Sydney and I claimed the backseat, which allowed us to sprawl out a little, although that mostly meant that we were intertwining ourselves to one another. Not the most comfortable, but my knees were definitely thankful for it.
Taking the autobahn allowed us to get to the border of Germany and Poland pretty fast. I think I dozed off a time or two, but even so, it only took a few hours. Stopping for gas once, we crossed the border and were welcomed to Poland with a huge car accident on their version of the autobahn. Because European highways don’t have shoulders, or extra lanes down the sides, they have to close down the entire highway until they are able to remove the debris from the affected area. This means that you could be waiting for hours upon hours depending on the severity of the accident. With the car completely off, and with cars as far as we could see in both directions, we were preparing ourselves for the long wait that was sure to happen. After about ten minutes, we started noticing that the majoring of cars around us were reversing and going back the direction they came. We deliberated for about three minutes, and then followed suit. As you can imagine, it is quite terrifying going the wrong way down a one-way highway, especially when it is coming straight off the autobahn. Needless-to-say, we were able to find the nearest exit, and followed the line up of other cars down some back roads until we found the on ramp directly following the location of the accident. Thankfully, this little detour only took about ten minutes, and with less than an hour to go until we arrived at our hostel, we spent the time looking out the windows at Poland itself. My first impression was that it looked a lot like Budapest in the sense that it was really run down, dirty, and ill kept. There were vacant buildings, graffiti, broken windows and trash lining the streets. Not the greatest part of town I suppose.
Driving into Wroclaw, the city itself looked WAY better than what we had seen driving in. The buildings, restaurants and streets themselves were maintained and definitely gave off the city-scene. Additionally, people were EVERYWHERE! Although it was a little past midnight, it seemed as though the entire population were dressed and on their way to go somewhere. Unfortunately, this also meant that there was NO parking close to the hostel. We found out later that the following day was Poland’s Independence Day, which meant that everyone had the day off from work, so we assumed they were going out to celebrate.
Eventually finding a parking spot a few blocks down, we carried our stuff to the hostel and were thankful to get inside as the temperature was FREEZING. The woman at the reception desk informed us that they never received our confirmation or reservation. Thankfully, she was able to find us a spot in a ten-bed room, as we were only staying for the night. Carrying our stuff upstairs, it wasn’t long until we were all in bed and fast asleep.
Getting up early Friday, we packed our bags, grabbed a quick drink from Starbucks (yum!), and were back in the car to finish the three-hour drive to Krakow. Thankfully, the time went by quickly and we were able to locate our hostel without a problem. Checking in, the woman at the reception told us that once again, they never received our confirmation. Explaining that this exact situation had happened the night before in their sister hostel, the woman was able to give us a four person room for the same price as the ten-bed room and apologized for the situation.
Dropping our bags off in our room, changing our clothes, and eating a quick packet of Ramen, we walked to the Main Square (about a ten minute walk from our hostel) and were able to join in an English speaking walking tour. The tour itself took about three hours to complete, but it was able to show us the Jewish area of Krakow called Kazimierz. Maggie, our tour guide, a native to Poland majoring in Jewish studies, was a wealth of information for the Jewish quarter itself. She took us to multiple synagogues, a memorial to the Polish Jews that were killed in the Holocaust, Schindler’s Factory and filming site, and a multitude of other fascinating areas.
At the completion of the tour, it was 3.2 degrees Celsius- right around freezing, and boy did it feel like it! It honestly felt like we were at the beginning stages of hypothermia. And on top of that, the sun was long gone, so we were trying to find our way home in the dark. Thanks to my photographic memory and great directional skills (seriously), we made it back to our hostel without a problem.
We spent the rest of the night trying to get warm, as the shower did not provide any hot water. I slept in multiple layers, under four blankets, and next to the window that doesn’t close all the way and the broken heater- clearly an ideal night of sleep.
