Before leaving Poland, we also visited the Auschwitz Concentration camp, which was a network of concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Nazi Germany during the WWII. This place is very significant as it is an important event which took place in the history of mankind.
The solemn feeling looms in the air.
A reminder...
Jews were the main targets...
Jewish people on their way to the camps not knowing that they were walking into "DEATH".
Memorial of all the people who were gassed. Real ashes found in the monument.
Pictures from the past... of people being extradited to the camps..
Upon arrival at Auschwitz, the seperation process began. Seperating those who will fit and able to work apart from those who were old and weak. The later were then sent to the gas chambers.
This was just a small sample of the amount of cyclone B used in the gas chambers.
The dark side of man.
The museum also showcased the belongings left behind by the people who lived in the concentration camps after liberation.
Praying shawls of the Jewish not burnt by fire.
The old and handicap were made to strip off all their clothes and prosthetic limbs and aids before they were gassed to death.
More evidence of the number of people gassed ...
More evidence of the amount of people killed.
even babies and children were not spared of being thrown into the gas chambers.
There was also a room which showcased heaps of hair that were cut from the Jewish ladies before they were brought to the gas chambers. These hair were being sold to German factories to be made into brooms and various textures. Out of respect for the dead, we were not allowed to take pictures of the hair. That was indeed a revolting sight. The heaps of hair stretching about 3-4 metres width and about close to 2 metres high was quite a revolting sight.
Seems decent but can you imagine 700-1000 people sharing a few WCs?!
And washbasins..
This is actually how the barrack looked like in the past...
and this was where they slept. 4-5 people on each level and since they were not allowed to use the toilets at night, many urinated and defecated where they slept and the people on the lower level would get the urine on their bodies. That was how the conditions were.
The watch tower...
The prison cells...
The wall where many were being executed at.
This premise where we were at was the first concentration camp.
Many were hung, tortured and executed here.
Entering the gas chambers where the Holocaust took place.
The actual gas chamber.
The feeling just being in this room was undescriblable. Time might have past but the memory and deed of what took place still lives. May we take a moment to pray for the innocent people who lost their lives.
Next to the gas chamber was the incinerator where the dead bodies were dragged to to be cremated.
Cremation went on 24/7 because there were just too many bodies to be cremated.
None of the victims knew what they were in for. They were instructed to strip naked to a disinfectant shower in the room (gas chamber) but once the doors closed, gas was released from the top of building down into the room. Each session took half an hour before the room was opened and the bodies dragged to the next room to be cremated. I could imagine the events that took place just being in the building. It might have happened decades ago, but it still felt so real.
We went on to visit the second and larger concentration camp just fifteen minutes drive away from the first.
The rail to the door of Death.
This second one was built to house more prisoners.
After visiting the camps, I honestly had no appetite for lunch that day. Just touring the camps and looking at the pictures and the belongings of people made everything so real- the cruelty of human beings towards other human beings because of issues of race. Hitler had issues with Jewish people during his younger days and he envied how rich and successful most Jewish people were and that started the whole propaganda of eradicating the entire Jewish race.
If you are interested to learn more about the history leading up to the Holocaust, you can catch the 2 films below which the tour leader has kindly aired during our coach rides.
Both were really interesting to watch, and easier to digest than most history books!
It really makes me realize the importance of maintaining peace and harmony in the world today. Any type of war is always unnecessary and at the end, a lose-lose situation as learnt from the previous WWs.
