17 June 12
As I attempt to put my experiences
from Poland into words, I am at a loss for what to share because it all is so important. The trip was quick, the memories deep and the
emotions overwhelming. For my description, I will simply start at the beginning. I took the night
train on Friday, June 1st from Vienna to Krakow. When I arrived at Krakow’s main train station
on Saturday morning, I had only a slight idea of the paths down which my day
would lead me. First off, arriving in
the country where my father’s family is from; the country where my father’s
family’s last name was Madry made my heart long to know and understand as much
as possible about this place. For my
single day trip, however, I would only get a glimpse.
My journey began with a tour to
Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II, Birkenau.
We traveled the hour from the center of Krakow to the visitor’s entry
where we met up with our tour guide. She
was from Oświęcim (Auschwitz in
German) and worked as a teacher when she was not providing moving tours through
the two camps. We started in Auschwitz I
which was a work camp where only able-bodied men were housed. In our 1.5 hours we saw so much and I learned
that the gas used in the gas chambers was called Cyclone 8 and its poisonous
capacity was activated by heat. We
walked through several of the brick barracks now converted to museums. Each told a story of the horrors perpetrated
within the gates of Auschwitz. One
remains as it was during WWII with glass covering the doorways where we could
see the wooden barracks where victims slept.
We were reminded that being held in Auschwitz I was a coveted position
compared to the conditions of Auschwitz II, Birkenau.
In Barrack 11, the main hall was
lined with photos taken by the Germans when new victims were brought in and
there were so many names and facial features that were too familiar. My hometown was settled and formerly
populated by Poles. I found a connection
in this hallway that made me visibly tremble.
Further down the hallway, I found pictures of Jewish victims who had
been beaten before their photo was taken, and due to their date of arrival and
date of death included under the photo I could see some did not even survive 24
hours in hell at Auschwitz.
Our trip to Auschwitz I ended with
being shown the only remaining gas chamber to elude destruction as the Soviets
liberated the camps. It was
overpowering, it was devastating, it was terrifying, but we all walked in just
as the victims did 7 decades ago. I
could not believe the tour included walking through this site of so many
deaths. It was such a small room where
hundreds would be forced in at a time to die a few minutes later. After this, we were told our next stop would
be the extermination camp, Birkenau and none of us had any verbal response, our
silence said it all.
Walking into Birkenau was strange
because the remaining or rebuilt barracks were so far off in the distance that
the train tracks and entry gate appeared something like a factory, which is so
far from what it was. When our guide
began to explain each point to us the picture became so gruesome. It made me so angry to be in there! One point was the “staging area” where the
train cars came into the camp and the victims were unloaded after days in
stuffed into a small space. The women
and children formed one line and the men in another. They were told to leave all of their
belongings and a doctor stood at the front of the line; he would point his
outstretched thumb to the left or the right.
To the right meant immediate death, even before registration. To the left meant the person was fit to work
and would thus have a chance to walk through misery and hell with a possibility
of exiting on the other side.
We were taken through many spots in
the camp including being shown how the Germans exploded the gas chambers in an
attempt to hide their crimes before the camp was liberated. In the rubble you can still see the
underground undressing room and the columns of the death chamber. There were four large gas chambers in
Birkenau, remember Auschwitz I, the “work” camp only had one.
Our guide showed us the wash room
and toilets. These were only long
buildings, identical to the rest of the barracks, with long open sinks that had
water flowing to them only once a day in one building or long rows of raised
cement with holes in the other. Our
guide also took us to the only authentic barrack that had not been destroyed or
rebuilt. We stepped in to the building
with the bars still on the windows and cold misery hung in the air. The ground was the dirt floor the victims had
walked on, the bunks were the 5 or 6 feet wide shelves 6 to 8 people slept on,
and the dim light was the dark world in which they had to live. I was absolutely terrified in this space and
as we spent longer in this structure, fear crept up my spine and seeped through
every nerve in my body. I was afraid to
accidently touch anything, the floor being bad enough, for fear I would bring
the hollow emptiness with me.
On the drive back to Krakow, I was
worn out. Emotionally drained though my
mind continued to spin in efforts to process all I had just seen and
heard. I closed my eyes and woke up just
before we arrived in the Krakow city limits.
It was the separation I needed and seeing the groggy tour mates around
me, I would guess they needed it too.
I asked to be dropped off at Saint
Mary’s Cathedral in the city center. I
walked in to say a prayer in the chapel and as happens so frequently these
days, I cried. Having this moment with
the tourists flashing their cameras around me felt ridiculous and I left to see
what else Krakow had to offer me in the almost 7 hours I had left before
getting on another night train from Krakow to Vienna. Krakow’s city center was beautiful! It was also very interesting and full of
history. I even took a golf-cart tour of
the Jewish Ghetto and Schindler’s Factory.
My evening ended with some good wine and delicious pierogies!! So much in just a single day in Poland…
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| Entering Auschwitz I - "Arbeit Macht Frei"...Deception and control, from the moment the victims entered... |
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| One part of the double electric fence surrounding Auschwitz |
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| Auschwitz II Birkenau - viewed from inside the camp looking back at the gate |
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| Authentic barrack in Birkenau....overwhelming. |
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| Saint Mary's Cathedral - Krakow, Poland |
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| One long day - happy to be in my sleeper compartment headed home. |
