Preserving Memories of Lives Lost

Arbeit Macht Frei - "Work Sets You Free"

My first visit to Auschwitz I on Monday, March 13, did not surprise me. The setting and atmosphere were very similar to my expectations. As I imagined what Auschwitz would be like, I pictured rows of brick buildings and a solemn, quiet air of respect and reflection blanketing the camp. This is exactly the scene I entered as I passed through the Arbeit Macht Frei gate.

What did surprise me, however, were the staggering remnants of murder on display in the exhibitions throughout the camp.

Very early on in our class tour, an urn of human ashes stood on a pedestal in a barrack as a symbol of the million plus murders that the Nazis perpetrated. One would be hard-pressed to think of another symbol that could more directly confront one with the horrific tragedy of Auschwitz I. Before long, however, I would view several more exhibits that offered hard visualizations of the mass murder that occurred over seven decades ago.

The first of these exhibits was a shocking display of human hair that reached from one side of the barrack room to the other. Seven tons of hair sat behind the glass barrier, according to our guide, Bart. SS men shaved the bodies of Jews murdered in the gas chambers before the bodies were taken to the crematoria. Some of the hair would be sold to parties interested in its practical use, such as organizations in the textile industry.

40,000 pairs of shoes stretched across the room

Shortly after this, Bart led us to a room with a mountain of shoes stretching its length on both sides. 80,000 individual shoes lied strewn about, creating a sight of immense loss. These two exhibits made it easy for me to visualize the millions of people whom the SS killed during the Holocaust, leaving nothing but shaved hair, tattered shoes and whatever memories surviving family and friends held onto.

The Death Wall

Eventually, our tour led us to a reconstruction of the Death Wall. In front of this stone wall, prisoners of Auschwitz who earned the ire of the SS were lined up and shot in the back of the head. Contextualized by everything else we had learned throughout the tour, it was easy to imagine the gruesome act of cruelty. As Auschwitz escapee Kazimierz Piechowski explained in the documentary film The Runaway, the bodies were then dumped in the nearby corner and involuntarily carried away by prisoners.

Crematorium exterior

Near the end of the tour, we entered a gas chamber and crematorium where about a million or more Jews took their final breaths. I learned that 340 bodies could be cremated each day. It was impossible to do anything other than reflect on the staggering amount of loss committed by the SS in those very rooms.

I thought of the 1543 anti-Semitic treatise by Martin Luther, On the Jews and Their Lies, that I studied in class. The treatise attempted to demonize Jews and promoted atrocities against them, including exile from their homes. This teaching of contempt contained in the text contributed to the mentality that fueled the Holocaust and the terrible acts of murder I saw evidence of throughout the museum.

After touring Auschwitz I and becoming a witness of the Nazi crimes, all one can do is ask questions that may never find answers and attempt to preserve the memory of the millions of lives lost by remembering and spreading the names and stories preserved at the camp.

by Michael Coppola