4 October: Auschwitz

This was an day that I described to somebody afterwards as "Glad I went but in no way happy".

Sunday morning was bright but windy with some clouds around to keep the temperature cool. We had pre-booked a minibus to make the tour and it arrived at the hotel on time and had a very capable, english-speaking driver. I can recommend the operator we used as very efficient(http://www.krakowshuttle.com/index.html). Our driver explained how the day would be organised as we set off for the 40 minutes or so drive out of Krakow and through the countryside to the Auschwitz site.

We arrived at the car park for the Auschwitz site to find it was pretty crowded and hordes of people milling around. Anyway our man was pretty efficient and explained he would buy the tickets and make sure we had a good english speaking guide, a mate of his called Michael, all part of the service.

While we waited for him to get organised I noted that this was another World Heritage site.

The tour starts in a cinema witha showing of an old Soviet propoganda film about what the Russians found on arrival and how they helped the surviving inmates. All very heavy soviet music and language that is reminiscent of today's spin doctors but no less effective for all that. The film could have been full of true horrors but I have to say it was in no way harrowing but still a very thought provoking 20 minutes or so . Outside the cinema we met up with the driver and were introduced to the guide, Michael, who gave us our headsets. All the groups have a guide and headsets with a separate channel so you only hear your own guide. This keeps the level of noise and chatter to a minimum which adds to the sombre and respectful atmosphere in the site despite the many hundreds of people milling around.

Outside we also caught our first sight of the camp buildings and the double barbed wire fence.

The next sight was the front gate of the Auschwitz concentration camp with the infamous motto "Arbeit macht Frei". A bizzare sensation as one had seen this image so many times before on TV and at the cinema and there it was exactly as I expected. sadly my picture does not show the lettering off to best effect.

From th gate we walked through the camp hearing Michael's very good description of the history of the camp and the stories of some of the inmates. The history is interesting as many of the "facts" that one thinks are known before the visit turn out to be less than accurate. The camp was initially set up in the mid 30s nd was for political prisoners initially, the deliberate exterminaton of various groups began later. The camp was always a brutal place however.

We visited many of the buildings but there is no photography permitted inside any of them to preserve the dignity of the memory of those who suffered and died here. The displays include many pictures taken by the jailers at the tme as well as some aerial photographs taken by the allied airforces and a few images taken by inmates at incredible personal risk. Some displays also show the collections of shoes, spectacles, suitcases and other personal effects collected from inmates; and of course there was the room-sized display case full of human hair, taken from the prisoners, truly ghastly to contemplate.

Outside we came up close to the original fence; a double fence with electrified barbed wire, lights and watch tower and an original  warning sign.

At the end of the walk we ended up in the gas chamber and crematorium that had been added to the camp once the extermination campaign had been implemented. Again no interior pictures  but a truly moving place to visit, and everyone coming out was very quiet.

From here we went back to the bus, handing in the headphones on the way, and stopping for a quick drink of water (provided by the driver) and a chocoltae bar (provided by Tim) before the short drive to Birkenau. This was the  camp built specifically for the extermination campaign although  a substantial slave labour force was based there too. Our guide Michael re-apeared to show us around this place. By now the wind was stronger and cooler and the clouds were thicker adding to the sensation of  sadness and desolation that pervaded the site. A short walk through the woods at thr back of the site as the guide explained we would start at the back and walk through to the front thus avoiding many of the crowds for much of our visit.

The visit began at the great international memorial that sits at the far end of the site. 

The memorial is  an incredibly complex piece but the 21 plaques across the base all bear the same message which so poignantly recalls the horror of the history of the site

Standing at the memorial one is between the ruins of two of the four large crematoria  that were used  in the extermination campaign. The ruins have been left as they were after the facilities were destroyed by the Germans before the Russians arrived. Much of each complex was underground  and so thus picture is looking along he line of the entrance to the "changing rooms"  which led in turn to the "showers" (gas chambers) and the furnaces beyond at ground level.

Walking past the ruins and the ponds used for disposal of the ashes  we came to a fence  and noted that here there was only a single barrier around the site, but still electrified. Through the fence we could see the  huts which were used to hold  those people who were destined to be executed in the chambers  almost immediately.

We walked through the wire and  went inside one of the huts  to see how awful it must have been to be there waiting for the inevitable. Triple layer shelves with on;ly straw as bedding and 8 or 9 people on each set of boards 2m X 3 m  approximately, to think that people spent their last days like that was very depressing.

From the huts we wlalked to the railway lines that run up the centre of the site, effectively dividing the extermination camp from the labour camp. This was another emotive image from so many films and photographs but again to be there and see the reality was really a powerful sensation.

We went up into the man watch tower over the front agte to get an overall view of the site. The large number of chimney stacks left as reminders of the wooden huts that had also been on the site are an eerie reminder of the past; this area was within the former labour camp.

There was time for a final look over the site from the tower  to see the chimneys, the remaining huts, the fences and watchtowers and some of the crowds.

 And then we were off back to Krakow.

As we walked through the main square looking for somewhere to have a cup of tea we saw a bride getting ready for her wedding

The others arrived as  expected later that afternoon and  then there was just time to fit in a dinner for the 7 of us at a restaurant next door to Chico and Iwona's flat before I was off to the  station and the night train back to Vienna after a weekend that had been  extremely interesting but also very sombering at times.

The night train to Vienna