I’m not sure how to do justice here to our tour of the Auschwitz concentration camp. I don’t think I’ve fully processed what we saw there—what we experienced there. To think of the hundreds of thousands of people who lived, worked, and died there, there are no words. Walking through the gates into the camp the metal sign says “Arbeit Mach Frei” which means “Work will set you free.” Our tour guide explained that not a single person was set free because of work—this was just part of the web of decpetion. The camp was originally built as barracks for the Polish army, and was taken over by the Germans as first a work camp and eventually a death camp. We toured through many of the buildings which had been made into museum exhibits with piles of belongings of the prisoners. There was a room simply filled with braided hair that had been cut off of the women and children of the camp. We learned that the hair of the victims was sold for a good price to be used in carpet and wigs and other other products. They had a sample of the carpet on display that they knew had been made of the victim’s hair because it still had trace amounts of the chemical gas used to exterminate the victims. We toured a barracks area with twin beds as close together as possible (no room to step off onto the floor) stacked 3 high which each would have contained several prisoners. He stated that no one was allowed to get out of bed to use the bathroom or they would be shot immediately—so it was not uncommon to relieve yourself in the bed. He said that they all had to sleep on their sides all night because if one person rolled over they would all have to—everyone from wall to wall—that’s how tightly packed into those beds they were. The images and stories were horrific, I cannot begin to comment on them all...
Our tour guide walked with us and spoke into a transmitter mic that we could listen to through headphones...very helpful with chasing after Lena. Unfortunately, Dave and I feel that we maybe got about 10% of what we could have because of having Lena with us. Even so, that 10% was huge. We hope she wasn't too disruptive to everyone else.
Perhaps the most stunning part of the tour was the crematorium. We actually were able to walk through a gas chamber and see the furnaces where thousands were killed and burned. Erie. How could this have actually gone on? How could humans do this to one another—civilized humans, within the last century? Unthinkable cruelty.
These railroad tracks were covered in roses--it was the most touching and heartbreaking image I saw that day. When prisoners and victims were brought as families to the camp from the homes they were taken from, they would exit the train and either be sent to the right or the left... capable working men one way and "the road to heaven" for everyone else on the other side. This was the last place families would ever see each other.
An eye opening and emotional day for sure. It is hard to believe that Dave’s grandfather was in a forced labor camp like this one in Germany and survived through several very difficult years. Amazing strength, and what a story.
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