Auschwitz - Casie's perspective

1/10/10
Oswiecim, Poland

Today we visited the well-known concentration camp, Auschwitz. Basically all I knew about it: that the worst killings occurred there and some scenes of Schindler’s list are from there. That was it. I am not an accomplished history buff like my dear friend Becca but I had such great anticipation of seeing and learning more about the camp.
It was a snowy day and the camp was covered in white. It was an eerie and chilling feeling. I don’t think we would have wanted to view the camp any other way. It made the coldness of the past and present feel so very real.

The museum was divided into two main sites: Auschwitz I and Birkenau. Auschwitz I was the first site where not only Jews were held but criminals as well. Further, Jews would be processed there and only men were kept there. There were pictures of them on the walls with dates of when they arrived at the camp and when they died. Some were alive for many months, years and some died within 2 days.

What struck me most was the philosophy of recycling and efficiency concerning the bodies after death. They would use their hair for weaving certain types of rugs, gold teeth for gold bars and human fat for soap. To think that these were the very raw materials people in Europe used during that time is unimaginable.

We walked along the rows of bunk beads layered with hay where at least 10-15 bodies were crunched together. Many times people would dispose of their waste in the bunk beds because of the limited number of toilets. Because the beds were so cramped, people would bite and scratch each other to force them to make room. Our tour guide said that when people are treated like animals, they behave like animals.

Then we moved on to the Birkenau site. As we drove up, everyone was stunned at how far the barbed wires extended as it faded into the snowy distance. Crematories and gas chambers were covered in snow but we could see the tops of them. It was still eerie. It was at this site that Jews were selected either to be terminated in the gas chambers or serve in the work site. Some people would cut themselves and rub their blood on their faces to look well enough to work.

Numbers, facts and figures were used in the tour but being on the site made me really think about my family and I. There were families, lovers, friends, siblings forced to believe they were subhuman, prisoners, and did not deserve life.

The best word to describe today for me: unimaginable.
Even if I tried my hardest, I do not think I could understand even an ounce of what happened. However, seeing these sites was necessary. Understanding the consequences of other’s actions in war is completely necessary.