Auschwitz. A name synonymous
to hell. I recently had the experience of touring the concentration camp of
Auschwitz-Birkenau and seeing a glimpse of the atrocities that the Jews and
other targeted groups had to endure on a daily basis. Mostly Jews were sent to this camp, but
Poles, political prisoners, USSR prisoners of war, gypsies, homosexuals,
Jehovah Witnesses, Slovaks, among others, were also sent to work and be
murdered in the camp. As much of 75% of
the people getting off the train: the
women, the children, and those unfit for slave labor, were marched straight to
the gas chambers upon arrival in the camp.
The remaining 25% who had survived the selection process then had to
endure terrible living conditions. They
were fed food that amounted to roughly 300 calories a day, a number that the Nazis
had calculated would result in living for about an additional three months
after arriving in the camp. They could
only visit the bathrooms twice a day, and for only thirty seconds, and if they
dared to use the bathroom more than that they could be shot on the spot. These are just some examples as to of how
terrible the conditions at the camp were.
The camp was the most (I can’t even think of words to
describe it) place that I have ever been to, and I will never forget it in my
life. It is pure sickening to see what
some “people” can do to others. Between
1 and 1.5 million people were murdered at this one camp alone. 1.5 million.
To put that in perspective that is 83% of the population of the state of
Nebraska being murdered at this one camp.
Visiting this place was unlike anything I ever have, or will experience
again. The feeling is simply indescribable;
words cannot even begin to describe what this place is like. I cannot even begin to imagine what this
place must have been like 70 years ago when it was in operation. It is amazing to me that humans can lose
their identity and morals to a point where they can actually treat other people
in this kind of way.
The tour led us inside one of the original gas chambers of
the camp. I stood directly under the
hatch that was used to drop Zykon B pellets to kill everyone in the chamber. The feeling knowing that you are standing in
a spot where literally tens of thousands of people have perished is unlike
anything I have ever felt in my life.
The tour led us to another gas chamber that was blown up to cover up the
crimes that were committed, and next to it was a small swamp area. The guide explained to us that this gas
chamber was used to kill literally hundreds of thousands of people, and that
after their death the bodies were burned in massive crematoriums. The guide then pointed to the swamp area and
explained how the swamp was being filled in with the ashes of the people that
they had murdered. It is so unbelievable
that this could have ever happened. It
is so disgusting, how can people do this to another fellow human being? The Holocaust, and the use of camps like Auschwitz-Birkenau
is arguably one of the darkest periods of human existence; however, their
memory must be forever remembered, no matter how much society might want to
forget this terrible time. “Forever let this place be a cry of despair, and a
warning to humanity…” This warning must never be forgotten, for he who
remembers his history shall not be condemned to repeat it.
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