To see the barbed wire and know it was electrified is just a small hint of what it was to be a prisoner for crimes that were only found in people by the Nazis. Kind of sad that it was barbed wire that kept the prisoners from escaping out and yet it was barbed wire that surrounded the hearts of the Nazis.
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| Cyclone 8...the gas solution or simply death in a can. The pellets would be like stones until they hit a certain temp and then they would change their state to a gas and the victims would literally suffocate internally. No words to explain this method of madness. |
ARBEIT MACHT FREI-Work Makes you Free
What a lie that would greet everyone who entered these gates.
The names of some of the many prisoners whose belongings would identify them...only to be thrown aside after they had been looted.
Stand inside the gas chamber and look up and see a bright light. Light is always a symbol of freedom and goodness and yet imagine the terror as gas cannisters hurled to the ground to hit the floor and transform into poisonous gas. I can't even imagine.
What struck me as unique is that every now and then one shoe would stand out from the rest of the over 80,000 pairs of shoes disposed....shoes that were probably only worn for one day or so and not tarnished as the wearer thought they were being transferred to a bit better of a place and had paid for that opportunity only to be exterminated within a day or so upon arrival.
A crematorium....one of many. Enough said.
One of the bunk houses among the many that were here. 3 to each level and the ones on the bottom were not so lucky with the rats and feces and urine that would come from above them. This is life as they knew it.
Many pics have been taken of this railcar which sits in Birkenau and is like the ones used to cattle the Jews and other prisoners to Birkenau.
A place where washing the face was done but in the crudest form ever and in a living quarter that was exactly modeled after a horse stable.
This is the entrance where the trains rolled into Birkenau. Once those gates closed behind you death was awaiting you in the not so distant future for many and you even paid for the ticket to come here!
I love old doors...just sayin and after the day it was nice to get out with Kevin and go for a bite and discuss the day and what it meant.
Fresh Halibut with spinach, pine nuts and phyllo pastry...a wonderful last dinner in Krakow.
A corner at night with just the right ingredients for a nice shot.
Just the right light on a nice night walk back to the hotel.
You may notice the transition from the sober to the joyous in the photos. Can I be that quick to change and just get on with life? By no means. In the same way one needs to laugh after a horror movie or dance when they are stressed (ok...maybe thats me), the same is true for this transition. I spent a good many times at Auscwhitz and back at the hotel in tears as I reflected on this horrible time in history. The fact that someone's heart can become so cold and heartless to see people as rats and needing to be exterminated in the most efficient manners sickened me. I took many more pictures obviously and the ones concerning the women and children hit me the hardest. The children under 14 would see death almost immediately as they were not work ready and the women were tortured and experimented on and then terminated. I saw one woman that was 31 and weighed 75 kg when she entered the camp and only 25 kg when liberation day came. I thought of my Becky and how that was someone's wife and mother and the pain and isolated sorrow and almost only bones woman's thoughts and those of her husband as he could do nothing. I was reminded of the utmost importance in taking care of your family and seeing life as the most precious thing to treasure and to never take it for granted.
And if you think that the attitudes of the Nazis was isolated then you need to realize how close we all are to the repetition of that same attitude. It may not be the same as this but it creeps up in intolerance and judgement and in cruelty towards anything we see different from ourselves and see no use for. It is in our culture as we now profile people and pick sides for things and forget about discussion but only look to violence or character assassination.
I cried for those who lost their lives so horribly and yet it renewed in me a sense to live life as full as I can with those whom I love. To love is far harder to do than hate and it takes work...but out of it comes freedom. I suppose then that Arbeit Macht Frei (Work makes you Free) actually might be true BUT not as the Nazis saw it.
Tomorrow we are of to Katowice, Poland and then on to Romania. Stay tuned...and in the meantime...be tolerant of one another and encourage those around you as much as possible and may your heart find freedom.
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