Auschwitz and Birkenau: Day 10

 

This a very heavy day, with visits to Auschwitz and Birkenau.  I've been to these several times and it doesn't get easier. There is no hiding from the brick barracks, the wired fences, the many many pieces of evidence of crimes against humanity.  You think to yourself, "I'll be somber, it's a good place to be somber" but then you're hit with jarring images, with emotions that bubble up from the depths of your soul, with thoughts about the utter brutality and inhumane way people were treated, and you know you will never be the same.

We talked as a class after our visit, after the very quiet ride back to our hotel. We don't understand how people could be so cruel to others, how children were considered fair game for medical experiments, how dehumanization was so carefully planned. The deliberate steps to eradicate millions of people actually succeeded for a while - but why? and to what end? If you destroy everyone you disagree with, will there be a point you'll start destroying even those you agree with? So many questions, so many considerations, so much to internalize and make sense of. In the days and weeks ahead we will still be considering today's visit to Auschwitz and Birkenau.

This archive photo shows German solders nonchalantly walking on the platform at Birkenau. One transport was just concluded, another will arrive soon. If your shift is over you can casually walk away, perhaps back to your nearby home which was confiscated from local Poles. But you've just waved people along to their death. You've grabbed their luggage, tugged items from their embrace, taken away possessions because you know these people are the walking dead. The pile of possessions left in the background of the platform will be cleaned and sent to Germany. It wasn't yours to take, and it isn't yours to give to Germans. So much is wrong here.

Did you really need to remove all these things from the victims? You killed them; did you also need to shear their hair, pull their gold teeth, take all their clothes and their kitchen accessories?

Pause to connect with these female victims of Auschwitz. Top row: a teacher, a Ph.D., and two uncategorized professions. Bottom row: uncategorized profession, a chemical engineer, a teacher, a farmer. No one survived for more than five months.

Before we left Auschwitz I the Drake University students presented flowers at the death wall. Watch the special presentation here: https://youtu.be/fcg7tSgo9-4

Here are some photos from the presentation:

Once we moved to Birkenau, we knew prisoners there were condemned to death. There is no way to survive Birkenau, except at liberation.

We ask ourselves, what of this warning? What is the world's status now? Where are we going and how can we be a herald call?

We leave here carrying things in our hearts that will take a lot of processing. We know mankind's inhumane possibilities, we know ugly brutality, and for this knowledge we will require a bit of space, some time, and encouragement to applying this knowledge to the future.

In written form, here is the speech given by the Drake students at Auschwitz's death wall: