Oswiecim

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Oswiecim and Brzezinka are the Polish names of the villages. When the Germans took over in WWII they told the locals to evacuate and from then on the villages became more famously know by their German names: Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Site of the ghastliest of crimes, about 1,500,000 people (no one knows the exact number) were mudered here. It is imposible to describe what it's like to visit this place. I have no words to describe what it must have been like for the prisoners so I will borrow some:

"Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed.
Never shall I forget that smoke.
Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smore under a silent sky.
Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever.
Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live.
Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes.
Never shall I forget those things, even when condemned to live as long as God Himself.
Never."

-from Night by Elie Weisel-

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