2014 Poland, Austria, Germany Tour: September 2014

Today is going to be a tough day, because we decided to go to see the concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau, also referred to as Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II. We felt that as hard as it would be to see these camps, we just had to do it.

Here's Agata, our lovely bus tour guide, as the ride takes about an hour. Along the way she showed us a film about the liberation of the camps to give us a framework for what we were going to see when we actually got there. I must say, you start getting queazy...

When we arrive we are introduced to Pavel who will take us through both camps. He explained that every detail of the camps, their design, construction, and the procedures within, were all architected with extreme attention to detail, to account for every situation within the camps. A very graphic example was when they built the first gas chamber, they had a test run. What they discovered was that when the bodies fell against the door of the chamber which had been constructed to open inward, they were not able to open it without great difficulty. So they took the door off and redesigned it so that it would open outward.

Political prisoners were rounded up and transported from all over German-occupied Europe. They came by rail, arriving in daily convoys from as far away as Paris, Oslo, Russia, and Rhodes.

Pavel explained that Auschwitz I was built in 1940, intended to accommodate 10,000 undesirables, but as the numbers grew so rapidly, a second camp, Birkenau, aka Auschwitz II, was built a few kilometers away. By this time the General Government, the Nazi name for the occupied Polish government, had formulated the "Final Solution"' code name for the systematic extermination of Jews and other undesirables. Birkenau was built as a concentration and extermination camp to handle the overflow from Auschwitz I. In all, about 1.6 million people, mostly Jews, were murdered in Auschwitz mostly in gas chambers, and their remains burned in crematoria. There was one gas chamber in Auschwitz, four in Birkenau along with four crematoria.

The infamous greeting upon arrival in Auschwitz: "Arbeit Macht Frei"... "Work Makes You Free" was an attempt to calm the fears of the Jews and others so that they wouldn't realize they were about to be executed. Everything was couched with a double message, thereby confusing people into believing that such bad things were happening. Psychology was used to keep people calm so they could be 'handled' more easily.

The first transport of 728 Polish political prisoners, mostly Jews, arrived in Auschwitz from Tarnow, about an hour East of Krakow (see more on Tarnow later in the Blog...we have a direct connection).

Everything was meticulously documented.

Here are the numbers in Auschwitz alone...

Each prisoner was photographed as they entered the camp. You can see that the women all had hair until a certain point in time when their hair started to be shaved (note Pavel's finger at that change). The question is, what happened at that juncture in the process? We will never know.

Everyone was told to bring one suitcase with their most precious belongings because they may not be coming back home. This was to appease the victims a little, but more importantly so that the Germans would get to keep all these valuables in the end and use them however they wished. Petr Eisle was just a young boy at the time.

Items taken just before prisoners would be gassed...

Living conditions were horrendous...

Straw floor for new inmates to sleep on.

No privacy.

Better sleeping arrangement where prisoners got their own beds.

One of the many watch towers.

The killing wall where prisoners were shot in the back of the head.

The gallows in the background where Rudolf Hess was hanged for War Crimes on April 16, 1947.

Cyklon B pesticide poison used in the gas chambers. It interferes with cellular respiration, thereby cutting off oxygen in the blood.

Canisters of the gas used for the mass killings.

The gas chamber at Auschwitz I, the only one left standing. All 4 other gas chambers in Birkenau were destroyed during liberation of the prisoners.

Arriving at Birkenau (Auschwitz II) a few kilometers away. It was a very long eerie walk from the parking lot to the entrance of the camp.

This is the iconic photo of the entrance inside the walls of Birkenau, where the prisoners arrived by train transports. Your knees really wobble here.

Pavel is standing near the area known as The Selection Area. As people descended the trains inside the camps they were immediately met by German medical staff who arbitrarily separated men from women and children, young from old, diseased and disabled. Those sent to the right were considered unacceptable for work and immediately marched directly to the gas chambers down the road. They were told they were going to the showers but, once inside, Cyklon B gas was spewed from the "shower heads". Those who remained were sent to the left, the prison camps for slave labor, and had no idea what happened to their loved ones who went to the right. Every detail, both physical and psychological, was carefully figured out and planned by the Nazis, who used all their combined knowledge and expertise in such evil and sinister ways. Nothing good camp out of this dark period, except 'Never Again!'

This old man with the white hair in the center is being examined and interrogated, and found to be too old and unfit for labor, so the SS general is pointing to the right, where he will go directly to his death.

Here are sleeping quarters, the top of three levels.

The bottom level was directly on the ground, sometimes turned to mud. As a prisoner lasted in the labor camp longer without dying, he or she was moved up to the middle level, and eventually to the top level where they could at least sit up. There were maybe 30 people crammed into each 'stall' so people were literally on top of one another.

This was the 'undressing room' area where prisoners were told to undress before getting a 'shower.' Sometimes they were even given soap and a towel, again a psychological ploy to keep these masses of humanity somewhat calm so they wouldn't react badly and cause an uprising...again part of the very 'final solution.'

And this was one of the 4 gas chambers at Birkenau into which masses were sent to their final destination, unsuspecting as they were.

There are commemorative plaques to each group of prisoners exterminated here. This one is to the Sephardic people of Spain who spoke Ladino, who were almost totally wiped out, causing this to become a lost language, another cruel and evil outcome.

When we took that hour-long bus ride back to Krakow, it was very quiet on the bus...we were all spent in every way.

We were tired and hungry, and just wanted to get a simple Polish meal close to the hotel that we could walk to. The Concierge made a reservation for us at Wesele, right on the main Market Square nearby.

It was just perfect, some perogis and venison goulash. We were totally satisfied, and in a better mood.

Then when we went outside, it was a beautiful night and we walked all around the Market Square. Magnifico is an understatement! Jolanta told us that this is the largest, and therefore most breath-taking square in all of Europe, day and night, with palaces and churches and cafes and restaurants as far as the eye can see, and it is the second largest square in the world after the one in Brazilia, Brazil. Rick Steves, the travel guy, did a whole exposé on Krakow and he said the same thing about this Market Square. Again, this is just another reason why we say KRAKOW IS A HIDDEN GEM!!

Follow around the Market Square with us...