Alright everyone, so another city is down and we are on to Prague today. Our time in Krakow, Poland was very enjoyable and it is certainly a city I would like to return to because it is lively and beautiful!
However, the main reason we added Krakow to our itinerary was to visit the Auchwitz-Birkenau concentration camps in Poland, which are located about an hour drive from the city. Obviously going to these camps is hard and emotional for everyone, but as many of you know Eric and I are both Jewish, so it was especially tough.
I don’t really want to go into a lot of details about it because it gets my emotions going too much, but I will describe a little bit for those who have never been to one of these camps.
The infamous gate above the entrance to Auchwitz
As many of you know, Auchwitz is the most infamous of the “death camps” the Nazi’s set up. Over 1.4 million people were killed on the site of the three Auchwitz area camps (the third was completely destroyed). We took a bus to the site of the camps and got into a group for a tour of both facilities. First was Auchwitz I, the original camp of the three. The first thing you see when you walk in is the infamous “Arbeit Macht Frei” sign above the entrance, which means “work set’s you free.” Obviously this is a completely false hope given to the people imprisoned in the camps and actually seeing it in person gave me chills. Walking through the gate was very hard because you can’t help but picture the thousands upon thousands of people making that same fateful walk.
From there on, we walked through a lot of former barracks which had been turned into museums somewhat, with pictures and displays to be explained by the guides. I was doing pretty well for most of that, until we got to a certain room. As we turned a corner and walked into a room, before us were 2 tons of real human hair from Auchwitz victims. This hit me like a ton of bricks and I started crying and getting very emotional. There were also cases with 40,000 pairs of shoes belonging to victims, eyeglasses of victims and so on. It was not something I expected to see and it affected me a lot.
I really don’t want to go into detail about the gas chamber because that is something I can’t explain. It was hard to even breathe and Eric and I both exited very quickly. It’s a feeling I have never had before and likely never will.
From there we drove 3 minutes to Birkenau, the second camp, which is 25 times larger than Auchwitz I. Unlike
Train tracks through Birkenau, the larger, better preserved of the two camps
the original, this camp was left almost exactly the way it was when allied forces liberated it in 1945. It is incredibly eerie to walk around and see the place where so much horror took place. After that we returned to the bus and went back to Krakow.
As tough and emotional as it was to visit Auchwitz and Birkenau, I’m glad we did it. I won’t mince words when I say it was one of the hardest days of my life, but it is absolutely something that everyone should see so they can be reminded of the horrors that human beings are capable of and make sure nothing like it ever happens again.
Despite all that, Krakow was actually a fantastic little city. The “Old Town” is incredible and there is a huge square where there are always entertaining street performers and places to eat and hang out. It has a lot of character and the most beautiful women of any place we have been so far (probably tied with Brussels). We met up with our Irish friends (Robbie, Pete, James and Doug) who we went out with in Berlin and had a great time. Although if there was one lesson me and Eric learned that night it’s this; DO NOT try to keep up with the Irish when you drink with them haha.
I hope everyone is doing really well and I miss everyone back home. Take care and I look forward to seeing all of you very soon!
Josh
From Bobby Orr to Bobby Cremins 