Thursday, November 10, 2011
@ 9:12 PM
Auschwitz Concentration Camp...
Probably our most emotionally devastating experience yet.
The images we saw today are still haunting my mind.
I have always been intrigued by WW2, the amount of times I've read Art Speigelmens 'The complete series of Maus' is almost obsessive. But it doesn't matter how many books you read, or how many documents you see or movies you watch- nothing can prepare you for the somber feeling of walking through that gate with the words "Apreit Macht Frei" above your head.
I have always been intrigued by WW2, the amount of times I've read Art Speigelmens 'The complete series of Maus' is almost obsessive. But it doesn't matter how many books you read, or how many documents you see or movies you watch- nothing can prepare you for the somber feeling of walking through that gate with the words "Apreit Macht Frei" above your head.
Not only did we see the orginal Auschwitz camp but also the second camp- Birkenau. The size of Birkenau absolutely took my breath away. Standing in the middle of the camp, it streched out before us in every direction- with one long railway line right down the middle.
It was confronting to an absolutely depressing degree. Trying to take in the reality of what we were seeing and what had taken place here almost 70 years ago was a lot to handle. In fact, I still don't think I'm over it yet. We were taken into cell rooms, bunker rooms, and even one of the gas chambers. Shivers were running down my spine and my stomach was doing somersaults.
Visiting Auschwitz was definitely an experience I will never ever forget, but, for the sake of my sanity and innocence, I don't think I want to experience anything like it for a little while.
The entrance to Auschwitz which is a German phrase that translates to "Work makes one free"
You wouldn't imagine it, but they had big beautiful trees spotted throughout the camp... How a tree can grow on such rotten soil, I'll never know...
