A Day At Auschwitz: Misery and Terror
There is nothing that can prepare you for this. Not even this blog.
In our education, we are bombarded with history lessons of World War II. The massive impact it had on the world still lingers. It is a crazy thought knowing that all of this took place less than 100 years ago. With all the horror of the war and stories shared by older relatives, one that remains one of the most horrific displays of evil in modern history occurred in this small part of Poland. We’re not diving deep into the history of Auschwitz, but rather from our own personal experiences and what you can expect if you are planning a trip here. Disclaimer that some of these images can be hard for readers, so please scroll past the images or get out of the blog if it becomes too much for you. Alright, let’s get started.
Auschwitz is split up into 2 sections: Aucshwitz I and Auschwitz II Birkenau. The first one opened in 1940 and the official completion was made in 1942. Auschwitz I could hold up to 1,200 prisoners at a time. The second one, which was constructed later, could house more than 70,000 people, as we were told during our tour.
When you hire a tour guide (we recommend it), the entrance ticket will be for both sections of the camp. It can be a little difficult or costly to get a taxi to take you over to Auschwitz if you are coming from Krakow (1-hour west of Krakow), but a tour guide can pick you up from Krakow and drive you directly to Auschwitz. We personally chose Headout Tours and thought they did a fantastic job.
When you get off the bus and see the entrance to the first one, you think “It’s ok, I can do this. This will be informative and educational.” At least those were my thoughts showing up. I have read many books on Auschwitz, watched many documentaries, I’ve been to other concentration camps in Germany, I’ve attended several holocaust museums, I’ve seen countless films, such as The Diary of Anne Frank, Schindler’s List, The Pianist, The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas, and many more. More recently, I had the privilege of attending a lecture from a holocaust survivor whose father was brutally executed here at Auschwitz. I thought “I can do this - I’m more prepared than most.” Wrong. There is nothing you can do to prepare for a visit at Auschwitz.
Once you go through security and have your tickets checked, you walk through a narrow cemented hallway leading you to the first camp. It is quiet and all you hear is an ominous voice saying names of victims who died here. I cannot fully explain or comprehend what happened, but I had a sensation I’ve never had before. I felt very weak and felt like I couldn’t breathe. Looking around, everyone else seemed fine, but it felt like I was walking in one of those post-apocalyptical movie trailers. I couldn’t see much in front of me or beside me, and all I could hear was a voice reading names from a list. It felt suffocating and nauseating. Once we went through the cemented hall, we quickly saw the famous sign reading “Arbeit Macht Frei,” which translates from German meaning, “Work Sets You Free” - a clear and disgusting lie given to the prisoners. This is what many would have seen as they entered the first camp.
What came as a shock to some in our group was that it wasn’t just Jews who were tortured and murdered here - there were also Soviet prisoners, gays, Poles, and gypsies who were relocated here too. The overwhelming majority of people were Jews, which made up roughly 90 percent of the people here. Because Jewish people were considered less than human, a natural hierarchy formed where Jews were at the bottom of the list in the worst possible conditions. They formed this hierarchy by having different coloured patches on their uniforms. You can see some of them on display here.
When they arrived, everything was taken from them. The Nazis confiscated dishes, clothes, glasses, shoes, artificial limbs, religious items, and anything else they were carrying. They also shaved their heads (separate room for the hair - no photos out of respect). Auschwitz does not hold back and have all of these on display.
We had opportunities to see the barracks - some still in their original state along with the toilets and showers. We saw a wall where execution by firing squad would occur. We also saw where some of the horrific medical experiments took place and where women were ripped of their reproductive organs. Finally, we finished with one of the last remaining gas chambers. You could still see the furnaces where ashes would come up into the air. We were told that if we look closely, we could see scratch marks on the walls. I indeed noticed scratch marks on some of the walls from where people were desperately trying to escape the horror. Hundreds of empty cans of the poison for the gas chambers were on display in the museum as well.
We were told that children were usually the first to be murdered because they would cause a distraction to their mothers if they had stayed. The weak and disabled were also some of the first ones to die along with pregnant women. What we did not know leading up to this is that the women would sometimes get raped by the Nazis at the camp. If they got pregnant because of the rape, they were immediately exterminated. The Nazi propaganda stated that Jews were like rats and spread diseases; therefore, they were not considered human. It was believed that they must be removed and exterminated - even the children or those who hadn’t been born yet.
After the first section, we made our way by bus to the other, much larger portion of the camp. The second half is more what we think of, which is the section that could hold around 70,000 people at a time. The trains came in nearly every day with new victims, and it was impossible to escape from the train because it came directly into the camp, as you will see in the photos. It contains more of the same thing that the first one had, except a lot of the buildings had been destroyed to cover up what was done. We just saw a lot of rubble of what used to be gas chambers and experimentation rooms.
We were allowed to look into one of the last remaining rooms where prisoners would sleep. As many as 4 people would be piled up on top of each other on a “shelf.” Many died of diseases or starvation.
Honestly, by the time we reached the second half, we were numb and mentally exhausted from the first one. It was as if it didn’t matter anymore. We were so overwhelmed at the beginning that we just felt lifeless. All in all, it is estimated that roughly 1.5 million people were sent here, with 1.1 million of them dying at Auschwitz. About 90 percent of them were Jews - they usually died by gas chambers.
With so much going on in the world, it is important to remember those who died during this tragic time and never forget it so we never make the same mistakes again. I am not of Jewish blood or had family die in concentration camps, so I can never truly understand what it is like for these families who have endured (and continue to endure) so much pain and suffering. However, I am a human being, and I stand up against those who wish to do harm and evil to anyone of a particular group based on their race or religion. I encourage you to go to Auschwitz and explore it for yourself. It may not be a place you want to go, but it is a place you should go while you have the chance.
