Terri "Sees" the World: Day 2: Auschwitz/Birkenau

I could write a book about visiting Auschwitz. I won't. I will try and keep it brief, but I could fill pages. I found the best article I have ever read about the place while researching it before I left and will leave most of the details about what happened to the article. I recommend you read it before reading my post. I will only speak of my experience.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Can-Auschwitz-Be-Saved.html?c=y&page=1

Why visit? Why would anyone want to come here and see it? The answer for anyone is quite personal and different according to who you ask. My answer is...because everyone should. Everyone should witness what happens when we are not tolerant of one another and feel we are far superior to anyone else. I wanted to see it for myself and not what people write in books. It truly stands as a testament to the loss of humanity. It is also a reminder to "never forget." Anne Frank wrote something about (and I am paraphrasing) being the example for the world. If she had to endure all the suffering to serve as an example to the world, then so be it and her suffering would not be in vain.
I also wanted to see what real heroes look like...what courage in the face of death looks like. The victims are true heroes. There were several parts of the extermination camp where, out of respect for the victims, we could not take pictures. The entire place gripped me to my soul, but two places had a huge impact on me. See, my perspective and view of the Holocaust is from a mother's point of view. I can't help but put myself in the mindset of one of the mother's of the Holocaust. Your children are your life. The total reason for existence. It is nature and I can't remove myself from it. I can't imagine having my child ripped out of my arms, not knowing if I would ever see them again. Not knowing where they were going or what kind of treatment they would endure. They may as well have killed me right then. In one room, I had to force myself to look at the face of a child walking hand in hand with his mother to board a train. It was very emotional.
The second place I will never forget is the room of hair. The hair was behind glass and towered over me. It was all the hair the Nazis cut off the prisoners and saved by the tons. When the camp was liberated, they found 7 tons of it in bound bundles. The average head only has a few grams of hair. This was evidence of the masses of people who were held at Auschwitz and most likely exterminated, though some survived. It was so eerie. All the artifacts we had viewed up to that point were belongings...just objects. This was them. There were all colors of hair and you could make out braids. It was completely visceral and I felt as if I was invading privacy. Almost disrespecting them by being there. The Nazis used the hair to make uniforms and netting for the German soldiers in the way you would make textiles from cotton. Horrific doesn't even come close to describe it.
Our tour guide spoke only Polish and her translator was a girl who rode on the bus with us from Krakow and made sure everyone was accounted for and in the right place. I believe they were short-handed at Auschwitz because it was so crowded and the poor girl was not prepared to serve as a translator. Unfortunately, the translator did not have a great command of the English language, so we did not get the best experience as far as guides. I told Sheila, "I think our guide is getting a great lesson and education about Auschwitz today." The Polish lady would talk and talk and then the translator would give us a few simple sentences. Thankfully, I was well-read and there was English translation on all the plaques. What we missed was the emotion from the guide, the stories within stories and all the details not put on the plaques.
In the end, it was a place I will never forget and by that, I have accomplished the lesson Jewish victims wanted from visitors. The moral to the tragedy....love one another.

Both sides are full of shoes. They count them by the ten thousands.

Combs, brushes, and shaving equipment

Room full of combs, brushes, and shaving equipment

Living conditions the first week

Conditions after it was open a while

I found this so appalling. It was on the wall of the mass wash basin room. Really?

Death by firing squad. Notice the bricked and boarded up windows. Hearing it was better than seeing it?

Public hangings to scare people into submission

Roll call area. There was a guard tower at each end and public executions were regular if the count was off.

At first prisoners were hung here, but this eventually was the site where Rudolf Hess, the camp commander, was hung.

Gas chamber and crematorium

gas chamber

Crematorium was to the right and shared a wall with the gas chamber. Prisoners did all the work.

A plaque was set for all the languages spoken of prisoners at the camp. This was the English one and was separate because there were no English speaking victims.

Gas chamber and crematorium at Birkenau. 2,000 prisoners at once were lead through those steps, gassed, and burned for a total of about 1.5 million killed total for Auschwitz and Birkenau combined. The Nazis burned and blew up the buildings in 1945 to hide the evidence.