If there has been one recurring theme in our travels over the past year, it’s that World War II looms much larger in Europe’s consciousness than it does in America’s. We’ve seen this from the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, to Dachau outside of Munich, the destruction of Dresden, and the decimated Jewish Quarters of Prague and Krakow. There was no question when we visited Krakow that we would also have to visit Auschwitz, a place which Americans know mostly due to books like The Diary of Anne Frank or Night.
Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory, there would be no civilization, no society, no future.
Elie Wiesel
Today, if you want to visit Auschwitz, you must make an appointment for a three hour tour. When I checked online for appointments a week before our visit, there were no English-language appointments left, so I booked two non-guided visits which are only available late in the day (after 5 pm). While we knew we needed to see Auschwitz, we weren’t sure we could handle three hours of Auschwitz, so we were ok with the late time.
Auschwitz is about an hour drive from Krakow through country roads. One thing you never read about in history books is that Auschwitz consisted of two separate camps, which today are called Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II (or Auschwitz-Birkenau). We visited Birkenau first.
Birkenau was shock; when it first appeared from behind the trees my immediate reaction was “Oh my god, it is huge” (and I repeated that sentiment at least 5 more times before the reality that this was in fact the camp and not just an empty field really set in). As you drive past all you can see is a field with brick chimneys stretching out beside you. Each pair of chimneys represents a single barrack. If all of the buildings still existed, I doubt the view would be as striking as this was because you wouldn’t be able to see how far the camp stretches. Without the buildings, the views are unobstructed and there is nothing but a quiet meadow and haunting outlines of chimneys every where. By counting the chimneys, you get a sense of how many buildings were here.
Some of the barracks had been preserved. They were poorly ventilated and smelled of turpentine– and that was when they were empty. It is obvious the Nazis didn’t intend anyone to survive here for long. I don’t understand how anyone could force their fellow man to live under these conditions, let alone do all of the other horrific forms of torture that made Auschwitz notorious.
There were many uniformed members of the Israeli Defense Force in Birkenau, apparently the IDF has a program called “Witnesses in Uniform” and sends groups each year to retrace the history. Many others visited both camps draped in Israeli flags with their big blue Stars of David. I think it was fitting to wear the flag in this way– a way to proclaim “We’re still here!” after so much suffering.
One thing I didn’t know (or maybe just forgot) was that the Nazis destroyed Birkenau’s four gas chambers in an attempt to hide the fact that they had murdered more than a million people there. I had always assumed given their extensive record keeping that they felt no shame for what they had done. Though I suppose destroying the evidence doesn’t even mean they felt shame, maybe just fear that they would be held accountable for their crimes. The foundation that maintains Auschwitz had installed some steel reinforcements to the collapsed chambers to preserve them as they were found.
It’s a short drive from Birkenau to “Auschwitz I.” While Birkenau was basically what I had imagined a concentration camp to be (except that the real version was at least 10 times larger than the one in my head), Auschwitz was not. It was apparently an old Polish Army camp, so Auschwitz had a bunch of brick barracks and in another context looked like it could have been a cluster of college dormitories.
The museums at Auschwitz were very well done, but personally, I was deeply disappointed with the experience. In each barrack, there were exhibits dedicated to different aspects of life in the camp and the Nazis’ crimes. The most disturbing exhibit for me was an entire room full of human hair, some still neatly and carefully braided. That really struck me, as I could only think of the hands that had last lovingly braided it. Elsewhere in the building, the museum had collected all of the eyeglasses, all of the hair combs, all of the shoes, all of the prosthetic limbs– it is probably impossible to comprehend the deaths of 1.1 million people, but when you see small personal effects aggregated in this way you start to get an idea.
So why was I disappointed? Auschwitz had so many visitors (a good thing) including many large school groups (also a good thing) that they had set it up a flow of traffic for people to shuffle single file past the exhibits. With masses of teenagers shuffling behind us, we didn’t have any time to pause for a moment and wonder about a particular shoe and it’s owner. Several hallways had photos of Auschwitz prisoners, their occupations, and the dates they were in camps– it was interesting to stop and look at individual faces– defiant, scared, resigned– and think about the people who loved them. But that was hard to do when they’re churning people through like it’s a ride at Disneyland. (Severin was less annoyed about this than I was, but it really took away from what should be a place for solemn reflection.)
A reconstruction of the Death Wall, where political prisoners were executed by the Nazis:
