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| Auschwitz I |
Anne Frank once said “If we bear
all this suffering and if there are still Jews left, when it is over, then
Jews, instead of being doomed, will be held up as an example.” Today, Auschwitz is a largest graveyard
without any grave. It has been converted into a museum. One of the reasons it
is called a graveyard is because the ashes of at least a hundred thousand
people from the crematorium are scattered all around the camp. Nazis used the
prisoners’ ashes for farming. When you enter the center, you can see an urn full
of ashes remaining of some of the victims. The urn is attached in my picture
below.
The Center of Dialogue and Prayer,
where we are staying, is located right across from the concentration camp, Auschwitz
I. I did have some idea of what to expect, but I was beyond shocked with what I
saw inside the camp. When we arrived at Auschwitz, we were introduced to our
guide Aggie, who was absolutely amazing and very intelligent. She mentioned how
she came to the camp when she was 15 and has been inspired by it ever since. She
also made sure to explain everything thoroughly. This made our experience so
much better. After the security checking, we entered the camp. The first thing we
saw was the entry gate with the sign that said “Arbeit macht frei”, which meant “work makes you free” in English.
Most of the people who came to Auschwitz came hoping that they would be free
one day if they worked hard enough. However, this wasn't the case, especially for
Jewish people. The Jews were brought to Auschwitz with the sole purpose to be
killed. Some Jews were not sent straight to the gas chambers. Sometimes, Nazi
officers decided to accept strong and healthy Jews for labor. Within 5 years,
1.1 million people were killed in Auschwitz and 90% of them were Jews.
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| Selecting Prisoners for Labor Camp and gas chambers |
One
room that shocked me the most was the room where there was 2,000 kg of hair of
the victims. This was absolutely heart breaking. It was unbelievable to think
that Nazis sent most of the hair back to Germany to make fabrics and gloves as they
wanted to recycle everything even hair and ashes. Something else that
fascinated me was the Canada houses at Auschwitz. When the Nazis took the Jews’
luggage, they kept and stored their belongings in these Canada houses. The
guide explained that they got the houses’ names because it was people’s dreams
to live in Canada since it was prosperous and had plenty of food. Another section
of the camp was filled with glasses and suitcases which mostly belonged to the upper
middle class. They were mostly scholars. Nazis first killed educators, political
prisoners and scholars because they wanted to cut the head of the institution
to avoid future revolution. There were suitcases with names and addresses as
most people probably thought that they were going to go back to their homes. One
suitcase that undeniably struck me was suitcase of a 6 year old orphan Hana
Fuchs. Both of her parents were killed at the concentration camp and she was
eventually killed as well
What we
saw today was absolutely horrific and unbelievable. It was just unimaginable to
think that 6 million people were killed because they believed in a different
religion, belonged to a different race and looked different. Nothing can ever
justify of what happened in Auschwitz and other concentration camps but
something that people can get out of this is that people can learn of this
event. This should never be repeated in
future. As George Santayana said “The one who does not remember history is
bound is bound to live through it again.”
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