"Work will set you free"

Saturday- February 25

After the four of us were dressed and ready to go we went to the grocery store a few blocks down the road because we wanted to buy snacks for the day. The receptionist told us there is a small cafeteria at Auschwitz, but it's not a lot and recommended us bringing things. I grabbed a doughnut, orange juice, cookies, crackers and water. I wasn't 100 percent sure on what I was buying because it was all in Polish, but I just based my decision on the bags. 

After we walked back to the hostel we gathered our things and went down to the receptionist at 10 to wait for our shuttle bus. I got really nervous because I couldn't find my ticket anywhere in my room, but when I told the receptionist, she just wrote me a new one. It was obvious I had paid for it because we were in the books for four people from room five and I made it number four. It was a different receptionist from the night before, but she told us to wait in the office and the shuttle should be there by 10:35. I played on the computer for a little bit and then we decided to wait outside.

It at least wasn't misting and windy like it was the day before. Every time a coach bus would approach us we thought it was for us, but then it wouldn't slow down and would fly by us. At about 10:45 when we weren't paying attention this tiny van pulled up and stopped. There were probably already 10 people piled in this van and we all said, "this cannot be our shuttle."

Well, in fact it was. There were two other girls from our hostel who were going with us as well. Kate and Yelena sat next to each other and I squished my way to the back where a couple was sitting. There were two seats left in the back so I figured Jess and I could sit there. When I sat down and looked up Jess was two girls behind me and one of the girls from our hostel sat next to me. Her friend sat on her lap and Jess stood in the isle looking confused. 

The driver told her she had to sit up front with him and then he magically pulled out another seat for the girl sitting on her friend's lap to sit. After we were all situated we pulled away from our hostel and the driver put on a recording that thanked us for choosing this company and blah blah blah. The only part I remember is when it said it would take about and hour and a half to get to the camps. The girl next to me and I looked at each other and started laughing because we were all so squished and had a ways to go. 

We ended up making it in an hour and we all piled out of the car and the driver handed us pink tags we had to wear that said SeeKrakow, the company name. We met a camp worker who told us we had 20 minutes to go get something to eat or drink and then we would meet outside of the building where we currently were. 

When we walked inside I was appalled by how crowded it was. I had to push through a plethora of people to make my way from one side of the entry room to another. For some reason I didn't think there would be this many people, but it was also a Saturday so I guess it made sense. 

Yelena and I paid for a chocolate capoccino from a machine, that tasted horribly bitter in the beginning, but thankfully tasted better after a few sips. 

After about 20 minutes the four of us went back outside where there was a big group of people listening to two people talking. The woman told us we were going to be separated into touring groups based on the color of our tags we were given. Basically it was English or Spanish speaking tours. After the English speaking woman spoke, the Spanish guide did. I tried seeing if I could remember anything from high school, but he spoke so fast.

We all then migrated back into the building and formed a line to get headphones and headsets. Next, we went out through the back entrance which led us to the camp. We all waited outside for about 10 minutes and then the English speaking woman from before introduced us to our guide. 

About 20 of us started following our guide to the main gate of Auschwitz, which was intimidating because I've always seen it in textbooks and now I was seeing it in person. I have head the sign there today isn't the original one, but I'm not sure about it because our guide didn't say. 

The gloomy clouded sky also added to the feel of the camp. During our entire trip our guide gave us history on everything which was extremely helpful because some things I had forgotten about, and it added to the experience.

She then led us to building 4, which was called the extermination building. It wasn't where exterminations happened, but the camp now has exhibits in some of the buildings.  We walked through different rooms where there were old photographs, ashes and paper work. It was so sad to see these applications of people with all of their information. They were basically writing their death certificates without knowing it. 

In every room there were different photos of people being led to the gas chambers and people working. There was this photo which was taken illegaly by a prisner who's job was to take the dead bodies out after they were gassed. Our guide said the workers who had this job never survived because the Nazis would work them for four months and then kill them because they knew too much, and then they would bring in more workers. 

