My trip to hell on earth Pt. 2, page 1

A short bus ride took us to the Auschwitz I museum. It is very different from the extermination camp a few minutes ago. Aushwitz used to be military barracks for the Austrian army, so the compound was constructed, high brick houses and organized streets throughout. The entrance to the camp is famous for its welcoming sign (photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net...) in English: "work is liberating". We walked between the brick houses trying to compare between this and what we have just seen, this place looks like a normal neighborhood. In this museum there is much evidence of the Nazi terror; things no one would believe could be done to people. There are many visitors here. Inside one of the building, called "blocks" are windows full of findings. Mountains of glasses (photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net...), each representing a pair of eyes behind them. Artificial limbs (photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net...), you would not normally think that there are so many people with these things, but when the people are gone and their plastic and wooden feet are left, you can see the contrast. Kitchen-ware (photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net...), the Jews brought to Auschwitz were convinced over and over again that they are just being "relocated" or "transferred to a new settlement in the east", they brought their lives with them, pot and pans and silverware and cups. Talitot (photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net...), No religious Jew would be found without one. More mountains of shoes (photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net...), as if the 900,000 shoes in Majdanek were not enough. The disinformation tactics used by the Nazis had the purpose of minimizing the chance of a mass panic, because it would be devastating to the order and clockwork of the Germans. While boarding the transport trains from all across Europe where the Jews came from they were told to mark their luggage and that they would receive it upon arriving at their destination. So predictably, there are also giant amounts of suitcases (photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net...), marked with Jewish family names. It does not end there. In another room, separate from the property is human hair. Amounts unimaginable. The huge amounts of hair (photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net...) from the Shavings done in the camps. (photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net...). Not horrible enough. When your standing in front of so many strands of hair shaved from the victims you don't know how to feel or what to think. Then once you see this (photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net...) , A rug braided out of human hair you start to feel angry, this was at least my approach.

. It's a mixture of sorrow and sadness, hate and vengefulness. It's a feeling you wish you never had to feel. There are many more rooms with many more exhibits behind many more glass windows. I've seen receipts for the purchase of 100,000 Reichsmark's worth of Zyklon B, I've seen the plans for Aushwitz and the hut rows in Sobibor, dolls that were once in the hands of children. Pictures of starving people, I will not post these pictures of the mountains of bodies pushed by a tractor, or the cartloads of corpses dumped into mass graves. Even videos taken by S.S. men of the murders and horrors. The people in the pictures were nicknamed "Muzzlemen", People who have lost the will to live. Starving people, you can see their bones and joints past their almost transparent skin. Little children in the state of starvation, and not one, a hundred, or even ten thousand. As stated in this memorial back at the graveyard from day 1 (photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net...) "In the memory of 1 million Jewish children that were murdered by German Nazis 1939-1945".
There is a limit to the amount of this that you can see in one visit, one day or even a lifetime. But we didn't stop at the limit and continued to the next Block.
Block 10 was the medical experiment house run by Josef Mengele himself. (upload.wikimedia.org...). The windows on the side are boarded up. Not because the building is falling apart, but because while the camp was running Mengele didn’t want people seeing what was happening inside, and so they could not hear the painful human experiments. The house is now empty; the medical tools were taken from Auschwitz by the Red Army to a nearby hospital where they were used to treat injured troops. It may be empty of staff and accessories, but it is full of stories. The tour guide told us as follows: during the arrival of a transport from the west to Auschwitz, Mengele, as he commonly did was waiting at the selection point who will work and who will die by pointing his finger left or right. He saw a young woman around the age of twenty and questioned her. After learning she was pregnant she was taken to the medical experiment building- Block 10. Mengele waited until she gave birth to her daughter. His experiment is as follows, he strapped the woman's chest, depriving the child of his mother's milk and creating great pain in the mother's chest. The strap would not come off. Every day the baby cried weaker and weaker, until she was too weak to cry anymore. Mengele was examining two things, the first was how long a baby could survive without the mother's milk, and the other was what would happen if a lactating mother would not nurse her child. After about a couple of weeks a nurse came to the mother in agony, and presented her with a syringe of morphine, she told the mother to put her daughter out of her misery, and that she is a young women that can still raise a new family. The mother could not bring herself to do it, and a few days later the baby girl died of starvation. Mengele found out that the nurse was "sabotaging" his experiment and he had her sent to the nearby death camp. The mother survived Block 10. She survived the Holocaust and the war, and she moved to Israel onto a commune and started a new family. She died of old age few years back. I'm sorry I cannot remember the name, but there sure is one.
There is another survivor from Block 10, who claims that Mengele would put Jews in giant ovens, and examined at what temperature the body would suffer first, second and third degree burns.
Those were two stories, just two. If that amount of evil was done, try to imagine what else he "examined".

