Trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp

On Saturday, April 9^th our group visited Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland that was built by Nazi Germany during World War II. Auschwitz was a network of concentration camps and consisted of Auschwitz I, which was the first and oldest camp, and the Birkenau, which was the largest camp in Auschwitz network and where majority of prisoners were murdered. We all know what happened during holocaust; most of us read books/articles, watched movies/documentary films dedicated to this topic. However, getting inside the Auschwitz camp and seeing everything with your own eyes is a completely different experience. It was emotionally challenging to go through it, I would even say that it was the most difficult trip I have ever had in my life.

Auschwitz I

When we arrived to Auschwitz the weather was very gloomy. In fact, I have heard that it is never sunny in the Auschwitz area and almost always it is raining over there. It seems like the nature itself cries for all the victims of the holocaust time that were tortured and killed in this camp. Our guide started the excursion from statistics: in the years 1940-1945, the Nazi deported at least 1,300,000 people to Auschwitz and 1,100,000 of this people died in this camp. Ninety percent of the victims were Jews. I know it is difficult to imagine such a great amount of people being murdered in one death camp and statistics do not provide you with the full picture.

Suitcases left after murdered Jews

At the Auschwitz I, they have multiple rooms full of belongings that were left after the victims. There was a room full of shoes, suitcases, plates, glasses, and hair brushes. Can you imagine a room with the pile of shoes so high it hits the ceiling, just hundred thousands of women’s, men’s and even kid’s shoes? Now you have to imagine that all the people that these shoes belonged to were brutally killed. This is not just statistics from the text book, this is real! The image is so powerful you can almost see the victims of the holocaust standing in front of you. It gets even more emotionally challenging to handle, when they take you to the room full of women’s hair. After the women were killed in the gas chambers, Nazi soldiers would cut off their hair in order to sell it later for the production of ropes. My hands started to shake when I saw all these hair left from the murdered women. It is almost impossible to hold tears.

Entrance to the Birkenau

Gas chamber

After Auschwitz I, we went to Auschwitz II also known as Birkenau. Jews were delivered to this camp by train. Children, old and sick people were murdered at the gas chambers immediately upon arrival without registration. They showed us some pictures of undressed women on their way to the gas chamber. Nazi soldiers would tell them that they are going to take a shower, so those women did not even know that they were actually on their way to death. It was a very powerful image. Those people who were not killed right away, mostly men and strong women, were forced to work. The conditions of their life at the concentration camp was a horrid nightmare. Some prisoners would just fall on the ground during the work and wait for the guard to shoot them as immediate death was more preferred than such a life.

Crematorium

This trip was definitely a life changing experience. You leave Auschwitz camp as a different person. It opens up your eyes and shows the ugly and horrifying side of the humanity. It is still hard to believe that this all actually happened, but it did! And we all must remember it and pass the memories from generation to generation so it would never happen again.