Today is not a day of fun but is more of a day of education. I think most educated folks know what happened in Poland in WWII and even if not you’ve seen a movie or two. I don’t want it to seem like a tourist attraction or anything but most people can benefit from visiting a place such as Auschwitz-Birkenau, to imagine what it might have been like there, and to make sure something like this never happens again.
Auschwitz-Birkenau is a forced labor or extermination or concentration camp or all of the above. Many were taken to these camps during WWII. Not all of them were Jewish but the majority were; there were also dissidents, roma, disabled, and homosexuals – all housed or exterminated at these camps. I say camps plural because although they worked together they were 3 kilometers apart.
The tour moves pretty quickly but takes you through a lot. You get the background of the facility and what it’s used for, you learn who was brought here and how it was determined who stayed to work and who got extermination. You learned the horrific way they were tricked into being exterminated, like they even had a choice.
There are displays of cases filled with women’s hair (they would cut off and sell women’s hair), shoes, prosthetic body parts, and luggage among other things.
Our first part of the tour was around Auschwitz but then we get in the van and drive to Birkenau for the final part of the tour. While the first part was more a museum and memorial the second part is to actually view the barracks. Also we see the platform where the trains arrived to and arrivals were sorted.
It’s hard to imagine but you must – being forced out of your homes being told to bring your most important things (that you can carry) and some food. The nazis wanted to give them impression that they were all just going to be “deported” to another country when most of them were getting on a train to be exterminated immediately. If they were strong they were going to a camp to work but probably eventually unalived as well.
A great resource on the camp’s numbers of people held can be found here. Most were Hungarian (400k) but the second highest were Polish (300k).
When I get back into town it is late. I grab something quick to eat then head back to my hotel for the night. It somehow doesn’t seem appropriate to food blog after the day I have had.
Take care and always be on the lookout for signs of fascist regimes.
Good night.
Growing With Leala 