Auschwitz

I was half joking last week when I said we would be flying this weekend, but when Taylor and I decided to go to Auschwitz, trains were out of the question. We had the sudden realization that our time here is quickly coming to an end and agreed that we would regret not making the trek to Poland to see this huge piece of history. So, we booked our plane tickets and set off Friday morning. We allowed plenty of time for the dang German trains to screw us over, but they pulled through and we instead ended up with 3 extra hours to kill in the Dortmund, Germany airport. We pulled out "Bridesmaids" and enjoyed some fascinating people watching before boarding that afternoon. 

Next time I do Europe when I'm a millionaire I'm flying everywhere. We took a 2 hour nap and we were there- unreasonably easy. A free shuttle took us to the train station upon landing in Krakow, and we took the 2 hour train to Ośwęicim to find our hotel. God bless Google Maps. We stopped off at a grocery store to buy some dinner before arriving at our cozy little hotel in the square. Shout out to the sweet hotel owner who took such good care of us, even going so far as to personally drive us to the train station at 6:45 on Sunday morning. 

This town is different than any of the tourist towns we've been to. There's not much to see apart from the concentration camp, which isn't exactly broadcast as a major asset, so there's not a whole lot else happening. We spent the evening in our room with our grocery store dinner and crashed after a full day of travel. 

We woke up to a rainy Saturday morning, which I guess was fitting, given our destination. We got bus directions and arrived at the museum around 11:30. Getting a ticket and headset was mass chaos, but we found the English tour and entered the first part of the camp. We spent a couple hours walking through the museum portion of the camp then took a quick bus to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the killing camp. 

I  can't aptly describe it all, there aren't words. 

The entrance to Auschwitz I

Empty cans of the gas used for murder in the gas chambers

Broken glasses taken from men and women upon their arrival at the camp 

Margot Frank's suitcase, stripped from her upon arrival

The main gate of Auschwitz II - Birkenau

A women's dormitory, which would house about 400 women

Taylor's pictures are enough to move you to tears: http://taylorbrockphotography.wordpress.com/2013/07/13/poland/

This is an experience I don't think I'll ever forget. The grounds are quiet, almost peaceful, but to imagine the monstrosities the land has seen is crippling. 

It's something I believe everyone should see at least once. While none of us will ever be able to understand the horror in it's entirety, a visit like this makes it a hundred times more real than reading words in a textbook. I never want to go back, but I'm so grateful for the experience to have seen it first hand.