Auschwitz- Birkenau and Schindler's Factory

Thursday, August 15: Going into my EuroTrip this summer, I felt that I had to visit Auschwitz - Birkenau and I had dreaded going to it more than other musuem or historical site.  Simultaneously, I really wanted to go to learn and see for myself the sites and infrastructure of some of the worst crimes this world has ever seen/ witnessed.   For me, visiting Auschwitz was personal as my grandfather's cousins, who were at my Bar Mitzvah, had survived Auschwitz.  Being a Holocaust teacher and having studied the Holocaust, Auschwitz - Birkenau is THE PLACE that most symbolizes the attempt to have committed full scale genocide against Jews, Sinti-Roma, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses. 

Like the two other concentration camps I had visited, Auschwitz - Birkenau was eerily established in a beautiful town that prior to World War II boasted a population that was nearly 50 % Jewish. Auschwitz I used to be, prior to World War II, the site of a Polish army garrison, meaning the infrastructure was already in place to build a prison, death camp, and industrial factory. It ultimately became the factory of death during the Holocaust.

At this point, I could elaborate on how disgusted, saddened, and angry I felt when I visited and continued to learn about the atrocities that took place there, but at this point, I am just going to let the pictures speak for themselves. Some of the photos show thr gas chambers at Auschwitz I (they were destroyed at Birkenau) and others show human remains (including hair) that was ultimately made into rugs and even socks for Germans fighting in the harsh winter conditions. Yes, I almost cried and I swore under my breath about how horrible things were there and I listened to stories of torture, starvation, abuse, and sacrifice by prisoners for other prisoners.  I have a wide range of emotions I am still dealing with as well.  HOWEVER, I never had to experience any of the gross human rights violations that took place. Also, I had the opportunity to do something no prisoner who went through the gates of Auschwitz or Birkenau could do, walk freely in and out on my own voilition. It just puts things in perspective.

Now, there were heroes during the Holocaust and yesterday, when I first arrived in Krakow, I paid homage to Oskar Schindler by visiting his first factory he created (the other, more familiar one that he had set up at the end of the war was in Brunnlitz, in the Czech Republic)..The highlight was seeing the video story of a Schindler survivor who I bring in to speak to my students, Ms. RENA FINDER :)