Before my trip, I told many people I would be visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp. It’s 1 hour away from Kraków, in a town named Oświęcim. Most of the responses I got were quite negative, and it seemed that people couldn’t understand why I would choose to visit a concentration camp. But I think it’s important to learn about history, and not turn a blind eye to the horrible things that happened. I tried to prepare myself by watching the movie “Schindler’s List” before my trip. But nothing could ever prepare me for what I was about to see. The entrance is labelled with the words “arbeit macht frei” (work sets you free) But most of those people would never be free.
I saw many things that made me feel physically sick. I heard many stories that made me feel physically sick. One of the pictures above shows a pile of the victims’ suitcases. I also saw a display case full of hair from the victims. Their hair was shaved and used to make socks and cushions. I am still struggling to understand why human beings choose to be so evil.
The first photo shows pictures of the victims, the date they entered Auschwitz, and the date they died. There was a man who only survived three days. I have been back in England for 2 weeks but I still can’t get the images of those prisoners out of my head. I’m someone who is very spiritually sensitive and I’m starting to realise this as I get older. I can always feel the energy from people, places, and things (which is why I am careful with where I go/who I interact with) So visiting Auschwitz really affected me from the second I entered the gates. I just had an overwhelming heavy feeling in my chest, and I started to feel quite sad. For the first week after returning, I kept on having bad dreams about the prisoners from Auschwitz.
This place is somewhere that every human needs to visit. There are so many horrible things going on in the world, and hatred seems to be a political currency. I just wish humans could be at peace with each other.
If you are contemplating visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp…don’t think…just do it.
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