used as prisoner punishment.\u00a0 If a prisoner escaped, or it was suspected that a prisoner had escaped, the remaining prisoners would be punished.\u00a0 They’d be lined up and counted outside of their barracks, again and again.\u00a0 Sometimes they’d be out there for 20 hours straight.<\/p>\n Only 144 prisoners successfully escaped Auschwitz.\u00a0 Captured escapees were tortured for information on their escape, and then executed.<\/p>\n Crematorium I was originally an ammo bunker.\u00a0 The crematorium was dark…stone…dusty…gritty.\u00a0 It was all so much monstrous efficiency.<\/p>\n The first part of the tour was over.\u00a0 We handed back our headsets and took a 10 minute break.<\/p>\n I wrote that the sun was warm, and that some of us were hungry.<\/p>\n We just got a small snack.\u00a0 We’re all sitting outside.\u00a0 Everybody is quiet.\u00a0 Some of us are eating.\u00a0 Some of us are drinking coffee.\u00a0 Some of us are smoking.\u00a0 Some of us are crying.\u00a0 It’s pretty rough.\u00a0 It’s hard to be an optimist here – hard to feel good, anyhow.\u00a0 Just…devestated.<\/p>\n We’re late.\u00a0 Our 10 minute break went on too long, and we’re late getting back on the bus.\u00a0 We’re heading to the next camp.<\/p>\n The bus really has never been so quiet.\u00a0 But what do we say to one another?\u00a0 This is no place for joking around…no place for making quips.\u00a0 What’s the first thing you say?<\/p>\n There are storm clouds in the distance.<\/p>\n It’s a 3km drive to the next camp.\u00a0 Tamara says that there are no exhibits…just the barracks and other buildings, the railroad tracks, and the gas chambers.<\/p>\n We’re here.\u00a0 I recognize where I am – I think I had seen it in Schindler’s List.<\/p>\n [simage=721,288] It’s brick and fields, barbed wire, and wooden barracks.\u00a0 It’s starting to rain gently.\u00a0 Those of us with umbrellas put them up.<\/p>\n The fields here used to be Polish homes and farmland before the residents were evicted by the invaders.\u00a0 The barracks were constructed from materials from destroyed buildings.<\/p>\n Not all of the barracks are still standing.\u00a0 Some have been dismantled.\u00a0 Others have crumbled with age.<\/p>\n The gas chambers have been destroyed, but the ruins are still there.<\/p>\n There’s grass and flowers now, but during the war, everything here was muddy and swampy.<\/p>\n We closed our umbrellas and went into the barracks.<\/p>\n [simage=725,288]<\/p>\n [simage=704,288]<\/p>\n The barracks reminded me of stables for horses.\u00a0 Wooden bunks, and a single stone oven for heating.\u00a0 At least 400<\/strong> people per barrack.\u00a0 No toilets inside.\u00a0 No washrooms.\u00a0 Just buckets and ditches in the ground, and barrels of water outside.<\/p>\n There were “toilets” outside, which were really just holes in the ground with wood frames built over them.<\/p>\n Members of the prison resistance would meet by the ditches\/toilets, since the guards would never go near them (due to the smell, and disease).<\/p>\n Like Auschwitz I, there’s barbed wire everywhere.<\/p>\n [simage=724,288]<\/p>\n 75% of Jews were gassed on arrival to the camp.<\/p>\n In November, 1944, Heinrich Himmler ordered the crematoria destroyed before the Red Army could reach the camp.\u00a0 Nazi soldiers began destroying the evidence of what had happened at the camp, starting with the gas chambers.<\/p>\n [simage=726,288] In January, 1945, with the Red Army getting closer, SS command ordered that all prisoners at Auschwitz be executed.\u00a0 This order was never carried out.\u00a0 Instead, the camp was evacuated, and the prisoners were sent on death marches<\/a> to another camp in Wodzis\u0142aw \u015al\u0105ski.\u00a0 Prisoners who were too sick or weak to march were left behind.\u00a0 Those 7,500 prisoners were still there when the Red Army came to liberate them.<\/p>\n According to Wikipedia:<\/p>\n Approximately 20,000 Auschwitz prisoners made it to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany, where they were liberated by the British in April 1945.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Some of the buildings and ruins in Auschwitz II are sinking, and the museum is working hard to restore them.<\/p>\n Just past the last gas chamber is a large stone monument.\u00a0 Large, Easter Island-like heads and monoliths.<\/p>\n At the base of the monument are numerous plaques, all in different languages.\u00a0 Here’s the English one:<\/p>\n [simage=727,288]<\/p>\n The monument is surrounded by flowers and wreaths.<\/p>\n The tour is now over.\u00a0 We thank the tour-guide, and, in the rain, follow the train tracks back out the main entrance.\u00a0 Birds chirp.\u00a0 Grass grows.\u00a0 Puddles. Life continues.<\/p>\n It’s no surprise to me that existentialism and the Theatre of the Absurd came about in reaction to these atrocities.<\/p>\n And that’s it for my Auschwitz notes.<\/p>\n Just got off the bus.\u00a0 Had a nice long nap – I think most of us did.\u00a0 We’re back in Krakow.\u00a0 It’s sunny and warm.\u00a0 Tamara has given us free time now.<\/p>\n Had a nice big late lunch (or early dinner) with\u00a0 Alex, Linn, Una, and Jiv.<\/p>\n [simage=492,288]<\/p>\n We discussed Auschwitz – it seemed OK to do now.\u00a0 We all agreed that it was a devastating experience, but we were glad we did it.<\/p>\n Our moods were starting to lighten.<\/p>\n We also saw a guy in a beer suit walking around:<\/p>\n [simage=486,288] And we also saw some breakdancers doing some moves in the market square.<\/p>\n [simage=489,288] I caught some of it on video:<\/p>\nJune 24, 7:45AM<\/h3>\n
8:25AM<\/h3>\n
9:45AM<\/h3>\n
10:00AM<\/h3>\n
An Extremely Brief History of Auschwitz<\/h3>\n
The Main Gate<\/h3>\n
Entering the Camp<\/h3>\n
The Barracks<\/h3>\n
\n1,100,000 Jews
\n140,000 – 150,000 Poles
\n23,000 – Roma \/ Gipsy’s
\n15,000 – Soviet Prisoners
\n25,000 – Other<\/p>\nPrisoners<\/h3>\n
Back Outside<\/h3>\n
\n[simage=689,288]<\/p>\nBreak<\/h3>\n
12:05PM<\/h3>\n
12:20PM<\/h3>\n
Auschwitz II<\/h3>\n
\n[simage=722,288]
\n[simage=701,288]
\n[simage=705,288]<\/p>\nThe Barracks<\/h3>\n
The Gas Chambers, and Liberation<\/h3>\n
\n[simage=710,288]
\n[simage=711,288]<\/p>\nFinal Words<\/h3>\n
3:30PM<\/h3>\n
5:30PM<\/h3>\n
\n[simage=487,288]
\n[simage=488,288]<\/p>\n
\n[simage=490,288]
\n[simage=491,288]<\/p>\n