Auschwitz

In the week leading up to my visit to Poland and Auschwitz, people I told at work would all have the same reaction - "Oh, why on earth would you want to go there? I wouldn't be able to handle the place. It'd be too much for me." But for me, Auschwitz as always been a must-visit destination. The camp played such a pivotal role in the course of 20th century history and changed millions of lives. Places of such significance, I feel, are important to see.

The first thing I was surprised about was that touring the camp was entirely free. While I don't think they should make a profit from such a site, I thought they might have charged a fee that would go towards supporting the surviving victims and their families, or something like that. And I'm pretty sure anyone making a trip to Auschwitz would be more than happy to pay that. But nope, it was free.

To enter the camp, you must pass under the infamous gate with the slogan 'Arbeit macht frei' which translates to 'Work will set you free'. What a lie. After that you've got brick building after brick building arranged in rows around a central pathway. Watchtowers are at either end and double barriers of electrified barbed wire surround the perimeter. There's a gallows to one side of the main path, where public executions were held as a 'lesson' to other inmates. It's incredibly bleak to look at. I was surprised by the size of the place though. For a place where over 1 million jews were murdered, it's not all that big. I later learnt that when a trainload of inmates arrived, over half were sent straight to the gas chambers (they were told they'd be getting a nice warm shower), so I guess that kind of explains it.

Many of the blocks (the buildings each have a block number) have been converted into mini museums with different exhibitions in them. One block was all about the Polish Jews, another was the hospital block which detailed the awful experiments the Nazis performed, another contained photos of the inmates (not all of them, as taking photos of each inmate was only done at the beginning, before it became too much of a chore when the amount of inmates increased). I found it quite hard walking into this block, into the hallway lined with thousands of photos of sad, desolate faces staring out at you. But I also found it really interesting to read the little blurbs under the photos, about what each person's job was before they came to the camp.

The block that had the biggest effect on me, however, was the exhibition entitled "Physical evidence of the Holocaust." When I walked up the stairs and turned right down the hallway I actually gasped at what I saw. Human hair. On a scale I wasn't prepared for. The hallway was probably 100m long, and the entire left hand side was full of human hair (behind glass, obviously). And it wasn't just on the floor. It was a HUGE, high pile, extending the entire length of the corridor. This was when I teared up, just thinking about all the people that this signified. I read a sign that said all the hair was discovered in sacks when the camp was liberated. It had been cut off the heads of all those who had been gassed, and kept by the Nazis who would then use it to fill pillowcases and sell it on for weaving and suchlike. The opposite side of the hallway was just as hard to take, being filled with all the shoes left behind from victims. This exhibition also contained all the suitcases, gold teeth that weren't melted down, jewelry and all the possessions that once belonged to the inmates. It's hard to take.

Aside from that exhibition, the eeriest part of the tour was walking in to the gas chamber that's at one end of the camp. You see the big ovens that the poisonous substances were loaded in to, and the heads that the gas came out of. A sign at the door asks for respectful silence as you walk through. That makes it even eerier. Another part that was really creepy to walk through was the prison in the basement of one of the blocks. The cells were miserably tiny, wet and dark and when I was walking through there was no-one else around and not a sound to be heard. Safe to say I didn't stay down there for long.

I had to go to the bathroom while I was at the camp. There was a public toilet block at the end, near the gas chamber, so I used that. Even that was creepy though, and made me wonder what the building was used for before it was toilets. I hope it was erected afterwards for visitors. So I have been to the toilet at Auschwitz. A weird thing to be able to say.

Auschwitz is the German name for the camp, the Polish name for it being Oswiecim, which is also the name of the town the camp it in. I found it really strange that Auschwitz is right in the middle of the town. I kind of expected it to be on it's own, away from everything. But no, it's right in the middle of shops, houses, schools etc. I was quite shocked to see a school right next door, and to see housing buildings over the barbed-wire fences. I can't imagine how anyone could want to live near such a site. But I guess maybe it's a way to ensure it's never left and forgotten about.

Auschwitz is probably the most interesting place I've ever visited. Definitely worth a visit, and though it's tough, it's so utterly worthwhile. I think the message to be taken away is not one of blame to the Nazis, but of recognition and understanding.

(I didn't get a lot of photos at the camp because you're not allowed to take pictures in most of the exhibitions. Some tourists took them anyway as there's no one around to police it, but I felt it respectful to obey their wishes).

Also, I read this the other day which I found really interesting. An Auschwitz survivor forgives and hugs her captor. There is good in the world. Have a read:
 http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/76143495/auschwitz-survivor-tells-why-she-forgave-and-hugged-her-captor

xx

Poland

So my first trip of the year ended up being a 3-day soujourn to Poland last week. I admit I don't know a lot about the country or culture, but the opportunity to visit Auschwitz was what attracted me. Aside from the cheap flights of course! Auschwitz is a place I've always wanted to visit, and I believe it is an important place to visit because of it's historical significance. Also, we have a Polish sous-chef at work called Gosia who I really like and who had told me Krakow was a beautiful city, so a Polish adventure it ended up being.