The photo is of the workers dumping the bodies.

In one room there was a glassed room filled with the bins that once had the pellets inside of it which were used to emit gas. 

When we walked into this one particular room I did not know what I was walking into. I saw a "no camera" sign, but it hit me as to why we weren't allowed to and my heart was suddenly in my throat and my stomach felt sick. There was an entire room filled with hair. Piles and piles of it. It really hit me hard that these were real people and when I saw strands of blonde hair all I thought to myself was that, "wow, if I was alive during this time, this could be me...it could be anyone."

The worst part of it was that I know that hair wasn't even a fourth of it and it still looked like an ungodly amount. Our guide told us that the hair was sold during this time to make mattresses...MATTRESSES. Who in their sick mind does that? There was another room window with braided ponytails. It looked like it was just cut off of someone. They also had bags filled with hair to show how it was shipped out. 

Another thing that got to me in this room were the baby shoes, clothes and toys. I cannot wrap my head around how someone could hurt a child, let alone murder them. They are so innocent and know next to nothing about life yet. 

In another room we walked down an isle and on both sides there were rooms filled with shoes. I've seen something just like it at the Holocaust Museum in D.C., which I've already been to twice. When you see this, you try to imagine people standing in their shoes and how many people would be standing in this room. It's heartbreaking and there were just so many and there are so many more in D.C. too.

Our guide told since the people truly believed they would be leaving, the brought all of their essentials like pots, pans, brushes, tupperware, etc. I mean, why would it even cross their minds that they would be murdered soon anyway? If I was told to pack up and go somewhere that wouldn't necessarily be my first thought.

The room that made me shift awkwardly was the suitcase room. There were piles of suitcases with individuals' names on them. It makes it a lot more personal when you read the names of the people.

-glasses-

-Jewish prayer shawls-

-leg braces-

-pots and pans-

-suitcases-

-Baby clothes-

After we left the execution building we were led down a dirt road to building 15. On our way we passed building 10 where Dr. Carl Clauberg conducted experiments on women. It was closed off to the public, so I wasn't able to go in, but I could sense the eeriness of the place just from the outside. Such a sick, twisted man. 

Our tour guide also led us to an alley. I wasn't paying attention to where we were and as I was looking around I wasn't paying attention to what she was saying into my headset. I looked straight ahead and saw a random cement wall with flowers in front of it. I immediately remembered black and white pictures of either this alley or similar ones and I had known it was somewhere where Jewish people were shot and killed. I asked Kate if that's what it was and she said yes. 

Our guide also said the Jews were hung by their arms by the wooden poles, and they hung there until they died. 

As we walked out of the alley we were led to building 15 where the torcher basement was. There were several different kinds of torcher rooms. I remember two which were suffocating and standing. The suffocating room occupied about nine people in a tiny room where they would stand in there until they died. Since there was no fresh air coming in, the good oxygen would run out and the people would suffocate. The standing room had little squares where four people would stand closely for two days. After two days they would be sent out to go work and then they would stand again for a day. Our guide said no one could survive not resting for that long of a time.

-standing room-

It was so dark and dense in that basement, I felt like I was in a horror film and someone or something was going to jump around a corner. It's surreal to think that this is what people went through and it was their own horror film. 

After leaving building 15 we walked to a place where Jews were hanged because their follow prisoners had either tried to escape or had successfully escaped. It was the Nazis' way of instilling even more fear into them. 

Next we walked where Rudolph Hoss was hanged after WWII. He was the director of all of the concentration camps and First Commander at Auschwitz. He and his wife lived on the camp grounds and had five children there. After WWII he was captured and brought back to Auschwitz where he was hanged for his crime. They felt he should die where we murdered so many other individuals. His wife was not charged for anything and she and her family moved to Germany. 

Our guide told us two years ago Hoss's grandson spoke at Auschwitz on televised TV. He applied to be a tour guide for the camp, but they denied his application because of who he was related to. The camp felt it would be unethical to have him leading people through the camp. 

