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Day Two: Auschwitz
Auschwitz Today was our visit to Auschwitz, about an hour and a half outside of Kraków and one of the reasons Jillian wanted to come here. We had a late night last night and so were pretty exhausted schlepping to the train station. The Poles like their coffee pretty weak so we couldn't even get a caffeine pick me up.
Outside the city center Kraków is very old Societ Union - lots of big, monolithic apartment buildings for miles. There aren't many cars on the road, and no trucks or SUVs. It seems most people take public transit.
Auschwitz was unbelievable. The scale blew our minds. Jillian has read a lot about the Holocaust but it was still horrifying to actually be there. It's basically an entire city built from the ground up with the purpose of killing people.
We only took a few photos. It just seemed disrespectful to be snapping away while our guide was talking about Zylon B.
The word Auschwitz is so synonymous with genocide, but it's actually Birkenau that has the classic, concentration camp look. Auschwitz looks like a college campus compared to Birkenau.
Birkenau has rows and rows of drafty barracks and had 4 crematoriums (Auschwitz had only one). You could see the scratch marks on the insides of the wall - one of the most horrifying parts of the tour. It was absolutely enormous.
Even though it's unseasonably warm and was sunny, with the wind whipping through the buildings we were struggling to stay warm. I can't imagine living there wearing only a light shirt and pant set. Our tour guide said that most survivors said they actually "got used to" the cold.
The most unnerving part about Auschtwitz is that it's in the middle of a town. There are restaurants, shops, gas stations and a KFC right outside the camps. There are literally houses whose backyards overlook Birkenau.
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| See those colorful buildings in the background? They're just regular houses where people live. |
On the way back Josh was saying "who would choose to live near here?!" However I guess it wasn't the Poles' choice for the Germans to bulldoze their land and build a death camp there. The whole tour actually "played up" the Polish losses in WWII and the Holocaust. It was interesting to hear that perspective. 3 million non-Jewish Poles died in concentration camps, which neither of us knew. Including Poland's 3 million Jews that's 20% of their population that was exterminated.
We were so drained after the tour we decided to call it an early night. It gets dark so early that's pretty easy.
Missing Smokey and our comfortable bed.
