Hopefully no one gets offended by the satirical entry on the Holocaust below. As for how it played out in reality, let me just say, it was weird.
What was weird was not the fact that you're walking through the graveyard of millions of people (mostly, but not all Jews). Trust me, that overwhelming underscore pervades throughout. What was weird is that, at least for me, I came away a little bit awestruck.
It's pretty amazing to think how thorough the Germans were during this period. For one thing, only 144 people escaped in the nearly five years the camps were active. Considering literally millions came through there during that time, that is pretty incredible. They were so thorough in every respect, that they would even enlist the strongest Jews to clean out the incinerators, only to kill them every two months to eliminate witnesses of war crimes. I suppose I could go into the many more awful atrocities that took place there, but I'll spare you if only because I know that if you wanted to read about it badly enough, you'd google it and read to your heart's content.
I'll say that walking the grounds of Auchwitz and Birkenau is a lot like seeing and smelling the smoldering heap where the World Trade Centers used to be, shortly after they fell. You can almost feel the weighty stare of the people who have perished there as you walk the grounds. There are rooms with literally several hundred square meters of human hair (used for textiles), or old shoes (stolen upon arrival to the camps), or suitcases (labelled, as every prisoner was told to clearly label their belongings to better identify it later - designed to reduce panic and give false hope). It was spooky. And so, so sad.
For the duration of our tour, our guide wore a 24 karat veil of dispair as she explained the horrible methods and practices used in the camps. It's as if this all happened yesterday. In fact, that may have been the saddest thing of all; that this happened only 65 years ago, and it is still happening in parts of the world today (Sudan, Zimbabwe, Congo...), and virtually nothing is being done. That was perhaps my most depressing realization.
There was, indeed, a Death Wall, and there were, indeed, inscriptions of idiot kids on it. It's a memorial; a headstone for millions of people, and some douchebag kids need to scrawl their initials in it. Unbelievable. I felt as disgusted as when I saw idiot tourists getting their pictures taken in front of the smoldering mess of the WTC. "Look at me, I'm at a graveyard!! [insert stupid smile]" God, I hate people.
In any case, as mentioned above, I did approach our guide and ask how she could bear to speak of this every day. Her response was that while it wasn't easy, she felt it was a tribute to her family's history; how her grandmother's two brothers had been executed as children for smuggling food. That made me break down almost completely.
Nevermind the sheer, overwhelming expanse of Birkenau. That place extends literally as far as the eye can see. There were barracks everywhere, and the conditions inside, even now, tell an unspeakable story of utterly inhuman living conditions. Plus, it's so big, and so depressingly colorless and dreary, that it overwhelms you with dispair.
Ok, enough. I think everyone gets it: the Germans were pretty crappy peeps for awhile there, back in the 40s. What strikes me as odd (and I'll have to credit Sarah Silverman here as having written a song about it), is how Jews nowadays can ride around in German cars. I mean, the backbone of the German industrial revolution was waged on the slave labor of the concentration camps. Granted, I drove an Audi A4 for nearly two years, and it was a money ride, but it really makes me wonder now that I know what I know...
Lastly, I'll just mention that walking through the gas chamber and incinerator are some of the most shuttering feelings I've ever felt. They say you shouldn't speak in these areas, out of respect for the dead. But when a baby cries, and you hear the deafening echo, it's hard not to imagine what the sound of up to 1,500 tortured, screaming voices in unison might sound like.
Again, I hope I didn't offend with the satire below. I was immensely affected by Auchwitz/Birkenau, and I'd urge anyone who finds themselves in eastern Europe to make the trip. It is part of our recent history, and as a sign from within Auchwitz says, "Those who do not understand history, are doomed to repeat it."
[/Debbie Downer]
What was weird was not the fact that you're walking through the graveyard of millions of people (mostly, but not all Jews). Trust me, that overwhelming underscore pervades throughout. What was weird is that, at least for me, I came away a little bit awestruck.
It's pretty amazing to think how thorough the Germans were during this period. For one thing, only 144 people escaped in the nearly five years the camps were active. Considering literally millions came through there during that time, that is pretty incredible. They were so thorough in every respect, that they would even enlist the strongest Jews to clean out the incinerators, only to kill them every two months to eliminate witnesses of war crimes. I suppose I could go into the many more awful atrocities that took place there, but I'll spare you if only because I know that if you wanted to read about it badly enough, you'd google it and read to your heart's content.
I'll say that walking the grounds of Auchwitz and Birkenau is a lot like seeing and smelling the smoldering heap where the World Trade Centers used to be, shortly after they fell. You can almost feel the weighty stare of the people who have perished there as you walk the grounds. There are rooms with literally several hundred square meters of human hair (used for textiles), or old shoes (stolen upon arrival to the camps), or suitcases (labelled, as every prisoner was told to clearly label their belongings to better identify it later - designed to reduce panic and give false hope). It was spooky. And so, so sad.
For the duration of our tour, our guide wore a 24 karat veil of dispair as she explained the horrible methods and practices used in the camps. It's as if this all happened yesterday. In fact, that may have been the saddest thing of all; that this happened only 65 years ago, and it is still happening in parts of the world today (Sudan, Zimbabwe, Congo...), and virtually nothing is being done. That was perhaps my most depressing realization.
There was, indeed, a Death Wall, and there were, indeed, inscriptions of idiot kids on it. It's a memorial; a headstone for millions of people, and some douchebag kids need to scrawl their initials in it. Unbelievable. I felt as disgusted as when I saw idiot tourists getting their pictures taken in front of the smoldering mess of the WTC. "Look at me, I'm at a graveyard!! [insert stupid smile]" God, I hate people.
In any case, as mentioned above, I did approach our guide and ask how she could bear to speak of this every day. Her response was that while it wasn't easy, she felt it was a tribute to her family's history; how her grandmother's two brothers had been executed as children for smuggling food. That made me break down almost completely.
Nevermind the sheer, overwhelming expanse of Birkenau. That place extends literally as far as the eye can see. There were barracks everywhere, and the conditions inside, even now, tell an unspeakable story of utterly inhuman living conditions. Plus, it's so big, and so depressingly colorless and dreary, that it overwhelms you with dispair.
Ok, enough. I think everyone gets it: the Germans were pretty crappy peeps for awhile there, back in the 40s. What strikes me as odd (and I'll have to credit Sarah Silverman here as having written a song about it), is how Jews nowadays can ride around in German cars. I mean, the backbone of the German industrial revolution was waged on the slave labor of the concentration camps. Granted, I drove an Audi A4 for nearly two years, and it was a money ride, but it really makes me wonder now that I know what I know...
Lastly, I'll just mention that walking through the gas chamber and incinerator are some of the most shuttering feelings I've ever felt. They say you shouldn't speak in these areas, out of respect for the dead. But when a baby cries, and you hear the deafening echo, it's hard not to imagine what the sound of up to 1,500 tortured, screaming voices in unison might sound like.
Again, I hope I didn't offend with the satire below. I was immensely affected by Auchwitz/Birkenau, and I'd urge anyone who finds themselves in eastern Europe to make the trip. It is part of our recent history, and as a sign from within Auchwitz says, "Those who do not understand history, are doomed to repeat it."
[/Debbie Downer]
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