Every Person Has A Name. Kelly McGovern

March 17, 2014

It is our third day in Poland, and today we visited Auschwitz 1. An overwhelming feeling of sorrow, anger and guilt overcame me when I was standing at the front gate looking up at the words, Arbeit Macht Frei (work makes you free). 

The gate at Auschwitz 1 

From the front gate I could see many brick buildings. One very long building with many chimneys was in the front. Our tour guide told us that this was the kitchen. She stated that if you worked in the kitchen you were considered one of the lucky ones because you would not starve to death. It is hard to believe that anyone could be considered lucky at such a horrible place.

Kitchen block in Auschwitz 1 

The very first building we went into contained maps, pictures and facts about those who were brought to Auschwitz. One of the plaques said, “Auschwitz was the largest Nazi German concentration camp and death camp. In the years 1940-1945, the Nazis deported at least 1,300,000 people to Auschwitz.” Seeing this number literally made my jaw drop. It is so hard to believe how many innocent lives were lost during this time. 90% of those who were in Auschwitz were Jewish. I am in shock that someone would want to kill a group of people because of their beliefs. Throughout the Shoah, Jewish was said to be a race, which to this day I can’t understand because it is not a race, but a religion. These people were murdered over something that was not even true.

In this building, there were numerous pictures of individuals getting off the train, not knowing anything that was going to happen. Seeing the newly arrived list of prisoners deported from various countries to Auschwitz was astonishing.  

List of newly arrived visitors at Auschwitz 1 

Within the building there was an urn of ashes from those who perished at the hands of the Nazis. Our tour guide stated that there was so many ashes the Nazis did not know what to do with them. They would dump them in rivers, and eventually spread them as fertilizer around the camp. A main point that was constantly brought up today was how Auschwitz is the largest graveyard with no tombstones.

The urn which holds the ashes of the prisoners 

A huge part of weather someone lived or died in Auschwitz 1 was the selection process. Those who decided who died right away, or who got to live and work studied to be doctors. Our tour guide brought up a great point, which was, when an individual decides to become a doctor he or she usually pursues the profession to help people. At Auschwitz the doctors who selected the fate of innocent people was not doing what a doctor is suppose to do, help people. They were in fact killing people no matter which way they pointed for them to go. Personally, I was baffled by how someone who vowed to help people could do this. Studying to be a social worker, I can’t imagine knowingly doing something to put someone else’s life in such grave danger. 

A picture taken by an SS officer of the selection process 

There was one picture where I just became engulfed with sadness, anger and tears. It was a picture of children with who looks to be their mother, as well as others in the background. The caption of this picture is, on the way to death. These three young children in the front holding one another’s hands had no idea that their life was about to end. These three young children were completely innocent but put to death because of their beliefs. It is extremely hard to comprehend something to this magnitude. 

Prisoners on the way to death 

Learning about the gas chambers within Auschwitz 1, and seeing how the Nazis wanted to construct it and the fact that they actually followed through with it was a true eye opener. This was one of the main sources of how those who were prisoners in Auschwitz were killed. The gas chambers were constructed underground, so that those who were awaiting this tragic fate had no idea what they were going into. These innocent people thought they were simply going to take a shower, and instead cyclone B was poured onto them and they were killed. This truly shows the loss of innocent life. Standing there in the gas chamber I even felt a sense of betrayal, and complete distress for those whose lives were lost in these chambers.

      

Front of the gas chamber at Auschwitz 1 

Opening in the ceiling of the gas chamber in Auschwitz 1 

Within the next block, there were numerous displays that helped me visually understand how many people were murdered in Auschwitz 1. There were displays of eyeglasses, prosthetics of individuals, shawls, pots and pans, hairbrushes, makeup, and so many more things. There was one room that was specifically designated for people’s shoes. Walking into this room left me wide eyed. There were shoes filled from the floor to the ceiling. Knowing that someone wore those shoes walking to their death made chills run up and down my spine.  

80,000 single shoes of prisoners from Auschwitz 1 

A quote that I saw towards the end of my visit to Auschwitz 1 really moved me, it was titled every person has a name. That one specific title really stuck out to me in the sense that there were so many people murdered that it is hard to fathom who everyone was. Something that has been said to me even before coming on this trip was that one Jewish person died 6 million times. 6 million is the final number of Jewish individuals who died in the Shoah. Even though so many people passed away, it is extremely important to remember that every single person had a life, purpose and name that was horrifically taken away from them. 

"Every Person Has a Name"

Kelly McGovern