We never expected to enjoy our visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau, and we didn't. It was, however, a really valuable experience, and provided more insight than I'd anticipated. I thought I had a fair idea about what had gone on in the concentration camps, but seeing the buildings and exhibits for ourselves was a real eye-opener. We didn't take many photos here though, you may be relieved to know.
One of the buildings at Birkenau.
We started off by going to Birkenau, which was primarily designed as a death camp. We were awed by the sheer size of the camp - 175 hectares' worth didn't mean that much to me on paper, but walking around the camp took a long time, and this was with much of the barbed wire fence removed. We saw inside some of the bleak accommodation blocks, with wide bunks that would have been crammed with people. Signs also notified us as to which buildings were used for quarantining newcomers, or for the criminal medical experiments by Josef Melenge, or for killing newborns and their mothers with a phenol injection to the heart, or for keeping those destined for death for up to several days with no food or water.
The lovely accommodation quarters - they were absolutely crammed in here, of course.
When the rooms housing those destined for death got too full, this patch of ground was used for the overflow - they'd just be left out here in all the elements.
There were also the gas chambers themselves, of course - or at least the ruins of the ones the Nazis didn't manage to completely destroy when they fled the camp. They didn't seem as massive as I was expecting; a testament to the Nazis' brutal efficiency at moving masses of people through them, I suppose, as well as crowding them in as much as possible. We overheard a tour guide telling her group how the Nazis made sure the chambers were cleaned after every execution session, as there was always blood and faeces on the floor afterwards as a result of this kind of death. They were meticulous in cleaning it so the next group wouldn't panic as they entered.
Gas chamber ruins
One thing that had never sunk in was the fate of pretty much all the children who arrived here. There were photos, most of them taken by the SS, of some of the groups of people walking along the very same road we walked down, that took these people directly to their deaths. It was heartbreaking to see the faces of beautiful children, along with mostly older women, and of babies and little toddlers being carried along to the gas chambers awaiting them. I thought of my own gorgeous nephews and niece, so young and innocent, so similar to the faces I saw - except for the sombre expressions in the photos. It really drove home the pointless, needless, barbaric waste of precious human life here.
We were left with one and a half hours to look around Auschwitz, and I wish we had had longer, as this was where all the proper exhibitions were.
Once again, the sheer scale of the tragedy was driven home to us by the exhibits showing belongings taken from the camp victims. There was one room absolutely filled on either side of the walkway with thousands upon thousands of shoes, and another massive mound specifically devoted to children's shoes. There were huge piles of suitcases and baskets; spectacles; combs and brushes with some toothbrushes as well; in particular, though, a room with literally just under two tonnes of human hair. The Nazis sold this hair for use in the textile industry, and the liberators found great big bags full of it when they entered the camp. Once again, it was distressing to see cute little baby clothes among the confiscated items.
There were also photos of emaciated victims post-liberation. We saw two stick-thin boys, a 10-year-old and a 14-year-old, directly after being set free. There were also photos of three naked women taken after four months of intensive treatment following liberation; given their skeletal appearance, it was hard to imagine how they could possibly have been any thinner four months earlier.We have seen quite a lot of female nudity on our trip so far, mainly in paintings in art galleries, as well as in artwork for sale on the street or in dodgy advertising. However, the photos of these three women in the nude was as far removed from objectifying them as could be. Rather, it made us see their humanity, and reinforced to us how this camp was composed of real, individual human beings. Two of the women had been 70-75kg when they arrived at the camp, and the third had been about 60kg; when they were liberated, the first two both weighed 25kg and the third was 23kg.
It wasn't only Poles and Jews in the concentration camps who suffered terribly - there was an exhibition on the fate of Poles in general, with some photos of emaciated children and children fainting from hunger in the countryside - accompanied by the chilling quote below.
What do you do when confronted with accounts of such atrocity? It reminded me of a line by Wilfred Owen: "Carnage incomparable, and human squander rucked too thick for these men's extrication". Owen wrote it about traumatised war survivors, but I think it could also be applied to those who went through the camps.
It also made me newly grateful for God's justice, knowing that He will judge us all at the end. It is unthinkable that such actions might go unpunished, and that those responsible for such brutality, wholesale slaughter and torment not be held to account. God would most definitely not be good if He didn't punish such grievous sin. Whether or not these men pay for their crimes themselves, or whether they repent and trust in Jesus, in which case He has suffered and paid for their crimes in full on the cross, I know that these atrocities won't be passed over. This leads me to be newly grateful for God's mercy, as well, that He has provided the way for such sins to be forgiven in Jesus, and that I can know my own sins are dealt with as well.
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