auschwitz

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today we visited the concentration camp. i don't know how to start to describe how i felt. when i entered the gate i thought about the millions of peopel who had walked the same path as i, thinking that they were brought here to be workers, and most not having any idea what there actual fate was. the place smells different, i imagine the souls who died there have permanantly odered the ground, trees, and buildings. we walked in and out of the barracks with our tourguide, and i was silent the whole time. most people were, they just didn't know what to say if they could even find their words.

we walked into a room, and my heart suddenly felt like it had gotten smaller. the people who survived the war, and the peopel who wanted that place to never be forgotten had made a museum in the barracks of the original buildings. along a wall behind glass was 2 tons of human hair. all womens, cut off before they were sent to death. 2 tons. more than i have seen in my whole life, matted, dirty, and the proof of what these people undured. in another room, childrens clothes, showing the ages of some of the youngest to be sent to the gas chamber. mothers carried their children into the rooms where they would die, and had to watch their own children suffer, for as many as 30 minutes.

i didn't cry, although i think it was more because i knew as soon as i started i wouldn't know how to stop, but the closest i came was the hall of shoes. hundreds and thousands of shoes, from the people imprisoned there. every size and shape imaginable from the smallest childrens shoes, to wooden clogs, to mens boots. they have an aura about them, more than any holy relic i have seen in a church on this trip.

half of the things that i saw i cannot even begin to describe, or imagine, such as the fact that when they executed families, they started with the youngest first. generally the father would have to watch each child and then his wife shot in the back of the head before he was able to die.

i only took two pictures, i couldn't imagine having a whole slew of photos, like a family trip to the beach, but i think that it's not a place that can be explained by a picture, since i have seen many photos of that place, and nothing prepared me for what i saw with my eyes.

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