Auschwitz today? Do birds sing in Auschwitz? May 2018

Visit Auchwitz 2018?

Do Birds sing in Auchwitz?

View from the back of block 10 in Auchwitz

(building next to the wall of death, the windows to the right are permanently covered over),

I have always been interested in the history of Auschwitz, although I never had any relatives or family history there, there was an old lady from Germany who lived in our street and I remember her saying 'Auschwitz - terrible, terrible, terrible,' back when I must have been about six or seven; her eyes had a distant look of fear.

On Friday May 11th 2018 I had my chance to go. My group of 8- 15 ladies of a certain age, annually go on a 3-4 day break to a different city we'd otherwise never see. We get to have a mini break away from the families and just spend quality time together doing whatever we want. We have a vote each year to see where we will go the following year. This year we decided on Krakow in Poland with a trip to Auschwitz.

Briefly, Poland itself completely surprised me as it was absolutely beautiful. There are hundreds of maintained parks, a huge amount of greenery and the places we saw were all gorgeous. It's cheap to eat out (a beer and a pizza for one is about £11), the folk are friendly and I was pleasantly surprised. The only thing I noticed not in its favour was the abundance of graffiti all over so many of the buildings, it appeared to be everywhere.

We had booked the tour to Auschwitz six weeks in advance online as we wanted a guided tour and to get one at the right time of day was vital to fit in with our plans. There was also a visit to the salt mines in the afternoon, this is a popular option to do the two together as they are relatively close together (under an hour apart).

The bus picked us up at our apartment and on the way we were shown a documentary about Auschwitz and what went on there. The video was very descriptive and nothing was held back. At the end the whole bus was shocked into silence for a fair while after it had finished.

Our visit was on a searingly hot day, everyone was wearing shorts, sunglasses and t-shirts. It was a real scorcher, similar to a midsummer day in the UK. This made it difficult to appreciate the horror of the rest of the year when it's bitterly cold. Having seen many images of Auschwitz before the visit, with snow on the ground and bleak freezing people, it was hard to associate it with the scene before us. We were greeted with birds singing, lush green grass, huge shady trees and a lovely cool summer breeze, If I hadn't known better I would have said it was an ideal spot for a picnic. I later spoke to the guide about this. She explained about the extreme seasonal weather Poland has. Prisoners, already hugely weakened by hunger, not only had to survive bitterly cold winters but also roaasting hot summers. 

First we were taken to Auschwitz 1, which was the smaller of the two sites. We were issued with a headset tuned in to our guide and a coloured sticker for each group member for identification. Our guide was Patricia. Her passion for the job and her knowledge were first class, as was her English. She gave a brief introduction advising us what we should expect and giving us the chance to turn back if we were unsure. We marched on solemnly as she led us through the gate with the famous sign words ARBEIT MACHT FREI (work will set you free) above it  and on to the main roll-call square where the prisoners used to be made to stand for up to 12 hours - I was too hot after five minutes and had to seek some shade.

We were taken inside the first two blocks which now serve as a museum. First was Block 4 where the first exhibit is a large memorial urn containing the ashes of some of the victims murdered there which were found on the grounds of Aucshwitz Birkenau. There are models of the gas chambers, documents, photographs and lots of information to take in. I felt rushed. I'm the type of person who likes to stop and think and read things and take my time over each document but I had no time. Before I knew it my group had disappeared and I lost radio contact with the guide so had to rush the rest of the building to catch up.

Next building was BLOCK 5 - inside were the huge displays of human hair, the shoes, prosthetic limbs, suitcases, glasses, brushes, cooking utensils.  Each display holds only the items taken over a few days, yet each is such a huge display it needs you to just stand a moment and look to appreciate the sheer volume of horror experienced here. I don't think I could ever comprehend it all. Each pair of glasses, each shoe, each strand of hair, suitcase, brush, everything once belonged to an actual real person who was slaughtered here. No matter how long I tried to envisage it it was simply too much to take on board. Again, I lost the guide and had to rush through the displays as my guide and group had moved on.

The Shoes Room

Block 6 and 7 have hundreds of photographs of prisoners lining both walls of the corridors three deep, all of whom were killed at Auschwitz, the photos give their name, date of entry to the camp and date of death.
Next on to Block 7 whch was a residential block and then onto Block 10 where all the medical experiments were carried out.

The courtyard and death wall between blocks 10 and 11 (note the blacked out windows no the left so nobody could see what was happening in the courtyard).

Next onto Block 11, which for me was possibly the worst part - the camp jail.  First on the left is the court room where people were taken for their fate to be decided - things such as having contact with outsiders or being a room mate of someone who had attempted to escape. Their fate was decided quickly and either they were sent to the jail in the basement or sent to be executed - this was swift, often they were sent to the room next door to have a wash and remove their clothes (see photo below) - you can see into this room although you can't go in. There's a wooden stool, a wash-trough and a toilet. It is now as it was then and I imagined the poor people who had been sent in here. The guide told us how mothers and children were sentenced together, both told to remove their clothes, then sent through the next door which led to the courtyard and immediately shot, children first so their parents had to watch. It was at this point my eyes began to fill with tears and the tears flooded out. The door to the courtyard was next on the left and open to reveal beautiful sunshine in a deep blue sky. There were three steps down into the courtyard. To think of the  horrors these poor people felt as they went through that door was something I couldn't grasp. Once outside, there was a wall to the right of this door where the prisoners were executed. The guide said the floor was once permanently deep red with blood. I looked at the wall, beneath which were fresh flowers and candles and a memorial stone to those who died there. The windows of the adjacent building were still blocked over so the people there couldn't see what was happening.

The wash room in Block 11 just before the courtyard door.

