Visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau

It is a long bus ride through farm land. Smoke ribbons coil over the fields.  It's hard to tell what is burning. The homes are raw brick or concrete block. Gobs of mortar ooze from between the blocks. There is no veneer. Closer to the former extermination camp, it is wooded. The trees are evenly spaced. There is no undergrowth, just a layer of leaves.

Gates of Auschwitz

Impressions of the camp: It seems oddly familiar. Maybe it is the films and archival photographs? I think I am being clever and mention, to my wife, a small detail about the camp that is not mentioned in the documentary film that all visitors to the museum watch. My wife is puzzled. Later, I realize I am mistaken. I am embarassed. What can I possibly know about this horrifying place?

Wire fencing at Auschwitz

Impression two: Human warmth. Our tour guide explains that plains "the function" of Zyklon B - the pellets of cyanide used to kill victims in the gas chambers. The tin of chemicals is emptied into the false showers. Up to 2000 people are crowded into the room. It is their body heat that triggers the gas.

Impression three: Hair. Mounds and mounds of preserved human hair. My wife begins to cry.

Impression four: Standing cells. You find them in the Auschwitz cell block, where victims awaited execution by shooting. They are narrow stalls with knee-high doors. Prisoners crawled in. When your inside, there is not enough space to raise your arms. There are four cells at various heights. I stand in the smallest of these and feel dizzy. I can hardly breathe. I leave quickly. It is torturous to even imagine standing here in the darkness for hours.


Impression five: Birkenau. It's size is overwhelming. I never imagined it could possibly be that large.

End of the rails at Birkenau

A campaign is underway to maintain the Auschwitz Memorial as an important link with the past.