Out of the four days in Krakow, one I dedicated to visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau state museum in Oświęcim. It was not a fun trip.
The weather was beaten and grey the whole day. Wires all shrouded in fog and whiteness. The weather helped to set the right mood and atmosphere. It felt like it was 1941 and I was witnessing the torments of various people murdered in Auschwitz, one of the biggest Nazi concentration camps for Poles and prisoners from other countries.
Above the main gate at Auschwitz - through which the prisoners passed each day on their way to work (returning 12 hours or more later) - there is a cynical inscription: “arbeit macht frei” (work brings freedom).
The area is huge and dense with history. Different blocks and rooms depict how the jews were exterminated. Some perished from hunger, executions, gas chambers, hard labour, punishments, or as a result of the appalling sanitary conditions. One of the photos, taken immediately after liberation, show some of the women prisoners who weighed only 23-30 kg (50-65 lbs). Another photo depicts massive pile of hair, approx. 7,000 kg (7 tons) of human hair, probably that of women, as the study by the Institute of Forensic Medicine affirms. Various exhibition halls contain objects found after liberation, the personal belongings of the deportees that survived the obliteration by SS men. These include: bowls, artificial limbs, spectacles, Jewish prayer shawls, toothbrushes, shoes, suitcases, etc...
Over 1.1 million men, women and children lost their lives here.
Out of the four days in Krakow, onei dedicated to visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau state museum in Oświęcim. It was not a fun trip.
