Auschwitz/ Birkenau – On the Road with Don and Paula

It was a long, narrow passageway, a tunnel of sorts.

The only sound was a muted voice.

It was obviously of a Hebrew man; he spoke the names of the victims.

Avraham Ostfeld,

Elana Eiderman,

Jacob Tennenbaum,

Motti Lichman…

… and six million more.

We walked in silence.

+++++++++++++++++

Auschwitz…

Birkenau…

Obviously German names for obviously Polish places, an attempt by the conquerors to eradicate even the names of places that did not suit their needs.

Just like the six million……

This excursion was a significant part of our experience here in Poland. Located just a little over an hour from Krakow, most of the atrocities attached to those two names were committed here on purpose, none were completed in the Fatherland, it was as if they knew even back then they did not want the stains of their actions to be anywhere in Germany.

We were not the only ones there. Experiences like this, emotional ones, I try my best to face by myself. I am not interested in anyone else’s comments. I want and need to come to grips with my thoughts by myself. Except maybe here.

I was prepared to be upset by the lack of respect (?) shown by visitors to these sacred grounds…. You know, “selfies” and the like. In fact, I was seriously wrong when I attributed these actions to what I was sure would be from visitors on the younger side…. School Groups, the most feared collection of people to attend anything with. I walked in single file past these younger folks as we switched back and forth through the barracks turned exhibits in Auschwitz. I studied their eyes as we encountered each other, vacant they were not, and amused they definitely were not. Respectful and thoughtful they were. This is when I felt that having others around in moments like these was not a bad thing. Commiseration has its benefits.

We filed past the carefully curated collections of photographs, belongings, and intensely personal articles of the victims of hatred and lies. They were told that they were being relocated…. So “bring your most prized possessions with you, bring what is important.” They were filled with the hope of completely being pushed out, that would be alright, wouldn’t it? Finally, getting out from under the stare and control of the Nazi’s. They hadn’t done anything wrong, so why would they expect anything else?

“Just let us go.”

But when the doors of the railcars opened after many days of putrid suffocation, their eyes squinting in either the daylight or the floodlight, their worst nightmares were far behind them as the full realization of what was about to be extracted from them became painfully, on their part, and sinfully on their captors’ part, aware.

Hence the collections of suitcases, combs and brushes, eyeglasses, shoes, and toys and dolls, that were carefully strewn behind protective glass walls in muted light to further protect them. Thousands upon thousands of these ‘relics’ and I use that term with all of the full ecclesiastical meaning behind it, were laid bare for our inspection and introspection. These were the articles that would no longer be needed anymore.

Each room, visited in a specific order, became more and more personal until we entered a very dimly lit one….. one that had several thousand pounds of human hair that was shaved from their heads. This hair would have been eventually used for making fabric and the like, just as the over forty tons of the hair found bailed and stored would have been.

I heard the names, I saw many, many more. I saw even more photographs of the people murdered here. I read their stories, finished what I thought that I maybe could not have. It was done respectfully as you would expect. We were told that we could take photographs, what better way to promulgate the purpose of this Memorial. We were asked only in two places not to take photos, the rooms in Block 4 that contained the human hair and the basement of Block 11 which was used as a punishment area where prisoners were effectively starved to death, it is now treated as a Memorial. I elected not to take photographs of several other areas, strictly on a gut feeling as we filed past them. It is somewhat of a blur now, so I cannot explain exactly what you may be missing, but rest assured, the neglection of these was done with the highest possible intentions.

Now looking back on the photos that I did take, they seem rather ‘innocent’ as it were.

Just buildings and places that could be anywhere.

But they are not just anywhere.

They are there at Auschwitz and Birkenau……

……..Szmil Oskola

Benzion Eisenbaum

Mosczk Pirovicz

….. and six million more.