Day 28 - Krakow & Auschwitz

I woke up in this strange 'medieval theme' hotel that I liked so much on arrival. The whole thing is painted to look old but is breeze block and plaster through and through. Despite its cheesy look, I really enjoyed my stay. This morning I met an english guy Joe (strayjoe.blog.com) who is rambling on his ancient GSX400 on his way to be a student in Sweden for a year. We swapped tips on roads and routes and parted, me southwest and him to the north. I think his best roads are behind him and with a 120 mile tank range, he will have to be a bit careful further north.


I passed through Krakow today. It survived WWII more or less unscathed so still has its 'old town' intact. It is a major tourist draw and seems worthy of a 'proper visit'. I didn't have a lot of time today but stopped for a few minutes near this fountain to take some snaps. Lots of happy smiling faces.





Auschwitz is about 80km west of Krakow and I wanted to visit it for many years. I cannot easily explain why so I wont try here. It is a difficult place to be but somehow rewarding to visit. Somewhere between 1.1 and 1.5 million people were murdered here. There are two images people associate with Auschwitz, this one with its slogan 'Arbeit Macht Frei' and the rail way arch (below). Apparently somebody stole the original 'Arbeit...'......can you believe it! It has been recovered and is being restored. In it's place is a replica at the moment.


The scale of the place is staggering. At its peak the main camp held 90,000 people and had something like 42 other sub-camps where those who were selected as slave labourers were held. Auschwitz had a dual role as both a Concentration Camp and also a Death Camp. In Auschwitz 1, which was built as an Army barracks by the Polish army in the 30s, the main part of the exhibition is housed. As brick structures, they survived the war and were converted in to a museum in 1947.

It is hard to convey the mechanical savagery of the place. It is an giant killing machine. The things that made it really personal was the possessions of those murdered.


Glasses








Shoes








Prosthetics








Tooth & Shaving Brushes








Suitcases








The hardest bit to handle was 2 tonnes of human hair and the huge mound of children's shoes. Women had their hair shaved when they arrived. It is truly shocking. Out of respect, they ask you not to photograph that part of the exhibit.


Auschwitz 2 is at Birkenau about 3km away and 25 times larger that camp 1. Relatively few of the buildings were brick but were made of timber and many were burned by the SS at the end of the war to try destroy evidence. Most have not survived the last 65 years as the place is built on a marsh. Some buildings have been reconstructed from timbers salvaged from other huts. What you can see are a forest of chimney stacks and the concrete posts from the electric fence. There were 300 huts each housing up to 700 people.


A railway siding was constructed inside the camp later to reduce the chance of escape and to speed the process up. On this platform, the selections for work or gas chambers was made. This is where many people saw their family members for the last time.

The SS disassembled the gas chambers and cremetoria and then blew up the buildings. Some blueprints of the buildings were found after the war and together with eyewitness testimony and some illicitly taken pictures of the place when it was in operation, show what this place was like in operation.

Yet there are still some people who claim the Holocaust did not happen. maybe they should take a visit.