Auschwitz 1- Christopher Kash

Today was the day that I have been anticipating since I first knew that I would be going on this trip. This moment was visiting Auschwitz and walking the grounds of this terrifying place that is embedded in history. I have always learned about Auschwitz through my history classes and what occurred behind those walls. I learned of the horrors and atrocities that waited for those who were imprisoned there. I saw pictures and videos of the camp, but I never thought I would one day see the actual place where so much death occurred. Today allowed me a glimpse of this horrific place in history.

Today we visited Auschwitz 1. Auschwitz is made up of 3 different camps, 1, 2 and 3. The first view you see upon entering Auschwitz 1 is the infamous sign “Arbeit Macht Frei” which means “Work Will Set You Free”. It was frightening to look upon the sign that so many eyes have fallen upon which was telling them a lie. What I mean by a lie is that the Nazis made it sound that if you worked hard enough you would be set free. The Nazis believed in the idea of survival of the fittest. According to Manfred in And Your Conscience Never Haunted You (2013), he states how the Nazis believe that the strong outlast the weak and that in the long run the strong outlasts the week. Those enslaved in the camps could then prove their strength according to the Nazi ideology. As we all know this was not the case, but it was told to the prisoners to have them believe that there was a way for them to escape this path.

                                    

As we entered the camp I immediately felt quiet. Auschwitz, out of the many locations where Jews were imprisoned and lost their lives, was the biggest extermination and concentration camp. As we walked past the many buildings that acted as barracks, warehouses and infirmaries overlooked by the guard towers, I tried to imagine the camp during its time of operation. Knowing that people were just ferried in and out of these buildings and walked the same ground that I was walking chilled me to the bone. I was voluntarily there to become a witness, but there were those who had no choice of being there. Having that knowledge gave me the drive to witness and learn all that I could.

We were able to enter many different buildings throughout the tour, some that had been restored and others that were the same as they were back in 1944. It was surreal to be standing in the same buildings that the Jewish and other prisoners were in, seeing the places where they slept, ate and used the bathrooms. Someone today said “Imagine what the walls would say if they could talk”. That stuck with me because these walls witnessed so many different people and experiences. I am sure the world would be astounded and horrified from the stories that the walls could tell.

                                 

                                     Just some of the many barracks among Auschwitz.

There were one moment on the tour that I was sickened and saddened from what I was seeing. This moment I was in one of the buildings that had people’s possessions which were stolen from them or taken from them before being murdered. This action of taking such possessions fall into the Teaching of Contempt, which was the blaming of Jews for the world’s problems. A prime example of this teaching is found in Martin Luther writing The Jews and Their Lies (1543), where he advises that the Jewish prayer books and Talmudic writings should be taken from them. In addition to taking these items, the Nazis also took items like glasses, shoes, silverware and luggage. However, what sickened me the most was the display cases of hair that were from Jewish women. Before being killed in the gas chambers, the women were shaved and their hair was then sold by the SS as raw material for the German textile material. These piles of hair were actually one with someone and were shaved away to be sold for money. This display case was filled with hundreds if not thousands of people’s hairs, and the frightening part of it was that it didn’t even show all of the women whose hair was taken from them. Looking at all the different piles of hair was the hardest moment for me because they had come off of a person’s body.

In addition to being sickened and saddened, I had also felt encouraged. Being encouraged in a place like Auschwitz can seem confusing and wrong, but in this case I think you will understand. One of the many prisoners that was in Auschwitz was a priest named Father Kolbe. During the time Father Kolbe was imprisoned there, there was a prison escape. The Nazis response to any type of escape was to take prisoners from the escaped ones work detail or barrack and either kill them/torture them until the escaped prisoners were either captured or returned. The reason for this was to discourage prisoners from escaping because they would then be responsible for the deaths of those who took their place. After the escape when Father Kolbe was present, 10 men were selected to be placed in the starvation cell until the prisoners were captured. One of the men picked protested saying how he had a family. Father Kolbe, after hearing this, volunteered himself in the place of the man without having to. From the starvation cell, the guards could hear him and the other selected 9 praying and singing songs of praise each day until they all slowly died. After about 2 weeks, Father Kolbe was still alive and standing but the Nazis ended his life by poisoning him. Learning the story of how Father Kolbe selflessly volunteered himself for a certain death encourages me to be better than I am. Looking at the cell he was in and knowing what fate awaited him encourages me to be selfless and do well for others.

Stepping into Auschwitz and touring the grounds was of course an emotional experience. My heart is saddened from the atrocities that occurred within those walls and the lives/families that were torn apart. However, by witnessing and learning about these events allows me to be a movement in this world to not allow anything like this happen again.