So my friend dropped me off at the train station in a small city called Legnica. From there, I made my way to Wrocław, Katowice, and finally Bielsko Biała.
At Katowice, I waited for the other girls who were coming down too. We decided to go down together, that way our friend and her family would only have to go once to the train station to pick us all up. Since I arrived about an hour or more before these girls, I decided to walk around outside.
These are some of the sights from within a block from the train station:
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| Did I mention it was raining heavily that night? |
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| Don't worry, I had an umbrella--and used it! |
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| Going towards the station, which is connected to a huge mall. |
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| Admiring the train's seat back's shelves. |
***
Thursday was divided into 2 parts:
--Morning in Oświęcim (Auschwitz)
--Afternoon in Kraków (Krakow)
This post will only be about Oświęcim.
Brace yourself . . .
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| We're going in. |
Please remember: this IS NOT a Polish concentration camp, it is a Nazi concentration camp in Poland.
There is a difference.
The Poles were victims, not the perpetrators, of these heinous crimes.
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| Double barbed-wire fences |
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| They used to have an orchestra play to welcome the prisoners, in order to keep panic at bay. |
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| Entering Block 4: Extermination Exhibition |
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| The weather seemed to amplify the eerie ambiance. |
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| Cans of Zyklon B Pesticide, used to gas the victims. |
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| Women's hair |
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| Dishes, pots, pans . . . all sorts of kitchenware |
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| Shoes from men, women, and children |
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| Suitcases with names and addresses (to better reclaim, as they were told) |
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| One of many picture halls of the victims. |
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| The infamous ID # tatoos |
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| Classification symbols |
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| They were individuals. |
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| Twin sisters |
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| Entering where the SS shot thousands (men, women, & children) |
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| Some were hung by their wrists, with their arms twisted behind their backs, here. |
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| Block 11, aka "Death Block" |
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| Our job--to watch out and not let this happen again. |
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| Where victims were hung. |
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| We can't sit on the fence. |
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| Gas chamber/Crematorium |
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| End of camp 1 |
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| It's not a large town, yet millions from all over Europe were sent here. |
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| Auschwitz-Birkenau, camp 2 |
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| We entered to see a Jewish memorial ceremony. |
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| Panorama of the camp |
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| Ruins of the camp |
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| The inside of where the prisoners slept, minus all the bunk beds. |
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| Where a full train came in, and an empty one left. |
Even though I've studied this time period and everything that happened in this place, there's just something about being here.
Just to think, normal people you would see on the street--or even grew up with--were the ones who came up with this idea and managed this kind of place. We like to think they were monsters, but they were normal, average people. Just goes to show the potential we humans have for evil.
Sobering, isn't it?
