We visited Auschwitz on November 12th, which coincided with Poland's Independence Day and also, the Remembrance Day events marking the 100 years since the end of World War 1. There are no words to describe our feelings about what we saw, the brutal atrocities that took place here and the total despair that hung over the place. Many of us took photographs and felt guilty in doing so, but there was a very simple and poignant quote from George Santayana, a Spanish-American Philosopher and humanist that will stay with us for ever: - "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
I am sure the pictures only partially illustrate the conditions that existed at Auschwitz, which was the largest Nazi German Concentration and Death camp and these horrific numbers speak volumes:- In the years 1940-1945, The Nazis deported at least 1,300,000 people here, 1,000,000 Jews, 140,000-150,000 Poles, 23,000 Roma (Gypsies), 15,000 Soviet prisoners of War and 25,000 prisoners from other Ethnic Groups. 1,100,000 of these people died in in Auschwitz, approximately 90% of the victims were Jews, the SS murdered most of them in the Gas Chambers. The Governor General in Nazi Occupied Poland, Hans Frank, said in 1944 "Jews are a race that must be totally exterminated"
When we saw the thousands of personal items from the victims, stacked up in piles, that scale of the atrocities became very real. Shoes, spectacles, suit cases, hair that had been cut from the victims, there was hardly a dry eye to be seen by the many visitors and pilgrims as we walked slowly around the rooms. The conditions suffered by these poor people is shown by the extremely basic washing area, toilets and beds, which were inhumane to say the least and hugely inadequate given the number of men, women and children that were held in these camps.
Following our sombre day at Auschwitz, we decided to watch the famous Steven Spielberg film 'Schindler's List' and if you haven't seen it, we both felt that the film depicted events in Krakow and specifically at Auschwitz very accurately, based on what we had seen and heard. It was very timely and emotional for us to watch this film and in some ways made the day even more real and nightmarish.