We left the side of Block 10 and went to Auschwitz I, the first crematorium (photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net...), and among the most advanced in killing techniques.
We went inside (photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net...) and walked through empty and small rooms. There is a memorial inside the building that reads: "In the memory of the people tortured and murdered within these walls by the S.S."
Outside was the camp's execution yard (upload.wikimedia.org...).
The only person hung on the noose there was Rudolf Hoss, the camp commandant who was executed on April 16, 1947
We left Auschwitz I, towards the buses. We all sang songs about Israel, the anthem, and "Am Israel Hai" – The Jewish people live.
We slept well that night only because we were tired from the day; otherwise I think I wouldn't ever sleep after a day like that.
That was day 5. It was overwhelming and difficult to explain or understand. Thank you for reading day 5.

Day 6.
We travelled in the morning to Kielce, to the Jewish cemetery there. Around 20,000 Jews were transported from Kielce to Treblinka, or other death camps. Some survived and returned to Kielce.
We were acquainted with polish youth our age. They were with us in the cemetery (photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net...).
The story of this grave goes like this: After the war Jews returned to their home in Kielce. The Poles did not like their returned, and welcomed them with an attitude of "what, you're still alive? We thought Hitler got all of you".
One day a polish child from the village went to a neighbor village for three days, and a panic started concerning his whereabouts. Looking for a scapegoat, the local Polish community blamed a Jewish Auschwitz survivor with the kidnapping of the child. The survivor was mentally ill and scarred after his experience in the death camp, and was an easy target. A pogrom pursued. The Poles killed 42 Jews because of the incident. Here (photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net...) Is their memorial, in English: "Here lay 42 holies that were murdered on the 5th of Tamuz (consult your Jewish calendar) 1946 in Kielce. May god have vengeance!".
The Holocaust for some was never over.
The Polish youth held a ceremony in their honor for us (photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net...), and sang a Jewish prayer for the Jews killed there. We accompanied them to their school; we were welcomed beautifully and had a great time with them. They feel terrible and responsible for the actions of their previous generations.
We spent the afternoon in the city with them (photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net...).
We left the Polish youth and went on to Radom, A city near Warsaw. During the Nazi occupation there were 280,000 Jews in the Radom district. The ghetto in Radom was plagued with disease and starvation. 6000 Jews from the Radom ghetto that held 25,000 were sent to Treblinka in 60 train cars (100 per car) on August 6th 1942. Two weeks later the entire ghetto was sent to Treblinka. 4000 Jews survived the transports. The remainders were sent on June 26th 1944 on a death march to Tumaschov, were they were sent to Auschwitz.
300 Jews survived the Holocaust and returned to Radom. Only 2 families intact.
When they returned the local Poles slit the throats of 9 Jews strapped to chairs. Out of hate, simply more hate because (Sarcasm – a natural emotional defense mechanism-) there was just not enough hate in the world already. A warning went out to the rest of the Jews to leave Radom or suffer the same fate as the nine murdered.

reply to post by NoamC

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What exactly should I be learning? That lots of jews died in WW2? Yea, I get it. How could I not, with the way its shoved down everyones throats all the time.

reply to post by NoamC

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Noam, thanks for the time to write this and post those photographs. I've never been there, and it's always good to hear the experiences of others.

