12 June 2005 - Krakow
Today we went to the Auschwitz and Birkenau camps near Krakow.
This morning we set off in the rain in a minibus from our hotel, west towards Auschwitz. The concentration camps are about an hour drive away. On arrival we were taken to see a film of how the condition the Red Army found the prisoners in on arrival.
After the film we were taken on a guided tour of the camps. In Auschwitz we were shown through the buildings as they are pretty much intact. We saw the belongings of the Jews and others who were bought to the camps - the shoes, the suitcases (which were named), the artificial limbs that were taken from the detainees when they arrived. Above the entrance gate is the slogan "Arbeit Macht Frei" - Work will make you free.
From there it is a very story of how the detainees, mostly Jews, were either killed on arrival or worked to death. The statistics are grim - at least 1,500,000 killed in these camps. Of these 232,500 were children, only 650 survived. They only did so as the doctors in the camp used them for medical experiments. The saddest part was when the guide explained that the children could not comprehend that they would grow old and die naturally - they had only seen people die from hard work or being executed. The children could not understand that when they were given adequate food they didn't need to save most of it for the following days. Most could not even remember their names, only the numbers they had been tattooed with on arrival at the camp.
We headed through Block 11 - the death block. In the cells condemned prisoners would prepare for their execution by firing squad. Others were placed in cells for death by starvation. The most famous case is of Father Maximillan Koble, who volunteered to take the place of another man condemned to the starvation chamber as the man was young and had a family. Father Koble prayed and sung hymms with other prisoners. After 14 days the SS gave up on starving the group and shot them. There were also standing cells, about the half the size of a small wardrobe in which 4 or 5 people were placed for at least three nights as punishment.
In the corridors are pictures of the prisoners showing when they arrived at the camp, how old they were and when they died. Most lasted only 3 months, although a few managed to stay alive for over a year.
Afterwards we were taken to the Gas Chamber at Auschwitz. In this chamber 10,000 prisoners were killed, a fraction of those killed in Birkenau. This is the only remaining intact gas chamber as the others were destroyed by the SS when it was clear that the war was ending and they tried to destroy the evidence. Along the walls are fingernail scratchings left by those who were dying of suffocation. Contary to what I thought the gas would take up to 20 minutes to work - it must have been horrible. By the chamber is the camp commanders gallows, where Kommandant Hoss was hung in 1948.
We then shuttled over to Birkenau. Most of the huts have been destroyed, but a few still stand. We passed through the famous death gate to the long rail track (about 1km long) where new arrivals were sorted into those who were deemed strong enough to the forced labour camp and those who were killed immediately. Along the rail track are guard towers. If any arrival walked off the path, or argued, or were too slow they were shot immediately by the guards in the towers. There was no escape.
We went into the huts where prisoners were packed into beds. The weakest were made to sleep on the floor, the next strongest where in the middle bunk and the strongest in the top. There was no bathroom in the huts and the prisoners could only use the camp bathroom for less than a minute morning and night. Any prisoner unable to work was taken to the camp hospital. If they did not recover within a week they were sent to the gas chambers.
At the end of the track is the remains of the gas chambers. The SS blew them up a few days before the Red Army arrived but the buildings are still visible. The prisoners would enter down the stairs going below ground from one end, be told to change and move into a side chamber. They were then gassed. After 30 mins they would be removed from the chamber and placed on an elevator to be taken to the furnace. As we walked around there were bits of white visible in the ground - these are fragments of bone.
The tour ended at the memorial to all Victims of Facism. The memorial asks that we never forget so we can never again let this happen.
We returned to Krakow for dinner. Tomorrow we are off to Vienna by train, departing at 7am.
This morning we set off in the rain in a minibus from our hotel, west towards Auschwitz. The concentration camps are about an hour drive away. On arrival we were taken to see a film of how the condition the Red Army found the prisoners in on arrival.
After the film we were taken on a guided tour of the camps. In Auschwitz we were shown through the buildings as they are pretty much intact. We saw the belongings of the Jews and others who were bought to the camps - the shoes, the suitcases (which were named), the artificial limbs that were taken from the detainees when they arrived. Above the entrance gate is the slogan "Arbeit Macht Frei" - Work will make you free.
From there it is a very story of how the detainees, mostly Jews, were either killed on arrival or worked to death. The statistics are grim - at least 1,500,000 killed in these camps. Of these 232,500 were children, only 650 survived. They only did so as the doctors in the camp used them for medical experiments. The saddest part was when the guide explained that the children could not comprehend that they would grow old and die naturally - they had only seen people die from hard work or being executed. The children could not understand that when they were given adequate food they didn't need to save most of it for the following days. Most could not even remember their names, only the numbers they had been tattooed with on arrival at the camp.
We headed through Block 11 - the death block. In the cells condemned prisoners would prepare for their execution by firing squad. Others were placed in cells for death by starvation. The most famous case is of Father Maximillan Koble, who volunteered to take the place of another man condemned to the starvation chamber as the man was young and had a family. Father Koble prayed and sung hymms with other prisoners. After 14 days the SS gave up on starving the group and shot them. There were also standing cells, about the half the size of a small wardrobe in which 4 or 5 people were placed for at least three nights as punishment.
In the corridors are pictures of the prisoners showing when they arrived at the camp, how old they were and when they died. Most lasted only 3 months, although a few managed to stay alive for over a year.
Afterwards we were taken to the Gas Chamber at Auschwitz. In this chamber 10,000 prisoners were killed, a fraction of those killed in Birkenau. This is the only remaining intact gas chamber as the others were destroyed by the SS when it was clear that the war was ending and they tried to destroy the evidence. Along the walls are fingernail scratchings left by those who were dying of suffocation. Contary to what I thought the gas would take up to 20 minutes to work - it must have been horrible. By the chamber is the camp commanders gallows, where Kommandant Hoss was hung in 1948.
We then shuttled over to Birkenau. Most of the huts have been destroyed, but a few still stand. We passed through the famous death gate to the long rail track (about 1km long) where new arrivals were sorted into those who were deemed strong enough to the forced labour camp and those who were killed immediately. Along the rail track are guard towers. If any arrival walked off the path, or argued, or were too slow they were shot immediately by the guards in the towers. There was no escape.
We went into the huts where prisoners were packed into beds. The weakest were made to sleep on the floor, the next strongest where in the middle bunk and the strongest in the top. There was no bathroom in the huts and the prisoners could only use the camp bathroom for less than a minute morning and night. Any prisoner unable to work was taken to the camp hospital. If they did not recover within a week they were sent to the gas chambers.
At the end of the track is the remains of the gas chambers. The SS blew them up a few days before the Red Army arrived but the buildings are still visible. The prisoners would enter down the stairs going below ground from one end, be told to change and move into a side chamber. They were then gassed. After 30 mins they would be removed from the chamber and placed on an elevator to be taken to the furnace. As we walked around there were bits of white visible in the ground - these are fragments of bone.
The tour ended at the memorial to all Victims of Facism. The memorial asks that we never forget so we can never again let this happen.
We returned to Krakow for dinner. Tomorrow we are off to Vienna by train, departing at 7am.
posted by Michael at
5:56 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home