In November 2015 we visited Krakow, Poland and whilst we were there we couldn’t miss out on visiting Auschwitz concentration camp.
I am a big history geek, especially when it comes to studying WW1 & WW2 and I’m really interested in civilian perspectives rather than military.
First, we visited the museum in Auschwitz 1 which had originally been used as a military base. This was more about how the Nazis convinced the Jews to leave their homes voluntarily.
In Auschwitz 2 I got chills and goosebumps. Everyone told me that I would cry (I tend to cry at everything from adverts to the news to cartoons) but I didn’t.
Walking down the train tracks felt surreal. I have spent a lifetime seeing films, documentaries & history textbooks filled with images of these tracks and now I was here it was eerie.
There was a silence about the place. Everyone was respectful and I was blown away with seeing it in real life.
We visited the huts where they lived (no pictures out of respect) and their beds were just wooden, hard planks.
We saw where the Nazis had demolished part of their gas chambers and other buildings to get rid of as much evidence as possible before the camps were liberated.
We saw the place where Rudolph Hoss, commandant of the Auschwitz camp, was hanged for his war crimes in 1947. Symbolically, he was hanged in the gallows next to the Auschwitz 1 crematorium.
I had goosebumps hearing stories from the guide. We saw a glass room full of shoes, human hair, eye glasses & personal belongings, not to mention a room filled with Zyklon B used gas canisters piled up.
It’s easy to hear a number of how many were killed and think ‘that’s a lot’ but until you see it in a mountain of hair or in thousands of pairs of children’s shoes, you can never grasp the scale.
Though there were no tears, the emotion & compassion was overwhelming. Personally, I felt like there was a pressure pushing down on my chest & it felt hard to breathe.
When you have seen and heard so much about somewhere of mass tragedy and evil for so much of your life, to then see it in real life knocked me for six. It wasn’t like a movie set, it was real, and that terrified me. To have the reality of millions of people murdered and oppressed right in front of me made my heart really heavy.
It is somewhere I think should be compulsory to visit in your lifetime. It is an experience I know will stay with me forever.
|| Related: A Day Trip in Dubrovnik, Croatia ||
Start planning your trip to Krakow here.
Bex
16 thoughts on “Visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau”
Knackered Dad
(November 20, 2017 - 10:11 am)It’s difficult to explain & i’m trying to use the right words. This is somewhere I would be interested to visit, but i’m not sure i’d be able to bring myself. I’ve read a lot of stories about the Holocaust and it’s sickening. Maybe one day.
bexcapades
(November 20, 2017 - 10:27 am)I felt the same, I am the type to get emotionally overwhelmed but it was such an important moment in modern history that we can learn from and ensure it never happens again. Luckily, the people who visited were very respectful & the government and organisers haven’t commercialised it, there are signs in certain areas asking people not to take pictures of that part out of respect, e.g. the room of hair & shoes & everyone we saw respected that & didn’t try to take pictures anyway. It really brings home to you that it was real, not that I doubted of course but seeing it is just something else. Hopefully one day you could, it’s heartbreaking but it feels more like a museum than mass grave.
Kelly (켈리) (@halfbloodpixie)
(November 29, 2017 - 3:26 pm)This is on my list of places to see!
I’m a history geek too and I loved studying about the World Wars!
I’m a bit scared visiting this place though, there’s so much history here! And I am scared of ghosts!!
Kelly
http://www.thiswayandthatway.com
bexcapades
(November 29, 2017 - 9:06 pm)There definitely weren’t any spooky ghosts, let’s be honest, their horror was probably more terrifying than a ghost could ever be! X
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writtenbysjsmith
(January 7, 2018 - 11:48 am)As strange as it sounds I would really like to visit Auschwitz because it happened. I know it didn’t happen in our life time but it happened and so many died for us to be sat here now. I think it’d be quite overwhelming to visit but after seeing so many films about the Holocaust, I feel I owe it to people to pay my respects. It’s on my to visit list in the near future. Thank you for sharing.
http://www.writtenbysjsmith.com
bexcapades
(January 7, 2018 - 11:50 am)I felt the same, it’s somewhere I’ve always wanted to visit with it being so important in history!
writtenbysjsmith
(January 7, 2018 - 11:52 am)Yeah I think it’s a must when studying the wars at school. I don’t think you fully appreciate life until you study this!
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Molly
(July 4, 2018 - 3:38 pm)I’ve never been to Auchswitz but as a history feel too it’s somewhere that I really want to visit and experience. I lived in Weimar last year and visited Buchenwald concentration camp and the overwhelm was really similar to what you described. It really is unfathomable. Thank you for sharing this. I think it’s so important.
Love,
Molly xo
http://gracetoglowandgo.com
bexcapades
(July 6, 2018 - 4:55 am)It really puts into perspective the scale of the holocaust. It’s hard to picture until you see it in a pile of shoes or eye glasses.
Jen Cannon
(September 4, 2018 - 7:10 am)I am also a history buff and I love learning about the civilian perspective. I honestly don’t think I could handle seeing it. Just reading about it here made my chest feel heavy.
Thank you for sharing the story of your visit!
bexcapades
(September 7, 2018 - 10:29 am)I thought I would be more emotional but instead I felt more reflective. Maybe one day you’ll feel ready but it’s perfectly valid if you’re not! It’s definitely not an easy going day out!