Auschwitz-Birkenau (Oświęcim, Poland)

As we were planning our trip to Poland, we knew that we needed to include some historical sites related to WWII and the Holocaust, as these are significant aspects of Polish history.  Kraków itself escaped much of the bombing that flattened cities like Warsaw, allowing its medieval architecture to remain intact (as we saw in Old Town).  But it was just outside of Kraków, in Auschwitz-Birkenau, that the Nazis first experimented with the gas chambers that would become the "final solution."  The camps are now a memorial and museum; we put this on our must-see list of sights.  (We had hoped to see the Schindler Factory museum, as well, but didn't manage to find time to get there.)  We took a bus from Kraków to Oświęcim, a small town where former Polish army barracks became Auschwitz and where the Nazis built the Birkenau extermination camp, using the forced labor of those brought to the camps.

These birds greeted us as we arrived at Oświęcim to see the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial & Museum. I couldn't identify the species of bird, although they seemed vaguely pigeon-like. We had a quick bite to eat on the benches outside the museum, waving away bees, before we embarked on the four hour tour of the camps.

Cannisters of Zyklon B at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial & Museum

The barracks in the Auschwitz camp provide museum displays related to the history and working of the camp as well as reconstructions of the living conditions while the camp was in operation. This displays some of the empty canisters of Zyklon B that were used in the gas chambers.

I knew that visiting the memorial would be hard. No matter how much research I have done and how much I already know about the Holocaust and Auschwitz-Birkenau, actually being in the camps still evoked strong feelings. But in a way, I welcomed it -- I never want to be unmoved by the evil represented by these camps. 

Display of prosthetic limbs and crutches

The sheer enormity of the Holocaust makes it hard to really grasp. So many people were killed that it can become almost abstract. But a broken child's doll, a mountain of shoes, or piles of prosthetics bring the human toll into clarity again. Each one of these was taken from someone who then died -- most were killed outright after the sorting, although some might have died through rampant illness, starvation, or exposure that claimed the lives of so many in the camps.

The barbed wire fences at Auschwitz

There were so many ways in which the camps were created to cause suffering. I knew about the deaths and the gas chambers, but I didn't know about the prison within the camp, where prisoners might be tortured, starved to death, hung by their arms for hours or days, or forced to stand in quarters too small to move or sit ("standing cells"). I knew about Mengele's "experiments", but not about the efforts to perfect sterilization techniques on (non-Jewish) women in the camps, many of whom died from the surgery. I knew about the starvation, but not the rampant disease that resulted from overcrowding and inadequate sanitation. There were so many ways in which people in the camps were made to suffer.

Suitcases from those brought to the camps, carefully labeled with names and addresses

Our tour guide emphasized the extensive deception used by the Nazis to hide the realities of the camps. People brought to the camp were given "tickets" and were told to write their name on their suitcases so that they could get them back later. (In point of fact, these material goods went to warehouses nicknamed "Canada" by those in the camps, where all items of value or potential use were appropriated by the Nazis.)  Many of those arriving at the camp believed it would be an improvement over the terrible conditions in the ghettos; few knew of the existence of the gas chambers.

 One of original trains that brought people to Birkenau from all over Europe

The Nazis also created fake enclaves that were intended to fool international observers. Some barracks allowed families to live together in relatively humane conditions, for example, and in other camps, films were made to show how well people were living in the camps. The level of deception was extensive and planned, which is part of what allowed them to continue with the "final solution." And the deception continued as the Nazis destroyed the gas chambers in Birkenau when they were forced to abandon the camp.

The memorial at Birkenau (the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial & Museum).

The memorial at Birkenau is a complex monument and includes this plaque in a variety of languages. "FOR EVER LET THIS PLACE BE A CRY OF DESPAIR AND A WARNING TO HUMANITY, WHERE THE NAZIS MURDERED ABOUT ONE AND A HALF MILLION MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN, MAINLY JEWS FROM VARIOUS COUNTRIES OF EUROPE. AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU 1940-1945"

Sunset over the Birkenau camp

It's hard to realize how large Birkenau is until you see it. The Auschwitz camp used the site of former Polish army barracks, and it is a smaller camp. But Birkenau was built specifically as a concentration/death camp, and it is enormous (although they were never able to finish the planned buildings). Even so, the level of overcrowding was appalling. 

I am not even going to try to share all that we learned on the tour and I can't fully express the depth of feeling it evoked.  If you want to learn more about the history of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the PBS documentary series "Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State" provides a detailed (and chilling) history of the camps.  Our tour guide also recommended the film "The Grey Zone" (I haven't seen it).

The Ambasada Śledzia (Krakow, Poland)

After we got back from Oświęcim, we headed out for dinner at the Ambasada Śledzia, which featured flavored vodkas (Q tried one) and Polish tapas. Their version of tapas included pretty generous portions, though, so we only "sampled" one dish each.  Pretty tasty, though! 

 The Ambasada Śledzia is apparently the "Herring Embassy" -- hence, the herring poster pictured below.

 Ambasada Śledzia (Krakow, Poland)

Next up:  Wawel Hill and the Jewish quarter of Kazimierz