A = Auschwitz, Poland

 AUSCHWITZ - Poland

Background and history ...

Auschwitz - it's a familiar word, a place, with a big story to tell. But to be quite frank, it's not until you go there, set foot in the place, reflect awhile, that you really understand. Which does not, by any means, mean you can fathom what went on here.  

So rather than background and history, I'll just share my experience and thoughts. 

My Auschwitz story ...

I'd previously been to two concentration camps: Dachau (Germany) and Thereseinstadt (Terezin) in Czech Republic (aka modern Czechia) and, although it's not quite the right word, I was eager to visit Auschwitz to get a feel for the place and learn more about what transpired there. 

In July/August 2019, with my tour leader hat on, I was leading a group of senior travellers through Russia, Baltic States and Poland and we visited Auschwitz, east of Krakow. Everyone knew this would be a harrowing afternoon; in fact, a couple of people opted out, they just couldn't face it. 

It was a beautiful blue-sky summer's day in August as we met our excellent local guide. He took us to and through the iconic gates where those infamous words  "ARBEIT MACHT FREI" arched over our heads like a ribbon of doom. It felt weird to be standing right there under that sign, framed by leafy green trees under which we sought much needed shade (it was so hot). 

We entered the complex and were surprised by how orderly it all looked. With neat brick buildings in tree-lined streets, it was originally a Polish army barracks; and it wasn't as austere or foreboding as I had imagined. Yes, there was plenty of barbed wire and an enclave of buildings that could obviously tell tales of horror, but the overall look of the place was surprisingly benign. Nice, even. However, there is nothing nice about what happened there during the war years.

We went through Block 11, called "The Block of Death" by prisoners; a place of squalor, torture, terror and death for countless people. Outside, we saw the "shooting wall".

Next door was Block 10 where women were the victims of evil sterilisation experiments conducted by Dr Carl Clauberg. We didn't go inside this building but just seeing where these events took place was harrowing enough.

In Block 5 we saw the belongings of those who were murdered - prosthetics, personal items, practical items and, most haunting of all, shoes and hair. Mountains of real hair that was removed and sold to German companies as raw material. Almost two tons of hair belonging to almost 40,000 people can be seen in Block 5 at Auschwitz. Mountains of shoes that fit young and old, male and female; real shoes that belonged to real people who died right here. More than 100,000 pairs of shoes were gathered from the dead and just a fraction are on display. Small kids' shoes stuck out despite their size - there'd been no chance for the many pairs of tiny feet that wore them to grow old and gnarled. Battered boots sat amongst heels that had their last outing. Shaving brushes that had been used by old men who thought they'd carry on using them till they were truly old. Crutches used by people who thought that a buggered leg was as bad as life could get. It was utterly heart-wrenching - and a little intrusive, even voyeuristic, seeing all these personal items of real people who suffered. 

We walked through Crematorium 1, sombre and respectful of those who had died here when Zyklon B gas was introduced through holes in the roof. Many were killed during the experiments that took place in 1941 to determine what the best chemical agent that would kill might be. This crematorium remains in its original state, complete with furnaces. A combination of gas chamber and morgue, it operated as a death chamber before the main gas chambers in nearby Birkenau were built.

From the main Auschwitz camp, we transferred the short distance, by bus, to Birkenau. We walked along the infamous railway line to the gate. The sun blazed down. It was surreal.

We knew about the selection process, of arriving by train or wagon and being brutally shunted this way or that, to labour or death. But hearing about it within those very grounds took the horror to a new level. Families were divided, sexes were split. Age was a principal criteria for selection; children under 14-16 and the elderly were sent to die. About 20% of people were chosen for labour and taken into the camp. Of approximately 1.1 million Jews deported to Auschwitz, about 200,000 were chosen and the remainder (about 900,000) were killed in the gas chambers. In total 1.3m people were sent to Auschwitz and 1.1m of them died there. These are sobering stats. 

Inside, the compound is barren, sprawling and foreboding, with rows and rows of long narrow buildings. We went into a couple of them - one is the washroom where rows of concrete lavatories stretched in front of us, the stench and indignity incomprehensible. 

Another building houses bunks; stark, cramped and uncomfortable, it's hard to imagine how anyone slept, being packed to the gunnels in these triple-high rickety bunks. Walking out, we were silent, still trying to comprehend the atrocities that we'd read and learnt about, and the fact that we had been fully immersed in all this for the last few hours.

What human beings did to human beings here is unfathomable in every way. As we drove back to Krakow, the mood was sombre.

Although I've shared my time in Auschwitz on this page, it was an afternoon that cannot truly be explained, only experienced. And once you've experienced the place, it will be etched within you forever. 

And, when travel is a thing again ...

Top tip: Visit in the afternoon, it's not as busy. Sunday is good! A guided tour is will add more dimension to your visit.