Auschwitz Camp

May 15 2011

 Once we made it across the border it was another 3 hours until we arrived at our hostel and we seriously checked in, stowed our bags, and then headed out into the rain to find the bus station.  Being the geniuses we are only 2 of the 9 of us brought umbrellas.... ya i was one of the non smart ones who forgot hers in Kiev. 

 OOPS! I learned my lesson.  It was a 15 minute walk to the bus station and once there it was business like usual... none of us knew what bus we needed to get on, where to buy tickets, when the buses left etc.  We wandered around for a bit and then I decided to see if anyone knew English. The first person we asked happened to know exactly what we needed and pointed us in the right direction. We got on the bus and headed out to Auschwitz Camp.  I was not really sure how I felt about visiting the camp

 and if I was ready.  Well ready or not we arrived at the camp and it was still raining.  We bought tickets to be part of an English tour.  Our tour guide was really nice.  She took us around Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II: Brikenau.  It was so weird actually being there where so many people died after learning all about it in school.  I saw first hand that terrible place, the gloom, and the lies. I saw the place where millions of people were murdered. The piles of hair from dead people's heads, the massive amounts of shoes, and the meager 

possessions that were taken from the prisoners. I honor the people who lived through such pain. I honor their will to live, their optimism, and their courage. Auschwitz was closed the next day for the March of the Living, and lots of living Jews and descendent's of the survivors had gathered. Some of the older people recognized the people in the pictures. The March of the 

Living is where the living Jews march from Auschwitz to Birkenau. It's about a fifteen minute bus-ride. It was humbling to be there with people who had been directly impacted by the 

Holocaust.  Auschwitz was a bunch of Army barracks that the Jews originally stayed in. A lot of it had been transformed into a museum. This is where they piled shoes, hair, and some of 

the belongings of the survivors. Brikenau was a bit more gloomy, because the place wasn't constructed for soldiers- it was built by prisoners, for prisoners. It poured rain on our tour. The remains of the gas chambers and the crematory were in Brikenau.