Days 45 and 46 - Auschwitz-Birkenau and NFL Sunday

As you would expect Auschwitz was a moving experience.  It is impossible to describe the emotions that ran through my head but I think the plaque below best sums up the experience. 

Auschwitz is actually comprised of three different compounds.  Birkenau is one such compound and is where a vast majority of the killing took place.

The train platform at Birkenau

The train tracks in the picture above dead end just behind where I was standing.  The tracks were constructed for the sole reason of bringing the victims closer to the gas chambers so there was no need to extend the tracks.

A train would arrive at this platform and the people would then be asked to line up by gender.  A doctor would walk by and hand select those individuals who looked to be good workers.  The rest (all the children, most of the women and some of the men) would then be told to walk to the shower building.   After they all disrobed and went into the room a metal door would slam shut and Cyclone B would be released into the chamber.

An old gas chamber at Birkenau, destroyed before the liberation of camp

The gas chambers were situated below ground, as you may have noticed in the photo above.  The purpose of this was to muffle the crying, screaming and yelling coming from the victims within.  Contrary to popular belief the gas did not kill the victims quickly.  It took twenty minutes for the inescapable fate to be realized.

Actual cans of Cyclone B that were used by the SS

After the gas was cleared from the chamber the bodies were cremated.  At the heighth of the killing around one thousand bodies were being burned per day.  This was the longest step in the process and its length is the reason that more people were not murdered.

Birkenau  was so well planned because it was built after Auschwitz so the SS was able to correct its mistakes.  For instance the gas chamber at Auschwitz was built above ground near the residences of the prisoners. 

Auschwitz gas chamber

Initially Auschwitz did not use Czclone B for its executions.  The first victims of the camp were killed in a myriad of ways, including death by firing squad.

The firing wall

After a person was murdered his possesions were sorted and stacked by type.  The items would be distributed to army members since supplies were short during the war.  

A stack of eye glasses from the victims

I would continue but I think you have gotten a good sense of the atrocities that took place at Auschwitz-Birkneau.  It is hard to imagine such a mass extermination but reading some accounts of the victims personalized the experience. 
 
On a much, much, much lighter note it also happened to be Sunday yesterday.  After the trip to Auschwitz all we wanted to do was watch football and stop thinking about what we had just seen for a while.  I set off with ten students from the University of New Hampshire to find a bar that would turn on American football.  After a long trek we found an Irish pub that set us up with our own TV and we watched the whole slate of games.  The low point of the experience was when Tom Brady fumbled to seal the loss, as the UNH students are Patriots fans. 

Luckily the Bears decided to not be awful for once so I got to sing Bear Down a few times.

Day 46

Today has been kind of a nothing day because I was up so late watching football.  I am taking it easy, doing some laundry and resting up for the six hour walking tour of Krakow tomorrow.  I have really liked what I have seen of this city so far and after tomorrow I should have a better sense of the area.

The people I have met here have treated me like royalty as soon as I have mentioned that I am from Chicago. I have yet to meet a local who does not have a relative there, as there are actually more Polish people in Chicago than in Krakow.

Scott