Waking up early this morning, we layered our clothes on, packed some PB&J’s for lunch, and were on our way to Auschwitz. Having made it to the camp ten minutes after it had opened, we were thankful to have avoided major crowds.
Entering Auschwitz I, we were greeted by the entrance gate, which was inscribed with the words “Arbeit Macht Frei,”or in English, “Work will set you free.” These were the same words imprinted on the entrance gate to Dachau concentration camp in Munich.
From there, we were able to view the large number of barracks, national memorials, crematorium, gas chambers, warehouses and observation towers. Although some of the buildings were vacant or unable to be toured, we were able to get a sense for what actually happened during the operation of the camp. Each block had a specific purpose, each designated for the torture, the medical experiments, or the death of the victims themselves.
One area of the camp was the most memorable to me: Block 5: Material Evidence. Entering the block, or barrack, we moved from room to room seeing items that prisoners had brought with them upon their arrival to the camp: a case full of glasses, Jewish prayer cloths, a room full of crutches, back braces, and prosthetic limbs, shoes, luggage, brushes, dishes, etc. I think seeing these things affected me the most because it showcased the fact that these people really thought that they were being lead to safety; they brought all of their belongings thinking they would live. None of them had any idea that once they exited the train, they would be lead directly to the gas chambers to die. They had no idea.
In 1941, Auschwitz I became too small for the visions that the Nazis had created. Thus they created Auschwitz II: Birkenau. Making the 3 km drive to Birkenau, we were welcomed by the huge guard tower, and three sets of railroad tracks that lead directly into the camp itself. There are truly no words to describe the vastness of this camp. As far as you could see in every direction there was a barrack, observation tower, or barbed wire fencing; it was truly overwhelming. Walking down the railroad tracks, we entered the main gate, or “Death Gate” as it was called. Greeted by fields and fields of barracks, or the foundation lines of where they once stood, we were able to tour both the women and children’s area, and then that of the men’s. Moving on from the barrack lines, we were able to see what is left of the four crematoriums, as the Nazi’s used dynamite to try and hide the evidence toward the end of the war.
Walking through the camp, we were also able to see the kitchens, showers, washrooms, and warehouses. Furthermore, we were able to go inside some of the remaining gas chambers and crematoriums, which was the most prominent way of mass murders within Birkenau. The ashes of these victims were dumped in a grass field or nearby lake. The lake was actually described as having grey water because of the high volume of ashes deposited within the water itself. We were able to see both the field and the lake, and yes, the water is still grey.
We concluded the tour of Birkenau by walking along the edge of the camp where Auschwitz was meant to be extended. This extension, known as “Mexico” among the SS guards and Nazi party, housed many women in the barracks that had actually been completed, or provided an area for the women to stand until room in the crematorium or gas chambers was freed for space. Thankfully, this area was never completed, as it would have created more than sixty-four additional barracks. It was destroyed upon liberation of the camp.
Walking along the paths, through the barracks, next to the lake, gas chambers and crematoriums, and just through the entrance of the camps itself, it felt like I was literally walking through a mass grave. With saying that, I was. It is said that in Auschwitz II alone, 1.1 million people died. 1.1 million.
After seeing three concentration camps throughout my duration in Europe, including the most deadly and big, I cannot help to feel a strong hate toward those under Nazi dictatorship, and mostly for Hitler himself. In my opinion, he was one HELL of a coward for committing suicide at the end of the war. But, I will leave my venting on that subject for a different time.
I am so unbelievably thankful to have had the opportunity to visit Auschwitz. If anybody has the opportunity sometime in his or her life, it is something that EVERYONE should experience. I cannot stress this enough.
I do want to highlight the fact that I am merely touching on the experience I had while I was at Auschwitz and Auschwitz II. The camps themselves are honestly indescribable, and words do not do justice to the things I saw while I was there, or the reality of what actually took place there. Look through the pictures I posted on Facebook, and please remember that this is just a SMALL look into Auschwitz and Auschwitz II and the brutalities that took place there.
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