Advertisement
Published: July 12th 2008
Disclaimer; In order to avoid upset or inspire anger, I would like to point out my sincere sympathy and respect for those who died at Auschwitz as well as the families of those killed there and my views in no way seek to appease or dismiss the terrible events that took place there.
We set aside Thurs morning to visit Auschwitz. We originally intended to take the tour but on discovering the package was 90 zlotys (about 30 pounds sterling) we decided to forgo it and rely upon our knowledge accumulated from GCSEs, books and the media and do it ourselves. We were told that it would be closer to get via the bus station and so we headed there, and then set off from stop D9, crammed into a minibus with about 20 other people, standing for part of the way.
The bus dropped us off outside a gate and we headed inside. From afar its difficult to describe the appearance. One doesnt see the buildings but instead its an expanse of green space with tree lined avenues and paths and buildings in the distance, lending it an appearance of an American college dormitory. As one nears, there are
Arbeit Machjt Frei
Work is Liberating...fast food joints and shops selling supplies as well as a coach park, which held coaches from the Netherlands, the Czech Republic as well as others. I understand the need for all of this but it took something away from the horror of Auschwitz. I felt this again underneath the "Arbeit Macht Frei" slogan-that the site of so much human suffering is also a picture opportunity which in turn devalues the enormity of what took place here. However the argument can be countered by the fact that the world does need to view it with its own eyes to understand the tragedy and to take lessons from it even thought this may involve large groups of people, your narrator included, tramping through a site where millions of people were murdered.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.082s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 12; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0543s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