We walked around a corner and were led to the gas chamber. Our guide had previously told us what the women and children had to do before they went into the chambers. They would undress outside and then walk into the entry room and then into the bigger room where they thought they would be showering. 

As I walked through the main door I imagined myself naked and walking into the main door and into the gas chamber. I felt so insecure because I could not imagine being naked in front of all these people I didn't know. When I walked into the gas chambered room I was told to look up at the ceiling where the gas came through and my breath was cut short. I was standing in a room where so many innocent women and children were murdered and were crying for their lives all stuffed in one room. The thought made me sick. I felt like I was in a sick, twisted movie. 

The next room was the cremator room where the bodies were soon turned into ashes. 

After the gas chamber we were led back to the entrance where we started and we were told we would have a short break and then we had to go find our shuttle in the parking lot.

We returned our headsets, sat for a little bit and then ventured out to find out shuttle. Luckily, we were the first people there so we had dibs on the seats and we were able to all sit near each other. 

After everyone was in it was about a five minute drive to Birkenau. When we pulled up I didn't realized we were there because there really wasn't a lot, just a lot of land and rubble. A lot of the buildings had been destroyed because of the bombings at the end of the war, so all I saw were a lot of random chimneys standing. 

Our tour started at the train tracks where we saw a car that was used to bring in the people to the camp. We stood where Nazis and doctors decided who was fit enough for work and who was to be sent immediately to the gas chambers. 

We were then led to where the railroad tracks ended. You could see into the forest where they used to come through, but they were cut off and are only within the camp. The memorial just beyond the tracks had stones with a saying on it in every language of the deceased people. The English stone was not added in until the 1990s because none of the diseased spoke it, but because most of the visitors of the camps were from America, they put one in. 

We then walked over to the gas chambers — well at least what remained of it. The long room on the right is the room where the women undressed and then the room on the left was the gas chamber. 

We were then led to the bunkers where the women and children slept. Each bunk had five women who slept in it and all they had was straw. I can never complain about not having sheets for a night again. Our guide told us also told us when women would have babies, they would be separated after the birth. The Jewish babies were killed and the babies of other religions were sent to Germany where they were raised without their birth mother. I've clearly never given birth, but I could not imagine carrying around a child for nine months and then be separated from it knowing it was murdered or sent away from me. 

I was okay walking through the bunks until I found a carving in a nook in a bunk. It had the Star of David and it said "We will never die" I read "children of" but I couldn't make out the third word. I just pictured a child or teenager laying up late at night carving that with a stone and the heart wrenching part was that I knew the person who wrote that probably died. They were real people and it is unbelievable some people think this act in history never happened. Just take this tour and if you have any doubts they will fade away. 

I ended my trip on top of the watch tower where I was able to overlook the camp like the picture above. I loved how the light peeked through the clouds over the train tracks. I took it as a sign that there was a glimmer of hope and eventually this cruel time period came to an end.

Afterwards we all gathered back in the shuttle and traveled back to our hostel in Krakow. We relaxed for a bit and then went out for dinner.

The day before Yelena had seen a Ukrainian restaurant that she wanted to go to because she was born in Ukraine and her mom makes this kind of food all of the time. 

When we walked into the restaurant we had to go down a flight of stairs and since it wasn't that busy we didn't know whether to seat ourselves or not again. So we sat down and then about 10 minutes later a waiter came with the menus. I had no idea what all of this food was on the menu but Yelena highly recommended a soup called Borsch and then I also got stuffed cabbage with tomato sauce. 

The soup was so incredibly delicious I just kept wanting more. The stuffed cabbage was good, but after the first was I was stuffed...no pun intended. 

After dinner we decided to go back to the cupcake joint just because it was so good from the day before. I ordered a coconut chocolate one, which was good, but not as good as my grasshopper one from the day before. 

For the rest of the night we walked around town through souvenir shops and then went home to relax for the night. It had been a long day so we were all in bed by 10.