We went on to see the cells in the basement which I can't even describe. Building 11 was the worst in my opinion.  When I finally gathered myself together and caught up with the group, they were outside and moving on past gallows and more awful things. I missed a lot because I'd let myself fall outside the radio frequency of the guide.  It was so busy that it was hard to catch up and quite possible to get lost or separated from the guide.

The tour of Auschwich 1 finished with a quick walk through the gas chambers and crematoria - clearly not a place anyone would want to linger for longer than necessary, although I'd have liked a moment to ponder and think of those poor souls. We were rushed through. A memorial stone asked for silence inside in memory of all those killed in that very place.

I was glad to have the excuse to wear sunglasses that day as my face was a mess. Bringing tissues was one of my better ideas.

After Auschwitz 1, we had a short break (there are food shops and cafes there). Not feeling like eating I went to the bookshop - so many books in so many languages. I thought we were coming back at the end so didn't buy a book as didn't want to carry them.

Next we took the bus to Auschwitz Birkenhau (AB), about 20minutes away by bus and included in the tour. This is the place I recognised as the long building with an archway and the railway leading up to it, through the arch and beyond...

We met our guide again and walked up past a railroad truck like the ones you see in the pictures of the 1940s. There was a single, fresh, red rose tied to one corner.

Past the truck we walked on. past a building where the trucks used to stop and where a SS Soldier 'assessed' the new arrivals. It apparently took only seconds for him to assess each person - based on appearance only, age, gender, ability to work each was assigned by way of the point of a thumb to one of 2 queues - there is a picture of this selection and the thumb is clearly shown in the shadow of the SS guard. The first queue walked straight on, the second queue went into the camp.  We followed the route of the first queue straight on towards a circle of very large trees perhaps 2-300 metres diameter. The circles of trees had been planted to hide what went on from the outside. Before thee trees on the right were rows upon rows upon rows of what looked like chimneys - Patricia said they were the remains of the wooden huts. There were so many, the scale was mind boggling. 

We walked on to the circle of trees and into the centre of them. On the left were the ruins of a demolished building which we were told were the gas chambers - these were on a much bigger scale that those at Auschwitz 1. The Germans had bombed these in an attempt to disguise their shocking activities. This was where the new arrivals were told they were to have a shower to 'freshen up' from their long journey. They were apparently told to hand their clothes on one of the many pegs on the wall and told to REMEMBER THEIR PEG NUMBER so they could find their clothes again after their shower. They were then herded into the 'shower room' which even had fake shower heads on the wall so they wouldn't panic and smell a rat. The door was closed and then an SS soldier in full protective gear and gas mask (or sometimes a prisoner without protective gear) would drop the can/s of Zyclon B gas through the roof. From what I understand the cans contained the gas in the form of crystals, When these crystals warmed up - which when you consider there were huge numbers each time was quite quickly, they would activate as gas. Those lowest to the ground died first and so there were layers of corpses. These were taken straight to the crematorium resulting in truckloads of human ashes dispatched from Auschwitz every day.

The 'Shower Room' in Auschwitz Birkenau which was bombed by the Germans.

On the left of the ruins were 4 monuments each in a different language. Wanting a photo of these, and with my group moving on again, I ran through  rather deep patch of boggy ground - which was odd because all the rest of the land was dry after the hot weather. My boots and legs were covered in a grey mud. On catching up with the guide I discovered this boggy ground was part of a lake in the area where tins of human ashes were thrown. This was extremely unsettling I have to say.

Memorial stones outside the 'shower' rooms and the bombed remains.

Moving on at great pace we were shown a sleeping hut where the bunks were three high, each designed for no more than 9 people (3 on each level), there were often 25 people sleeping in this space. People hated sleeping on the lower bunk at floor level because there were large rats who used to feed on the corpses and the dying were nibbled at and often didn't have the strength to fight back or even move.  There was one tiny fuel burner in the entre hut which was barely adequate to heat a modern caravan let alone such a huge building.

I managed to grab a quick chat with the guide while we were walking. I mentioned that the place looked quite, I struggle for the right word here, almost welcoming with its lush green grass - perhaps similar to visions of a scout camp in a huge field of lush green grass and so it was difficult to picture the horrors which happened here. She brought me back to earth by pointing out there would not have been any grass there at the time because the starving prisoners, through their starvation, would have eaten it all.

At the end of the tour we were allowed to go up into the long arch watchtower building which is one of the well known Auschwitz images where the SS soldiers watched over the whole camp and where the trains entered. This is only open to those on an official guided tour and not to everyone.

View from the watchtower.

There is a bookshop outside this camp as well and I bought books there which I've been reading since I came home.

To summarise. I'm glad I went. we must NEVER forget what happened here or at other similar camps. It was deeply upsetting, although I was prepared for horror it didn't make it any less harrowing.  I came out and rang home to say I had been, the phone was answered and I heard a familiar voice, I suddenly lost the ability to speak. Emotion took over and I couldn't utter a single word. The tears flowed and I had to take a moment to compose myself.

If I went again I would probably not take the tour. If you have time then spend the whole day there and go at  your own pace.  Most of what the guide told us is on boards dotted around although of course the guide was able to answer questions. Don't take the children, it really isn't the place - you need to give it 100% and in your own time. It is a place which needs to be respected.

A photo of a bird in Auschwitz

Finally I wanted to see if the fact that no birds sing in Aucshwitz was true. I can confirm it isn't - not today anyway. There were birds flying about and singing everywhere. It was a hot summer day.  I asked the guide about this.  She said back when the camp was in use there were no birds - they can sense death and fear and the fumes and smoke from the permanently burning crematoria would have caused the birds to keep away.

Thank you for reading.