Auschwitz and Birkenau Concentration Camps

"For ever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to the humanity where the nazis murdered about one and a half million men, women, and children, mainly Jews from various countries of Europe."

This inscription was placed in multiple different languages as a monument to Never Forget.  The monument is located in the massive camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.

For most people that know me, they know that I have wanted to visit these concentration camps my whole life. The Holocaust is something that is very important to me and my family's history. Being Jewish is something that I am very proud of, and visiting this camp only highlighted this fact about me.  

It was a cold day in Krakow, Poland as we set out to our private tour van. On the way to the camps we watched a documentary about the Holocaust and it was very informative.  When we arrived we met our tour guide Helenia, a Polish woman that spoke English pretty well.  She is very knowledgeable.  We entered Auschwitz first, as Auschwitz-Birkenau was a five minute drive from this camp.  It was museum-like, with tickets and exhibitions. There was a lot of people.

Arbeit Macht Frei is written on the gate in which you enter the camp.  It means "Work will set you Free" which is very powerful.  We learned that the camp was built in 1940 to hold Polish political prisoners originally, but then used for a camp during WWII by the Nazis in 1942.

 These are the brick barracks inside the gates where the Jews would stay.  It was very quiet and serene almost.  Inside these buildings now, are exhibitions with different parts of the Holocaust.  For example, in one of the barracks are all the shoes and hair taken from the Jews when they entered Auschwitz.  This was a very powerful and overwhelming image. They were striped of all their dignity before coming into the camp.  This was very hard for me to comprehend.  The fact that we had the freedom to come and go as we pleased to these camps and my ancestors did not have a choice.  My question is always WHY. I will never get an answer because there is no answer for insanity.

                                         Not Everyone wore glasses...

                                          Talit taken from the Jews

                                        People's suitcases

 Gas pellets that were dropped into the gas chambers and gave off gas that would usually take 15 minutes to kill.

 Nazi meeting room

 Usually fit two to a bed, I could barely fit in one, let alone have another person next to me!

                               This photo was taken of the HALT sign on the edge of the camp.

 

 The photos speak for themselves.  Visiting was very hard but very important for my family and ancestors.  I loved Krakow, Poland and the surrounding areas.  But this was a sad part of the trip.  

Never Forget.