I'd never seen many of these photographs.

My father and uncles fought in Europe, one died with the 101st jumping into Normandy on D-Day, and another uncle made it all the way with the 101st to the Eagle's Nest.

They too, discovered a camp, and he never would say much about it without clouding up. At the time the war started, they were just country-assed farm boys.

I do not understand why the Jews do not carry the fury of a desire for revenge. I know I would.

It does help me to understand the thinking of Israel, the remnant.

Never again is the promise.

Never.

reply to post by NoamC

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I haven't finished reading your post yet, but so far it's very interesting, if obviously depressing.

I haven't finished reading yet however i have a question. As you a school student in Israel, how much of the study of the holocaust relates also to the deaths of for example, poles, slavs. gypsies etc, rather than just Jews.

Please don't misunderstand what i am saying. It's just that i feel many times these other victims are forgotten. The deaths in the holocaust amount to around 11 million, rather than just the six million.

I think it's very important to remember all the victims rather than focus exclusively on a particular set of victims. My comment is not intended to belittle the memories of the victims in any way.

I had a chance to visit Auschwitz a few years ago, but i didn't want to. I felt it would be very disturbing.

When it comes to the matter of Israel on this site many people are divided and i think you'll get a lot of comments showing that.

To be honest i dislike the Israeli government, but i certainly don't have anything against Jews. The holocaust is an important subject. We might say never again, but sadly it's already happened since.

reply to post by eaglehawk

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No need to get all angry or political about it, or to bring Iran into this.

This was good informative and quite moving thread.

Just read it and learn.

reply to post by Kram09

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I see how this is confusing. Here in Israel we do have standardized tests regarding the Holocaust, and the all include the killing of many ethnicities, the New order of Europe as planned by the Nazis, I guess it is especially Jew-oriented because we are Jewish, but I promise you I know of the other atrocities and realise this wasn't solely against Jews

reply to post by NoamC

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If you want to see the 'living hell' perhaps you should head to Gaza and Palestine occupied territories. There where the Holocaust of 2009 is happening.

There are other places as well Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda to name a few.

Though thanx for the thread, quiet informative and learning. S&F..forgot to add.

[edit on 9-10-2009 by December_Rain]

[edit on 9-10-2009 by December_Rain]

reply to post by December_Rain

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I've been to Sderot, which has been under rocket fire for 8 years from Hamas in Gaza, close enough. Gaza is not a living hell, DO NOT COMPARE TO WHAT I HAVE POSTED.
They get gasoline, water, electricity, television, cellphone and landline service and even internet from Israel.
the pictures that you see are mostly fake, I know soldiers that fight the Hamas in Gaza, and the only enemy of the citizens there is their terrorist brothers.

reply to post by December_Rain

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Actually, the Jews in Israel were continually attacked by "Palestinians" with their suicide vests, kidnappings, rocket and mortar fire, including roadside bombs.

Fortunately, Israel had the presence of mind and the means to start walling off these perpetrators and murderers.

Oddly, it seems to be working.

Must have isolated the real troublemakers.

reply to post by NoamC

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reply to post by dooper

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Let's not get off topic here about who is doing what and what can and cannot be compared, there are several other threads to do it.

I named other places on Earth where currently the holocaust is taking place if the OP is intrested to visit there. That's all I want to add.

Ty.

reply to post by NoamC

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Okay that's interesting, thanks for clearing that up.

Good thread.

reply to post by NoamC

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I saw those pictures again and just thought of asking, the whole prison and artifacts, items seem to be well preserved but why are the seperate glasses, utensils, shoes etc. are not. They seem just to be lying in a brazen manner. Were these things placed in this manner only or were collected from whole prison (diff rooms and areas of the prison) and put in 1 room. Also why the picture shows the hair in white and not black? Does it have to do with camera flash or because it's hair of old people?

reply to post by December_Rain

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The block and the whole camp is now a museum, so everything is neatly organized behind glass.
I'm not sure about the hair, there could be several reasons, ven though i do recall seeing blonde braids and darker hair.

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