Arbeit macht frei

"Arbeit macht frei" is written as an inscription over the main gate of Auschwitz and cynically means "work brings freedom". A more false statement has never been written. Today was a dark day in my travels - there will be no humor in this blog post. I learned more today than I ever could have imagined. I was horrified by what I saw. The day began with blue skies and sunshine in Krakow but shortly after my arrival at Auschwitz the skies darkened, it thundered, then rained. It was somehow strangely appropriate for my visit to this place of so much carnage.

I spent four hours walking the grounds and touring barracks and other facilities including the gas chambers, crematoria, and the Execution Wall. I also visited the Birkenau camp which seemed to dwarf Auschwitz in size and perhaps in reputation. It was simply unbelievable to me the barbarism that man is capable of. In all of my studies I never fathomed how bad this place was.

The point was driven home by hundreds of photos of Poles and Jews that lined the walls of baracks after baracks. They all died at the hands of Hitler's army and police. Their expressions were all the same - sunken eyes and expressionless except for their closed lips that were not in a frown but rather a look of despair. The photos will haunt me for a long time. If I still did not grasp the magnitude of this genocide - the point was further driven home by the displays of personal possessions that were taken from the victims. There are walls of displays 8 feet high and some go on for 40 feet on both sides of the hallway. They are probably 12 feet deep. Each display is filled with personal affects - shoes (first adult, then children's), a mangle of eyeglasses, suitcases with the victims' names and addresses still on them, toiletries (hair and shaving brushes, toothbrushes). Pots and pans and the most unimaginable of all - prosthetic limbs - piles of them taken away from the innocents before their slaughter.

I will remember this day the rest of my life. I think every human being should visit this place to gain a full appreciation for the atrocities that occurred only 62 - 68 years ago. These places really seemed as though they were from a bad Hollywood horror film - but they are real. I was struck by the simple nature of the monument that was established near the sites of the crematoria at Birkenau. It seemed that the shrine should have been larger than any other - taller than the Washington Monument and other similar tributes. Then it hit me that the entire place represents the memorial. It is well preserved and hallowed grounds. My fellow visitors were for the most part very respectful and quite. Most looked, like me, ready to cry at any moment. I don't think it is possible to come here and not be affected in this way.

I apologize for the somber nature of this post but I think you will appreciate it. I am in my last hours in Krakow (where coincidentally it is blue skies and sunshine again). I need to be on my train to Prague in about one hour so will say so long for now. I want to try to see some of the concert in the square before I go - it has been much anticipated by everyone here as it is the 750th anniversary of the founding of Krakow.

I will post again in the next day or so from Praja.