Auschwitz, Poland

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After working out how to leave Zagan, and managing it successfully with a picturesque train ride across the beautiful lush green Polish countryside, we arrived in lovely Krakow, where we have stayed for the last few nights. It has been quite a full few days, and a confronting chaser to our intense experience at Zagan.

Initially we had not planned to visit Auschwitz because we didn’t really feel as though we needed to go. We both kind of felt that going might be an unnecessary horror, like it would be an experience that would just 'preach to the converted'... you know, we felt as though we were already aware of the dangers of xenophobia through our studies, our discussions, our social networks etc… So we thought that going there would just sadden us further about something we have already processed a million times, and make us face a level of confrontation that possibly wouldn’t change or enhance our perspective on the dangers, consequences and atrocities of war. On the other hand, having been to Buchenwald (a concentration camp in Germany) several years earlier, I also knew that the impact I had felt at my visit went far beyond intellectual comprehension and reasoning, so I also believed that it could be a deeply moving and therefore worthwhile experience that could challenge our complacency. This was something that I think can’t be fully conveyed and must be experienced first hand, and we decided to revise our decision.

After visiting Auschwitz and Birkenau and being awed, shocked and truly overwhelmed by the horror of the violence and cruelty perpetrated by one group of human beings on another, we were satisfied with our decision and felt as though the trip was an important one for us to make.

Walking through the camps I felt a deep, utter sadness and yet at the same time felt somewhat removed from what I was seeing, as though it was beyond my comprehension and ability to process… almost disbelief simultaneously accompanied by a horrendous sense of understanding. Conflicting thoughts and feelings, I know, but I think it was such a profound experience I am still struggling to process what I have seen.

It was relentless. Each step of the tour revealed yet more horrors and atrocities. Every piece of information we either read or were told, every detail of evidence we saw, every new building we entered or remains we saw, and always, always the ubiquitous barbed wire fences that enclosed us, spoke to us of the evil that was done here. By the end of the tour our hearts and heads were too full to stay any longer so with world-wearied spirits we headed back to Krakow.

While in Krakow we also made the trip to nearby Wieliczka where there is a huge salt mine. Although the salt statues and frescoes carved by the salt miners over time were impressive, as was the mine itself, complete with several underground cathedrals and conference rooms, etc… they unfortunately didn’t hold our interest for the entire two hours of the obligatory tour… not worth the money we paid!

Krakow itself is quite lovely, though after the trips I have described above we didn’t have enough time to really explore it well. Tomorrow we leave for the High Tatras in Slovakia… we can’t wait to get up into the mountains!

For more pics, please see our flickr site.

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Photos

Auschwitz Gate
"Arbeit macht frei" translates to "Work makes you free"... a disturbing and sickening irony displayed over the main gate at Auschwitz.

Birkenau
Taken from the end of the train line, where the Nazis' largest gas chambers and crematoriums were, looking back to the main entrance of Birkenau, known as Auschwitz II.

Electric barbed wire fences
The camps were surrounded and divided by rows and rows of electrified barbed wire...