August 8-11
Michelle had a 4-day break so we thought long and hard about where to take a road trip. Long and hard because our days in Europe are numbered. Michelle and Craig are awaiting a new assignment the end of the month that will take them back to the USA. And that means our tenure in Freihung, Germany is also coming to a close. After all the travel research we had done, we knew that the best prices were on IcelandAir out of Brussels. And since our German train discount card expires on Sept 15, that seemed like a good day to start our last train ride. And since Amsterdam is on the way to Brussels, that seemed like a good place to spend our 36th wedding anniversary on Sept 16. And since IcelandAir also flies out of Amsterdam, for a mere $100 more, it seemed like a good idea to skip the the 3-hr train ride to Brussels and leave from Amsterdam.
So we have a date ... Sept 19 ... we leave Amsterdam at 2pm and arrive in Minneapolis at 6pm (how strange is that!).
Poland was a unanimous decision for all of us. Poland has Boleslawiec, home of hand-made polish pottery. Yes, we've been there before, but something happens when you realize that "this will be the last chance", so we jumped at the opportunity to visit the amazing stores and their amazing factory prices one more time. Poland also has Krakow, one of the oldest cities in Poland, dating from the 7th century. Krakow suffered little damage during WWII so their old town is genuinely really old. Krakow is also a one-hour drive from Auschwitz.
Call it a pilgrimage, call it a necessary human experience, but we knew that living in Europe meant that we had to go to Auschwitz and bear witness to what happened here. We have been immersed in the dark side of WWII German history over the past year -- Berlin, where the Gestapo got it's start; Nuremberg, where huge Nazi rally conventions were held every year; Flossenburg, a quaint German town turned concentration camp-turned-work camp-turned-extermination-camp. We couldn't hear the whole Nazi story without paying our respects to the innocent victims of the war at Auschwitz.
Boleslawiec
It was a 3.5 hr drive on the autobahn from Freihung to Poland, and we arrived with time to visit our favorite stores before the tourist buses arrive on Saturday. All the stores were stocked for the weekend sales, so we had lots of new beauties to admire as well as nearly empty stores to explore.
Plus, we were focused this time. We knew the specific stores that we liked, and we had a list!
Decorating the round-about. Cute, huh....
When you spot a tent sale, you have to stop. And you have to buy something.
Krakow
We left Boleslawiec at noon for a leisurely 3-hr drive to Krakow. Little did we know the madness that awaited us. 2014 Tour de Pologne . This is Poland's biggest athletic event. It's a 7-day race thru Poland that finishes in Krakow ... today... but, of course! All of the major roads through town were blocked. The GPS was little help in plotting a route thru blockades, and all the road directions were in Polish. And of course, the finish line is in the Old Town Square, which just so happens to be on the same street as our hotel!
Once we conquered parking, and found a way to cross the street, we had a great view of the racers as they zoomed into the finish, in front of the church in the square .
City Square. Every town needs one.
and sidewalk cafes, of course.
and a cool market, "The Cloth Hall" a 700 year old shopping mall.
August is holiday month in Europe. The streets were bustling into the wee hours.
Auschwitz
Auschwitz was a quiet Polish community before the German invasion. The Germans picked Auschwitz because the Polish Army barracks were located there, and they formed the nucleus of the concentration/extermination camp. After the Germans moved in, they told all the locals to leave. Then they demolished their town and used the materials to construct the concentration camp.
Established in 1940 for Polish political prisoners, Auschwitz evolved into an extermination camp for over 1.1million people, mostly Jews, from all over Europe - Soviet POWs, Czech, Yugoslavs, Frenchmen, Austrians, Germans, Polish.
Hard to read, but easy to visualize.
People were dragged from across Europe to Auschwitz.
Walls are lined with pictures of people who died here.
Most lived from 2 weeks to 6 months.
"Death Block"
Court was held on the right, then you were marched outside and shot.
Eating grass due to starvation was a violation punishable by death
The gas chamber ... aka "the showers"
Cyclone-B, a pesticide invented in the early 1920s and manufactured by German chemical conglomerates, becomes Hydrogen Cyanide, a poisonous gas, when heated to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. After testing the gas on Soviet and Polish POWs, Cyclone-B became the poison of choice for the Nazis. Solid pellets of Cyclone-B were dropped into the "showers" through pipes in the side walls, thus releasing the cyanide gas immediately. In 1945, after World War II ended, two corporate directors were tried in a British military court, convicted of mass murder, and executed for their part in producing and distributing Cyclone- B. A small measure of justice. Very small.
The ovens at Auschwitz I.
Because the ovens at Auschwitz 1 were too small for the Nazi's "Final Solution", a second facility was created as an extermination camp, Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Nazis had an agreement with the Hungarian government to transport 12,000 Jews per day to be exterminated at Birkenau. The numbers you hear during the tour just boggle the mind. 12,000 people. Per day.
Auschwitz II - Birkenau
Built to make mass extermination possible.
Tracks were extended to take victims directly to the gas chambers.
Nazi Efficiency.
80-100 people, with luggage, were crammed into train cars, much smaller than current boxcars, for 2-3 days at a time. No fresh air, no food, no bathrooms. Standing room only.
(these are real photographs taken at the time)
Sorting happened upon arrival. Working men to one side. Everyone else on the other.
80% went straight to the gas chambers.
Women and children are marched directly to the gas chamber.
A nice shower after that hellish box-car ride.
Over 100,000 prisoners filled the camp in August 1944.
Up to 1,000 prisoners were forced to live in one building.
There is no way to show the vastness of Birkenau. 425 acres. Over 300 buildings that stretched on forever. And no way to show the atrocious conditions on the inside due to the massive overcrowding. No heat. No sanitation.
Up to 8-10 people shared a bed meant for 3. That included the ground.
Toilet facilities. Access = twice a day.
No heat. No toilet paper. On a "good" day, prisoners were allowed 2 minutes. When the toilets were full, prisoners emptied them by hand.
Wash room. Showers = twice a year
Anatomy of an Extermination Sight.
(destroyed by Nazis days before Liberation)
Murdering over 8,000 men, women and children, every day, is no easy feat.
- The gas chamber is on the left. (below ground). It took 20-25 minutes to kill 1,000-2,000 victims.
- The crematorium is on the right is (above ground).
- Behind the crematorium was the undressing room. Prisoners were given a hook with a number so they could get their clothing after the showers.
- The pond in the front was used to dump ashes after the bodies were burned.
- The forests in the rear also provided cover for mass burnings.
It was a sobering, uncomfortable and unsettling 3- hour tour. It was hot. Much like the prisoners before us, we waited in line in the heat, and we walked single file through the barracks and exhibits. We walked in the heat from one camp to the other. We walked in the heat to the extermination site. We walked in the heat to the memorial.
It was an emotionally draining day, and I came away with a better sense of "how" such a thing could happen.
Start with War. That always seems to give rise to man's inhumanity to man. During times of war, human rights are easily shoved to the back burner. What started as detainment of political prisoners quickly escalated to include a long list of victims of war. Gypsies, Jews, the handicapped.
Next, add in a large dose of Isolation. Build camps where no one goes. Burn bodies in the dense forests. Separate prisoners to work in one area, to die in another area.
And then Lie. Lying was key to the removal and detainment of the Jews.. They were told to bring personal belongings because they'd be returning home. They were told they could practice their religion. They were told they could take showers.
Isolate people. Lie to them. Then bring on man's inhumanity to man.
Everyone should visit. No one should forget.
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