Chilling (Auschwitz)

Member Name: Belgian999

Product:	Auschwitz
Date:	25/10/00 (74 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Makes sure we never forget what happened

Disadvantages: Horrible, chilling, and deathly quiet - not for young children

Auschwitz has long been a place that I have felt compelled to visit, just to see if it is as awful as you always hear people say. And I can now say without a shadow of doubt that it is probably the single most disturbing, chilling and thought-provoking place I have ever visited. It is not that difficult to find - I drove from Heidelberg, via Nuremberg, Prague and Brno to cross the Czech-Polish border at Cesky Tesin, and from there it was about 90 minutes' drive along some potholed country roads to Oswiecim, the small town that the Nazis named Auschwitz.
The Polish authorities do not charge and entrance fee, you are free to donate as much as you feel is appropriate. The camp itself is divided into two sections, connected by the purpose-built railway lines that still bisect the town. The old Polish army barracks were used for some military prisoners (and the famous gates with 'Arbeit Macht Frei' above them are still there) and have now been converted into a large museum, filled with the piled possessions of prisoners and huge black and white pictures of life in Auschwitz. Thankfully, the modern multimedia experience has been kept very much to a minimum (although there is a film theatre in the main complex building), and the stark images speak very loudly for themselves. This area is by far the busier of the two, for the second and main part of the concentration camp is so large as to be almost incredible.

The main camp lies a 5-minute drive away, marooned in flat farmland with a small wood behind it, and it has been preserved pretty much as the Allied troops found it in 1945, save for the burning of many of the disease-infested wooden huts. The ruins of the gas chambers and ovens are left as they fell, the guard towers still loom over the meticulously planned rows of huts and cleanly dug irrigation trenches, and here and there you can find a photo explaining what occurred in a particular area - documentary proof, if any were needed, of what
the Nazis did, because they took photos of themselves in the act. There are some subdued headstones to the memory of the dead and a large, sombre monument at the rear of the camp, but this is largely a place to walk around and observe while you try to fathom out how it ever came to pass. A trip to Auschwitz will not put you in a good mood, but it makes you think. Horrible, but very thought-provoking, lest we forget...

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