On the train ride from Krakow to Oświęcim, I was struck by the fact that fall, of all seasons, seems the most appropriate time to visit a place like Auschwitz-Birkenau. The closer the train got to the town of Oświęcim, the worse the weather got, and the more barren the trees became. By the time I stepped off the train, it was misty and cold, and I felt like I'd just arrived in a ghost town. Of course, there are still people who live in Oświęcim, and there are tourists all about - but there's this feeling of emptiness, of something horrible having happened in the vicinity.
When I walked up to the entrance of Auschwitz I and saw this sign - Arbeit macht frei (Work makes free), it was completely surreal. Everything after that at Auschwitz I became increasingly surreal until I stepped into the room in which 2 tons of human hair is displayed. That's when it struck me how real this site is. From then on, every single step I took, I was thinking about how a prisoner once stepped there. Every time I stopped and looked around, I thought about how one - or more - person died in that spot. I can't explain it. I was standing in a place full of death and terror and scarred by the ultimate crimes of humanity.
The place is eerily quiet. They say that even the birds don't sing at Auschwitz, and whoever 'they' are, are right. The only sounds you hear are the quiet shuffling of footsteps along the chewed-up paths, the wind rustling the dead leaves of the trees, and the hushed voices of friends talking to one another. Occasionally there's a laugh, but it's completely out of place. My mouth hung open the entire time I was there, and I couldn't imagine laughing in a place like this. Our brains can't conceive the severity of the situation, so it tries to distract us. It reminded me of a quote from John Boyne, author of 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas':
“. . .only the victims and survivors can truly comprehend
the awfulness of that time and place; the rest of us
live on the other side of the fence, staring through
from our own comfortable place,
trying in our own clumsy ways to make sense of it all.”
There's a display with a pile of victims' eyeglasses. There's an entire room filled with shoes. Another room with suitcases, the names of individual victims still painted on them, as if they are waiting still to reach their final destination. A hallway of pictures of Auschwitz victims, with their date of birth, date of arrival at the camp, and date of death. Some look confused, some look scared, but many look defiant, as if saying 'You will not take away from me who I am.' These are the people that put a face to Auschwitz. These are the people we're meant to remember by visiting this place.
The most harrowing part of the entire visit was entering the gas chamber at Auschwitz I. I couldn't bring myself to pull out my camera. You can envision it all you want, watch all the movies about it that you want - but nothing compares to stepping inside a room where thousands of people lost their lives without knowing what was happening to them.
When you're able to move about the camp so freely, entering and exiting the double barbed-wire fences with liberty, you begin to wonder so many things. Why didn't they try to escape? Why didn't they use their numbers to their advantage? How did the Nazis get away with something this atrocious? But then I'm reminded of one of my favorite sayings: 'Truth resists simplicity.' People did try to escape, a handful successfully. Others were punished for escaped prisoners - ten prisoners would hang from the gallows for one successful escapee. Some gave their lives for others, willingly. When they did rise up, they were shot down both literally and figuratively. Unarmed, malnourished prisoners were no match for the Nazis.
And people still get away with genocide, even today. That's the most disturbing thing to remember. When nearly 800,000 Hutus and Tutsis were murdered in the genocide in Rwanda in the early 1990s, the U.N. didn't help because it deemed the situation 'too risky.' It's been nearly 10 years and the genocide in Darfur is still not resolved. I fully believe it's true that - as is quoted on a sign in Auschwitz I - 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.'
Auschwitz II - Birkenau is a whole other experience in itself. All the displays are in Auschwitz I, but it's Auschwitz II - Birkenau where you can begin to see the extent of the Nazis plans for extermination. The fact that the camp was unfinished by the time the Red Army liberated it speaks volumes. As far as the eye can see, there are huge huts which housed thousands of prisoners each. Other huts lay in ruins, often the only thing remaining a fragment of the one or two chimneys that were meant to keep the prisoners warm in the freezing cold winter months. No wonder so many died of exposure, malnourishment, and disease.
The platform at Auschwitz II - Birkenau is a grim place. It stretches down the entire length of the camp, until it is met by a huge memorial to the victims of Auschwitz-Birkenau. This platform is where the Nazis decided, on first glance, who would be given another few months to live, and who would go to the gas chambers. A simple flick of the wrist and they would be sent right or left. The prisoners didn't know which was which - even when they were in the crematorium, they were assured they would just be taking a shower, and a meal would be waiting on the other side. This is where hundreds of thousands - millions, actually - of innocent men, women and children from all over Europe met their end.
The Nazis obviously knew what they were doing was wrong. I cannot fathom someone visiting this place and not seeing the wrongness in the Holocaust. The destroyed remains of the crematoriums at Auschwitz II - Birkenau tells you just how wrong the whole thing is.
The Nazis treated the prisoners at Auschwitz-Birkenau like animals, bringing them there in cattle cars and making them live in squalor like this above. The bunks in the huts were three high, but something like five people would be stuck in each level. They were only allowed to use the toilet twice a day - before and after dinner. Most were diseased, injured, and weak. Rationally, the prisoners wanted to sleep on the top bunks. But few could gather the strength at the end of each day to make it up that high. So the majority of them were stuck in the bottom two bunks, in the excrement of themselves and others. They became sick - or sicker.
I was fortunate enough to end my tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau by climbing the main tower at the entrance to Auschwitz II - Birkenau. There, I was able to see the entire expanse of Auschwitz II. It was a sobering experience, one which - along with the entirety of my visit - will remain etched in my mind for the rest of my life. I couldn't even make out the guard towers at the furthest reaches of the third section of the camp - and to think: this was not all the Nazis had planned. Auschwitz I & II are only two of some 45 sub-camps in the area. Not to mention the other work and death camps around Europe, as well as the ghettos they sent their victims to.
None of my words could ever describe the feeling of being at a place like Auschwitz-Birkenau. I firmly believe that everyone, no matter who they are or what they believe, should visit. Perhaps if we all were able to get a glimpse into the atrocities of the Holocaust, things like it would not happen. But maybe that's just a pipe dream. But it's a pipe dream I plan to keep dreaming.
'Forever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity,
where the Nazis murdered about one and a half million
men, women, and children,
mainly Jews,
from various countries of Europe.'
Auschwitz-Birkenau, 1940 - 1945
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