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| Birkenau |
This past weekend I had the
opportunity to go to Poland and visit the concentration camps, Auschwitz and
Birkenau. A couple days leading up to the trip my feelings were a bit jumbled.
I then realized I was excited to go so I could learn more and see for myself some of the thing
we were always taught about in school. I found myself feeling guilty for being
excited to see something that has caused so much harm to a human race. No
explanation will ever come close to what actually happened there, as well as the pain
and suffering that came within the boundaries of the concentration camps.
On the bus ride to Auschwitz I tried to
gather my thoughts so that I would not go into complete shock from heartbreak. At
first, I was not sure how I was going to handle physically standing in
the largest concentration camp that murdered and tortured 1.1 million innocent
human beings. As we arrived, the energy and moods instantly changed as we became
aware that we were actually going to see the realness of the Holocaust.
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| A Block where prisoners lived |
We began our three-hour long tour where
we visited different building blocks or barracks where the prisoners lived. One
block typically held 700-1,000 people and this blew my mind because the whole
time I was comparing it to my home back in America. These blocks that held this
extreme amount of people in a single building at once is comparable to being just a
little larger than my home that held a total of ten people. Coming from a big family I
thought I had known the full extent of living in a crowded and chaotic environment
but the reality of that made me realize how blessed I actually am.
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| A freight car that deported and unloaded men, women, and children |
Unfortunately, the reality of what
actually took place inside those concentration camps grew more haunting as the
tour went on. When people would arrive to the camp they would be unloaded from
the freight cars and were either chosen to be registered and taken one way, or
they were told to go in the opposite direction which unknowingly lead them to
their execution. Although some were lucky enough to be selected to continue
living upon arrival, the harshness of the concentration camp made some consider
otherwise. They were required to work ten to eleven hours per day while only
consuming 500-600 calories each day. Also, they were only allowed to relieve
themselves twice a day. Exhaustion was so extreme that when one would go to use
the bathroom they would fall and drown in their own excrement’s. With the conditions
being like this it was almost impossible for a human to live longer than four
to five months. Our tour guide explained to us that the fate of these prisoners
completely depended on the guard’s moods and how they were feeling that day. We
were also told that the people were stripped naked before they were executed
because when someone is naked they are vulnerable and ashamed which made it
easier for the guards to control the prisoner.
We were able to enter one of the gas
chambers which was absolutely frightening. The images of claw marks against
the walls will linger in the back of my mind forever. The last thing I am going
to mention is the disturbing room that was full of all the human hair that was
shaved off before the executions. I had to remind myself to breathe or else I
was going to completely lose it and break down. I saw multiple
braids that were just chopped straight off but still in a perfect braid. It was then that showed me that
the long blonde braid could have belonged to a slender, freckled, rosy cheeked face. That was
when I had to leave the room because the loss of someone I didn’t even know and
couldn’t even put a face to was too unbearable. In this room we were not allowed to
take any pictures, but it would have been unnecessary because it will be
forever burned in my memory. There are no words that can describe the heart
ache that I am feeling after this very eye-opening field trip. To walk on the
grounds where millions of human’s souls remain knowing there is nothing you can
do to change history or make the pain hurt a little less.
-- “You had to be of use to survive.”
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