The Nazi's scheme to initially degrade Jews and then to reduce them to ashes was to clinically assess how to do it. Then, after the meeting in Wannsee, in Berlin in January 1942, it provided the impetus to commit Genocide. (A term not accepted, as such, until after the conclusion of the Nuremberg Trials).
My feelings are raw and on seeing the places where extreme cruelty was perpetrated it is hard to take in: it is still in my reflected vision.
Some examples such as punishment cells where inmates that had transgressed would spend the night standing up with three others, with standing room for four only, having had to crawl in via a three foot high door are imprinted on my mind; then to be sent to work the next day.
Another punishment was to crowd inmates into an equally small room where they were left without food or water until they died.
Each day they would stand on parade, maybe for up to an hour, and then be marched to work wearing only clogs, clothing that was no more protective than pajamas in all weathers and temperatures. The idea was to destroy until death and for them to be replaced by others.
On return from their slave labour work they were then stood to be counted and until complete they would stay there with some fading away into their peace. If one was deemed to be missing then it had to be resolved with a record of one occasion taking nineteen hours. Death would have come to more of them. Escapees when captured would be executed along with ten others to persuade others to 'behave'.
This camp bears no comparison to the size of Birkenau (Brzezinka) which was enormous and the site shows it. Here there was death on an industrial scale. The huts were all constructed by slave labour and intended to house the maximum amount of personnel in cramped, cold and unhygienic conditions. Food was so limited that it caused 'starvation diarrhea'. Only allowed to use the toilet twice a day and with showering limited to once in three months the whole place must have stank of human deprivation, human waste and death. All deliberately undertaken to reach 'The Final Solution'. We should not forget.
There is one thing that I keep re-visualizing are the railway lines that led to each camp and the images of survivors of the journey appearing out of the cattle wagons to be segregated. Women and children to one side with men to the other. All calculated to weaken any resolve to resist as they were stripped of all clothing and belongings to walk into the shower room for cleansing. ZyclonB and the ovens then were set to work. The ashes were dispersed into ponds, the rivers and also spread as fertilizer on the land.
In 1945 and to attempt to cover up this mass murder the SS blew up the gas chambers. They could seem to have some sense of guilt or maybe it was to escape retribution. Of the seven thousand SS guards only one thousand were brought to any form of punishment. The rest disappeared into the chaos of the time.
Rudolp Hüss, the commandant of Auschwitz was tried and returned to the camp where he was hanged on gallows made for him alone. Apparently, his one regret, was that he did not spend enough time with his children. He was hanged in plain sight of the house where he had lived with his wife and five children in comfort.
It has been said that no bird song can be heard. This is not true as there was evidence of birds at all three camps. Nature seems to adapt well.
Our guide was incredible. She has been doing this for twenty years and does four tours a week. She said that if she took a break from it she may never be able to return. I think I can go some way to understanding her point. It was all poignant for me and for her more so as over that period of time she met many survivors who returned. She has heard their sufferings from the people upon whom it was inflicted.
In the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum I bought THE AUSCHWITZ POEMS. I had looked at some of the writings before and apart from recollections of the visits I wanted to take something away with me. I think that I should only read them when I am having a good day!
I could say that everyone should visit, but that is a very personal choice and maybe I will return again.
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