I saw the sign, with all its connotations. There really is a place called Auschwitz and it lies in a field, and there really is a Birkenau and it lies in a field next to it, where a village once stood. They used the village material to build the barracks that housed thousands of people from all over Europe. There was only mud and empty space then.
I saw the shoes. The little tiny leather toddlers' shoes, the strappy smart summer shoes, sensible old lady lace-ups. Piles and piles and hundreds and hundreds of shoes. Abandoned at the last minute. A remnant of years of 'recycling'.
I saw the faces - of the women - of the men; before they became more efficient. Tattoos were better. The corpses were too hard to recognise (the before so different to the after) and the soldiers could not keep good records...and the dead cannot say who they are.
I saw the little pots of hair cream. I saw 7 tonnes of human hair shaved from heads of women piled high, bound for textile factories, plaits cut off and lying there. We gazed in silence, no photo taken from respect. 7 tonnes - and that was just what was found - left - discarded - no time to burn this evidence - by shamed faces on the run in the last days.
I saw the beds, the bunks, the barracks. The stables turned into shelter for hundreds af starving, beaten, wondering souls. The fate for teachers, priests, scholars, wandering Romas, criminals, people of a faith, families of a region, less than perfect people, POWs, whoever...
I saw the wire, the current off now. The fences, bricks and bars. The 'no way out except by air'.
I saw the tracks. The trains that led to the convenient place - Auschwitz - the centre. The tracks and carriage. The carriage that held 80 at a time. Get off after paying your own fare, standing for days with no toilet, air or water; get off and go left, or right, get sorted. Selected. The doctor is there to watch out for you.
I saw the ovens.
LEST WE FORGET
1940 - Nazi commission decides to open Auschwitz (once polish barracks) for 728 Polish political prisoners at first then 12,000 Soviet POWs.
1941 - Zyklon B experiments.
1942 - Auschwitz 2 and Auschwitz 3 built
1944 - Birkenau crematoria workers blow up crematorium 4
1945 - Germans evacuate up camp making 58,000 walk on the death march (15,000 died). 7,000 were left behind for the Russian soldiers to find.
Over a million and a half people died there.
Prisoners arrived and were selected. Those fit for work walked under a sign 'work makes you free' to their barracks. Others were never seen again.
They lasted a few months. Given 300g of bread a day and some liquid (soup made from rotten vegetables) and made to work for 12 hours, walking there and walking back. Their rest at night meant sleeping many in a bed, with lice and filth and stench with little water and poor sanitation. There were toilets and basins but that was for show. They really had to use latrines and their time was regulated and limited and guarded.
I saw these things.
I saw the shoes. The little tiny leather toddlers' shoes, the strappy smart summer shoes, sensible old lady lace-ups. Piles and piles and hundreds and hundreds of shoes. Abandoned at the last minute. A remnant of years of 'recycling'.
I saw the faces - of the women - of the men; before they became more efficient. Tattoos were better. The corpses were too hard to recognise (the before so different to the after) and the soldiers could not keep good records...and the dead cannot say who they are.
I saw the little pots of hair cream. I saw 7 tonnes of human hair shaved from heads of women piled high, bound for textile factories, plaits cut off and lying there. We gazed in silence, no photo taken from respect. 7 tonnes - and that was just what was found - left - discarded - no time to burn this evidence - by shamed faces on the run in the last days.
I saw the beds, the bunks, the barracks. The stables turned into shelter for hundreds af starving, beaten, wondering souls. The fate for teachers, priests, scholars, wandering Romas, criminals, people of a faith, families of a region, less than perfect people, POWs, whoever...
I saw the wire, the current off now. The fences, bricks and bars. The 'no way out except by air'.
I saw the tracks. The trains that led to the convenient place - Auschwitz - the centre. The tracks and carriage. The carriage that held 80 at a time. Get off after paying your own fare, standing for days with no toilet, air or water; get off and go left, or right, get sorted. Selected. The doctor is there to watch out for you.
I saw the ovens.
LEST WE FORGET
1940 - Nazi commission decides to open Auschwitz (once polish barracks) for 728 Polish political prisoners at first then 12,000 Soviet POWs.
1941 - Zyklon B experiments.
1942 - Auschwitz 2 and Auschwitz 3 built
1944 - Birkenau crematoria workers blow up crematorium 4
1945 - Germans evacuate up camp making 58,000 walk on the death march (15,000 died). 7,000 were left behind for the Russian soldiers to find.
Over a million and a half people died there.
Prisoners arrived and were selected. Those fit for work walked under a sign 'work makes you free' to their barracks. Others were never seen again.
They lasted a few months. Given 300g of bread a day and some liquid (soup made from rotten vegetables) and made to work for 12 hours, walking there and walking back. Their rest at night meant sleeping many in a bed, with lice and filth and stench with little water and poor sanitation. There were toilets and basins but that was for show. They really had to use latrines and their time was regulated and limited and guarded.
Very intense and emotional. Hard to believe it really happened. But it shows the human race really has the potential to be so horrible. Let's be warned and reminded and NEVER go there again.
ReplyDeleteIndeed one of the quotes at the beginning of the museum tour indicated just that thought. Will post it for you....and hence my LEST WE FORGET. This can never happen again! We must teach history.
ReplyDelete