So, I've been putting off this post for quite a while now (we went on the weekend of the 21st Jan). This hasn't been totally because I have been swimming in assignments and exams. It's been mainly because it was such an amazing trip and I have so much to say that doing a blog is a) daunting and b) wont do it justice because so much of it will be better explained in person with a proper gallery of photos.
But I will try to give a bit of an overview, however, know that it will be better when I tell you in person. Ugh, I seriously don't know where to start (I wish I could talk and the computer would type for me). But basically on a cold Friday evening, Alice, Ronald, Richard, Mattias and I cramped ourselves into a little rentacar and set down the highway 6 hours to Bracka Street in Krakow (Note: NOT Bracka street in Warsaw which is 9 hours away- glad to pick that up on the GPS before we went on an unintended road trip to Warsaw).
Now, thinking about it, I can't really remember my last proper road trip in a car with a group of friends, driving and playing music and eating chips and lollies and of course, food stops at Maccas.I forgot how freakin fun it is and want to organise more of these with all of you soon! (e.g. I'm thinking East Coast Aus in Summer). The drive was great. Our Dutch friend Ronald brought with him the pride of his country... Yes, the Vengaboys. So we Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom'ed and Uncle John from Jamaica'd the entire way down the A4. (if you need a reminder at how awesome these songs are please click here and thank me later.
We arrived at the hostel at around midnight and headed out for a drink, then settled into bed cos we had a big day of Auschwitz coming up.
And then Saturday was upon us. We jumped back in our little buzz box and drove to Auschwitz. Now, this is where it gets complicated. I have so much to say about the concentration camps and so I think I'll reserve most of it for conversations with you all. But basically it truly was breathtaking and depressing and in someways amazing (but not good amazing). Everyone knows of the horrors that occurred during WWII and know that Auschwitz was a death camp, with basically everyone who was sent there, being sent there to be "exterminated". And we all know that millions of people died in these terrible ways in terrible living quarters in extreme conditions. But it's not til you're there, 'til you see the train tracks that would bring the people unknowingly meeting their untimely death straight into the camp, 'til you can picture the 400 people sleeping 3 to a bunk bed in a stable which looks like it could only hold about 50-100 people comfortably, 'til you see the large barb wire fences and (what really hit me- and I'm sure everyone else who visits) the gas chambers and the forest where you can picture in your head the men, children and women, waiting, petrified of what was about to be the end of their lives, that you REALLY understand how terrible it all really was. Not only did my experience at the camps (there are two at Auschwitz) make me re-evaluate what/who really is important in my life (so many things I worry about that really begin some insignificant once you stand where 1.5 million innocent people were killed in such horrific ways, but also realise how close my grandfather came to being here as he is Polish and his mother and him were taken from their home in Poland and sent to camps in Germany when he was about 10 years old. So many Poles were taken to Auschwitz and being a mother and young child, they are typically examples of people sent to Auschwitz. So, luck was on their side that day.
Wow, this is a lot of text. I'm gonna share some photo's now, but yeah. Much better explained with words, and larger then on a crappy blog. Then onto fun stuff back in Krakow :o)
But I will try to give a bit of an overview, however, know that it will be better when I tell you in person. Ugh, I seriously don't know where to start (I wish I could talk and the computer would type for me). But basically on a cold Friday evening, Alice, Ronald, Richard, Mattias and I cramped ourselves into a little rentacar and set down the highway 6 hours to Bracka Street in Krakow (Note: NOT Bracka street in Warsaw which is 9 hours away- glad to pick that up on the GPS before we went on an unintended road trip to Warsaw).
 |
| Yeahhhh AVIS! |
We arrived at the hostel at around midnight and headed out for a drink, then settled into bed cos we had a big day of Auschwitz coming up.
And then Saturday was upon us. We jumped back in our little buzz box and drove to Auschwitz. Now, this is where it gets complicated. I have so much to say about the concentration camps and so I think I'll reserve most of it for conversations with you all. But basically it truly was breathtaking and depressing and in someways amazing (but not good amazing). Everyone knows of the horrors that occurred during WWII and know that Auschwitz was a death camp, with basically everyone who was sent there, being sent there to be "exterminated". And we all know that millions of people died in these terrible ways in terrible living quarters in extreme conditions. But it's not til you're there, 'til you see the train tracks that would bring the people unknowingly meeting their untimely death straight into the camp, 'til you can picture the 400 people sleeping 3 to a bunk bed in a stable which looks like it could only hold about 50-100 people comfortably, 'til you see the large barb wire fences and (what really hit me- and I'm sure everyone else who visits) the gas chambers and the forest where you can picture in your head the men, children and women, waiting, petrified of what was about to be the end of their lives, that you REALLY understand how terrible it all really was. Not only did my experience at the camps (there are two at Auschwitz) make me re-evaluate what/who really is important in my life (so many things I worry about that really begin some insignificant once you stand where 1.5 million innocent people were killed in such horrific ways, but also realise how close my grandfather came to being here as he is Polish and his mother and him were taken from their home in Poland and sent to camps in Germany when he was about 10 years old. So many Poles were taken to Auschwitz and being a mother and young child, they are typically examples of people sent to Auschwitz. So, luck was on their side that day.
Wow, this is a lot of text. I'm gonna share some photo's now, but yeah. Much better explained with words, and larger then on a crappy blog. Then onto fun stuff back in Krakow :o)
Train tracks into the camp leading straight to the gas chambers.
Barracks where 400 people would be "living". I'd say they were about 4m wide by no longer then 40m. So, so small...
These go together. This was a really sad picture. I found myself just staring at it for a long time.
I like this with the reflection in the background and the rose on top.
"To the memory of the men, women and children who fell victim of the Nazi genocide.
Here lie their ashes. May their souls rest in peace"
(A lot of ashes were just dumped on the ground or in the nearby large pond after being cremated)
Photo by Alice: Photo's of people whose lives were taken during WWII. There was a section on just children... My throat started hurting at that point and I had to leave that section quite quickly.
Photo by Alice
"Work makes you free" / "Work liberates"
Inside a gas chamber/crematorium which was a part which also felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach. You could picture the men, woman and children, cramped together, naked and terrified, screaming and wondering why them... why anyone?
On that highly depressing note, I'm gonna leave you and go to bed. It's past 1am and I have an exam at 9:20am tomorrow (today). I will do the fun stuff and the rest of our trip of Krakow and promise it will be a lot more positive then this one.
But sometimes I think we all need a big serve of reality, as sad as it was coming to Auschwitz, I think it has made me a better person. Made me appreciate a lot more in my life and stop taking things for granted and to stop worrying about the small, insignificant crap in my life that lately I've been thinking is the end of the world. Nothing I've been losing sleep over lately even remotely comes close to the sights and acts that these people had to endure.
I hope that the photo's can help you appreciate more and bitch less as well.
xx
No comments:
Post a Comment