Auschwitz

Today we woke up early for our trip to Auschwitz. We ate breakfast at our hotel in Krakow and hopped on the bus for an hour long drive. We started off at Auschwitz birkenau, which was known as the death camp. The death camp’s sole purpose was to annihilate the Jews of Europe. Those who were chosen for life were taken hostage until their death. When we arrived the first sight in plain view was the famous long building with an arch in the middle separating both sides of the building. This is the first thing that shoah victims would also see. The building has railroad tracks on both sides, where prisoners would arrive on cattle cars. These cars were meant for exporting cows to farms, but the Nazis used them to store Jews for rides from 3 hours to 3 weeks. Up to 100 (or maybe more) would be stuffed inside of the cars, sources state that it was hot inside of them and very claustrophobic.

After learning about the cattle cars and the selection process we walked over to the destroyed gas chambers and learned about the ponds, which were used to dump ashes in. The vast majority of the Jews brought to Birkenau we're brought directly from the selection ramp to their death at the gas chambers.  Over 1 million Jews were murdered here.

We learned about a lot of stories about Iberleben as well. The most impactful story that we learned about was about Roman Frister who was raped in the middle of the night by his block guard (who was also a Jew.) After the rape the guard took his cap, so Frister took another man's cap since you couldn’t show up to morning lineup without a cap. If you did so, you would get shot. Frister says that when he heard a gunshot he looked down. Another remarkable story was about Azriel David Fastag who  said “אני מאמין” -----> (I believe) and started chanting a song about believing in the cattle car on the way to Treblinka. He was known to be very charismatic and his chant spread, soon a bunch of people started singing אני מאמין. I think it’s really inspiring that one can even find hope during a time like that.

Before our ceremony we made our way over to “The Sauna” which is where victims who were chosen for life would be taken after selection. All victims would have their hair shaved off, in ways that were purposely very painful. Victims reported that people couldn’t recognize each other let alone themselves after the cuts. The part that really hit home for me was learning about how they would make people take showers. Crammed together in a big room with multiple shower heads, the nazis would torture people, making the water freezing cold, scorching hot, or start off with freezing water and then change it to scorching water and then back to freezing water. I don’t know if anyone reading this has ever experienced this but it's so painful. I have had this happen to me but not nearly as bad. I can’t imagine what they had to go through. Before entering gas chambers everyone would have to strip naked, and have all of their personal belongings taken from them including gold teeth/dentures if they had. Nazis would then assess what would be steamed and sent to Germany. The nazis were really making a profit off of people. One major story that we learned about was the Sonderkommando Revolt. A group of people who united and somehow made contact with woman working in a munition factory near Auschwitz. The materials that they collected was used over a period of time to create grenades that would destroy gas chamber #4

After “The Sauna” we had time to walk around or just sit down and write/process everything. To conclude our time in Birkenau both classes united for our ceremony. Then we went to lunch before Auschwitz 1. Auschwitz 1 was known as the concentration camp. Auschwitz 1 was made into multiple exhibits in each block. I was pretty shocked when arriving...How could this place have been a camp filled of terror? To me, it looked far more like a college campus than somewhere where people were worked to their death. The exhibits were insightful. If I’m speaking on behalf of many people in the class, one of the most surprising and petrifying aspect was the mountain of woman hair. I observed it for a while and it stood out to me so much because although it was almost like looking at a sea of brown strands, I saw a couple of chopped off braids, ponytails, etc. that looked like the shade of my hair. My hair holds a really strong place on how I think I view myself to the world. So many beautiful woman had to get their hair taken away from them, for the sole purpose of making objects like furniture. Other exhibits we saw included pictures that children in the Shoah drew-pictures that contained drawings of nazis holding guns, people being hung, and sentimental notes to loved ones, such as a rose with the writing under it “My beloved Mother.” That kid probably never saw his mother again. When people think about the Holocaust they think about a genocide against Jewish people. While this is true, other people were targeted and killed by the Nazis. Some of these people were disabled, gypsies, homosexuals, black people and anyone that imposed a political threat to Nazi Germany. Hitler's ideology was to wipe out anyone who didn’t present the basic European features or principles that he wanted to enforce. At the end of Auschwitz we went to the gas chamber. After, Zach pointed out that there were claw marks on the wall. I missed those. A part of me wishes that I got to see them while another part of me is happy I missed that horrendous site. How does one even make a mark on a concrete wall? If that doesn’t scream suffering than I don’t know what does.

I want to know your opinion on what Roman Frister did. Do you consider his actions an act of justification or sin? Please explain why. Also, if you could ask one question to a victim in Auschwitz what would you ask?

-GOLDIE ELKINS