Oświęcim

Today we would devote most of the day to learning more about one of the biggest concentration camps run during WWII by the Nazis. As can be expected, this post will be quite depressing; but the atrocities of war and mankind cannot be forgotten, lest they are repeated. Skip ahead if this topic is too difficult to visit for now.

Auschwitz was initially built in 1940 to house Polish political prisoners but the SS thought it could provide the Final Solution to the Jew problems; by problems, they mean the existence of Jews. As the number of inmates grew, so did the camp. In 1941, Auschwitz II (Birkenau) was constructed just 3km away from Auschwitz I. This second camp was a lot larger and held approximately 100,000 prisoners by August 1944. There were 4 crematoria and gas chambers in this camp and this was where most of the mass killings were carried out. We visited both camps.

Jews from all over Europe were sent to Auschwitz by the thousands each day. By the time they arrived in Auschwitz, they would have spent days, if not weeks, without food or water. Naturally, a large number died during the journey. The ones that made it thus far were assembled outside of their train cars. They were told to leave their suitcases but to write their names on the cases so they can be retrieved later on. They were then separated into two groups. Healthy and able men were herded into one group and marched into the camp. The others, mainly women, children, the ill and old, were told to walk to another entrance into the camp.

The latter went into a room in the basement of a building which looked like change-rooms, where they were told to undress and remember the number on the hooks which they’d hung their clothes on so they can pick them up afterwards. They were to take a shower after their long journey. Naked and scared, they went into the next room which resembled a large bathroom. There were showers hanging from the ceiling; it was all going to be ok. They really were going to have a shower! The Nazis were methodical and brutal. The showers were never connected to a water supply. They were installed to alleviate fear in the Jews so as to prevent any resistance or panic. After the doors were firmly closed, SS guards poured a toxic substance called Cyclon B into the chamber through special openings in the ceiling. Within 15-20 minutes, they were dead.

Genocide was not enough for the SS. After the gassing, gold tooth fillings, rings, earrings and hair were removed from the bodies. They were then taken to the incinerators on the ground floor. The ashes were used as fertilizer, and for filling in nearby ponds or river beds. Why hair, you ask. They sold the human hair to German firms for tailor’s lining (haircloth).

The healthy men that escaped selection for the gas chamber were put through extremely unsanitary and unimaginable living conditions. They were subjected to beatings, slave labour and starvation. It did not matter if a Jew died – he was dispensable. If you want to read more about life in the concentration camps, I highly recommend a book written by an Auschwitz survivor, Primo Levi, called “If This is a Man.”

When the Nazis realised that they were losing the war to the advancing Red Army, they blew up the crematoria and gas chambers to conceal their criminal activities. They left the sick to die in the camp while tens of thousands Jews were forced to march to another camp to be further utilised as slave labour. Without food or proper clothes and footwear, most did not survive the Death March.

It was a very sobering day for us. And most of you are probably asking why we even went to Auschwitz. Apart from the fact that Flora has been morbidly fascinated by the evil that was the Holocaust since learning about it at the age of 15, we feel it is important to see up close what Man is capable of. Why did none of the SS soldiers who opposed the mass extermination of lives carry out their orders anyway? Only by attending these grounds can you get some understanding of the terror that the place and regime held. It was either kill or be killed. 1.5 million Jews died in Auschwitz alone. This number is likely to be a lot higher as most Jews that arrived at Auschwitz were never registered before they were sent marching to the gas chambers. There are hundreds of other such concentration camps, though perhaps not on as large a scale as Auschwitz. Such evil must never see the light of day again.Read more