When my flight arrived in Krakow at 4pm, it was getting dark. And when I got out of the train which had taken me from the airport to the centre of town, it was pitch black. Unfortunate, as I didn't get to see any sights that first night. I walked from the station to my hotel, which was only a block away (yes, I planned that), checked in and dropped my stuff off. It was a nice little hotel, simple but spacious, clean and comfortable. I then decided to go on a walk to find food. On this walk I discovered a 4-storey shopping mall called the "Galleria" so went for a bit of a wander inside. It was fairly standard, with all the chain stores they have here in England, as well as some other shops that were new to me. They had a huge Sephora which I wandered around longingly, and some really cute jewellery stores. It was funny because they also had some shops with names like "Pretty Girl" and those sort of terrible but lovable English-as-a-second-language type names. Anyway I found a mini-mart and got some food for dinner. The Polish currency is the Zloty, and a salad is typically around 8zl, piece of fruit would be 3zl, large chocolate bar 11zl, loaf of bread 6-8zl. Got my food, went back to the hotel, turned on the TV but everything was in Polish (funny that) so turned it back off, got out my book and ate while reading. Had a lovely hot shower, then went to sleep early (had been up at 5.30am that morning so safe to say I was pretty tired!

This was the selection of Vodka at the tiny mini-mart. It's true, Poles love their vodka!

Polish Zloty

The next day I got up at 7am and went down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast (included in the price - win!). The buffet was ACE. Cereals, fresh fruit, yoghurt, hard boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, toast, rolls, sausages, lots of salads, cheese, cold meats, tea, coffee, juice....it was freakin' great! I decided on scrambled eggs on toast with some ham cause I figured that would be the most filling. Once I'd finished I also grabbed an apple and nutella sachet (had to) as snacks for the day ahead.

Best breakfast buffet ever! This is maybe half of it.

After that I checked out of my room but left my big bag in the luggage room, and took my smaller bag with me for the day. I went to the train station to see when the next train to Oswiecim was, which turned out to be in about 1.5 hours. Which was sweet as because it meant I had time to go and wander around Krakow. Whenever I get to a new city, I love to just go wandering around. I love looking at the buildings, the people, the menus on restaurant windows, the parks etc. And boy oh boy is Krakow beautiful. It's got so much character to it, with lots of old, colourful, statuesque buildings. I walked through to the main market square which had big St Mary's church in one corner, restaurants along the other sides and the Cloth Hall on the opposite side. There's a big memorial in the middle too. It's super pretty. Super instagrammable. Haha. So I just wandered around here for a while, taking in the sights and sounds and getting pestered by pigeons. Then I slowly made my way back to the train station to catch my train.

All these photos are in the market square

Oswiecim is 50km west of Krakow and was my destination because it's where Auschwitz is located. I'm gonna do a full post on Auschwitz next because I think it deserves one in itself. Anyway, the train was quite old and rickety and slow, so the journey took about 2 hours. The countryside that I saw on this trip was pretty dire, if I'm honest. Krakow centre aside, I don't think Poland is a very pretty country. The landscape was very grey, there was hardly any greenery anywhere, there were heaps of creepy woods with those super skinny tall trees and there weren't any hills or mountains or anything nice. Complete opposite to NZ. When I got there, I walked the 2km to the camp and began the tour. I was there for about 2.5 hours, which I will detail in the next post. After that I got the train back to Krakow, picked up my bag and hopped on another train up to Warsaw. This train was really nice with HEAPS of legroom and it wasn't overly crowded which was nice! The train took 2 hours to get to Warsaw, and because it was pitch black I didn't get to see anything out the windows. But I had my book so it was ok :) Ended up getting to Warsaw central station around 10pm then I got a cab to the apartments I was staying in. When I opened the door to my little apartment I was stoked - it was very modern and fancy, with cool light shades and a nespresso machine! Plus a super comfy queen bed. Happy Dale. Wished I was staying there longer!

Awesome bed

Nespresso! Yussss.

Nice little bathroom

The next morning when I looked out my window there was quite a bit of snow on the ground! According to my phone it was 1 degree, and it certainly felt like it. I tried out the nespresso machine (delicious!) then checked out of my lovely room (sad). My phone said it was 25 minutes to the train station so I decided to walk it so I could see a bit of Warsaw. In stark contrast to Krakow, Warsaw is very urban, with sky-scrapers and lots of metal and glass. There are electronic bill-boards, lots of advertising and the business of a captial city. It was interesting enough, but I definitely prefer Krakow. From what I saw of it anyway. Got the train to the airport, did a bit of duty-free browsing and then made the journey back to London.

While I liked Krakow and had a very moving and worthwhile experience in Oswiecim, I don't think Poland is a country I'd go back to. I'm glad I went, for sure, but there wasn't enough oomph (for lack of a better word/phrase) to make me want to go back. Though they do know how to put on a great breakfast ;)

Until next time.
xx