THE DEATH CAMP (AUSCHWITZ)

Early Monday morning we traveled to Auschwitz, Poland by train with the Youngs (my cousin, Cindy, her husband, and four children.) We changed trains at  Zebrzydowice ( a rather dismal looking train station) where we had our picnic lunch on a dilapidated, rusty old bench.

We went through this to get from one side to the other of the tracks.

It's a good thing we brought our lunch since there was not even a vending machine at any of the stations.

A little reading aloud of  "The Mozart Question" purchased at the British Bookstore in Vienna.

Due to a language barrier we had trouble confirming that the Polish trains that we took were the ones called for in our itinerary.  I couldn't help but think that the uncertainty and anxiety we experienced was trivial compared to that experienced by those disembarking at Auschwitz 70 years ago.  When the rains began it seemed that tears were falling from heaven in grief for the atrocities perpetrated there.  Indeed, it might not be inappropriate for Auschwitz to be permanently overcast and rainy.  The Austrian train we got off felt luxurious compared to the dingy old train we boarded.  Halfway between Zebrzydowice and Oswiecim the skies darkened portending the somber experience to come.


As we entered the grounds at Auschwitz our initial impression was that it appeared to be an innocuous and picturesque little camp.  We were about to discover that this was far from the truth.

       

                                       


In the beginning only men were brought to Auschwitz.  Those who could play an instrument were enlisted to compose an orchestra, not for entertainment, but to help the officers count the prisoners who were marched from the camp for their daily work detail and returned in the evening.

Members of the Polish resistance were among the first to be interred by the Nazis at Auschwitz.  Much later, the Greeks, believing that there were better job prospects further north actually purchased train tickets from the Nazis.  Thousands from most European countries (and as far away as 1500 kilometers) were taken to Auchwitz

We visited both the museum area and Berkinau (Auschwitz II-the larger concentration camp built to process and exterminate prisoners more efficiently.)   The scale of the atrocities committed at Auschwitz were shocking, but the magnitude of the Berkinau extermination operation was staggering.  Toward the end there were as many as 4000 a day who lost their lives.  The highest price was paid by Hungary; over 400,000 Hungarian Jews were murdered in the gas chambers.

On their striped uniforms, prisoners wore symbols that indicated the Nazis' reason for singling them out: Jew, homosexual, government official, social deviant, etc.  The SS hired photographers to make portraits of each prisoner when he was registered.  Many of these portraits hang on the walls of the museum, each showing the prisoner's name, date of registration, and date of death.  The average time between the two dates was only about three months.  Starvation, torture, forced labor, and disease caused the death toll to rise quickly.

 

Berkinau

This is what's left of the gas chambers that were built outside of town so as not to be discovered.  The SS bombed them to erase the evidence.

It was so difficult to see all the hair (men and women's heads were shaved) piled up in a large glassed in area, as well as hair brushes, eye glasses, and shoes.  Especially difficult for me was all of the children's shoes.

We were glad for the comfortable hotel to retreat to at the end of this day.  After a nice dinner with the Young family we saw them off to catch their night train to Prague.  Greg and I had time the following day to walk around the town before boarding our early afternoon train  This area has been so oppressed by war, holocaust, and communism, but there is presently an effort to spruce it up a bit.

We arrived back in Vienna two hours late after train troubles at  Zebrzydowice.   After 1 1/2 hours a new engine was located and attached to our train.  Once again we had rain, cool temperatures, and dreary conditions as we continued on our way.