October 18th... Auschwitz 

Reading the little booklet in the room warned us saying:  "it should  be understood that Auschwitz is not a site of Jewish concern,  Polish concern, German concern, or historical concern. it is a site of human concern.  As such, we believe everyone should visit"

And that we did.  We left at 8:30 and it took over an hour to get there.  We passed many quiet little villages and small corn farms on our way.  The nearest town was a Polish one named Oswiecim, but the Germans called the camp they made there Auschwitz.  It was chosen there because it was out in the country and had been a defunct Polish army base and there were actually some barracks there. There were several things that surprised me.  Most of the buildings were red brick, not wood.  Also when the war was almost over, the Germans saw the writing on the wall and started destroying everything that could prove they had committed crimes.  They blew up all the new gas chambers but were using the old one for a bomb shelter and by the time they were ready to leave they didn't have a chance to blow it up.  Of course this proved they were exterminating.  I was also shocked at the number of buildings there.  Row upon row!

The atrocities however were the same.  They made the Jews believe they were going to a wonderful community where they would be safe and free... it was any thing but that.  If you were old, sickly, weak, or with a baby, you were pretty sure to go to the gas chamber. If you made waves or didn't work hard, you  were shot.  There was no heat, eight to a bed , no bathroom or washing facilities, until their work force started getting sick.  Then they made a disgusting  mass wooden toilet room and a long trough for washing, soap dishes built in but no soap.

The man in charge lived in a pretty house not a block from the gas house with his wife and five kids.  His wife LOVED her life there.  She had beautiful treasures in her room, lovely jewelry etc, all confiscated from the Jews.  They had three girls and two boys.  The oldest son was very proud of what his father did at Auschwitz, even had speaking engagements.  The youngest boy didn't really understand what was going on.  When he visited it after the war he was mortified, cried the whole time and begged the Jews to forgive him,  but of course he wasn't the monster.  His father was hung right between the old gas chamber and their home. It was a very emotional visit today.  It is awful what people can do to people!

It was a lot of walking and by the time we got to the bus everyone was hungry and tired. We had all  packed fruit, and sandwiches or rolls that we made from the breakfast stuff.  On the ride home many of us fell asleep.

When we got back to the hotel, Janet, Michael and I ditched our coats and called a cab to take us to the Schindler Museum.  It was in the old factory, in room after room with lots of memorabilia from 1939 to 1946.  It showed the Jews from the good life to the ghettos and being shipped off to camps.  If talked about the Nazis. There were many interviews on tape, and stuff on the walls to read.  Janet and I read a lot, but there were only two times there were places to sit in two hours.  The standing for so long was the pits.  Michael of course read every word so we had to wait for him for twenty more minutes.  Luckily we found two chairs and took them over while we read this year's guest book.  It was interesting to read what people said and where they were from. 

When Michael finally came we grabbed a cab and got to the hotel with  an hour to rest before our golf cart ride around the city. We got to see the old town again lit up at night. Dinner was in a cool basement of one of the restaurants. It had tons of charm and good sour mushroom , beef and potato soup, two huge cabbage rolls with rice and meat filling and a tomato based sauce that was all yummy and of course ice cream with cherry sauce for dessert.  We got  back to the hotel via the golf carts in time to pack and get this written. I think I should sleep well again tonight.

Bye,

Grove and the gang

Work will make you free  ,  the lie they had written at the gate

 

Old gas chamber that didn't get destroyed because the officers were using it as a bomb shelter.

 

Birkenau camp

Trains going through here are filled with thousands going to the gas chamber.

 

 

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