Hello! I know it’s been a while, but goodness I’ve been busy! The past couple weeks have been full of lab work (because yes I do work) and birthday celebrations. This past Wednesday a group of graduate students from the university I work at took me out to celebrate! It was a really fun evening full of surprises, including a restaurant wide rendition of “Happy Birthday” and a delicious cake!
This past weekend, my travel bff Andre and I journeyed by train (7 hours one way) to Kraków, Poland. This trip took us back in time as I got to wander the streets that some of my ancestors wandered. Saturday night and Sunday night were spent walking around Kraków and eating lots of perogies. The city itself was beautiful and felt a little less busy than the other cities we have traveled to. It felt like home in a way! It was really cool to be able to walk around the streets and think about how some of my ancestors may have walked up and down those same streets.
Our journey also took us back to a darker time. Along with visiting the city of Kraków, we journeyed to Auschwitz. I was hesitant to go to Auschwitz at first as I didn’t think I would be able to handle it. After talking to some people about it, I decided that they were all right: it is one of those things that you won’t be able to handle, but you should go anyways if you have the chance. I am glad I went because it was a very powerful experience and one that needs to be had, if possible. I would like to share my experience at Auschwitz as best as I can and as real as I can. I would like to warn you that the experience was not a light one. Read it if you wish, and I strongly encourage you to; otherwise, I will leave you here and see you for my next adventure.
An Experience I Will Never Forget
Sunday we began our journey by visiting the Oskar Schindler museum. What was inside this museum was not what I was expecting. The exhibition told the story of Kraków and what the citizens went through in the time the Nazi Regime occupied the city; a little over five years. I couldn’t believe how long that was. For over five years people walked the streets in fear, whether they were Jewish or not. For over five years they had to wonder if they would have enough food to eat (they never did) or the correct ID so they wouldn’t get shipped away or if they would be arrested for going to school. I never really understood, and still can’t, how much fear and terror was present in this city. A city that was just like any other.
Following the museum we headed to the bus that would take us to Auschwitz. There are two parts to Auschwitz: Auschwitz I, the original camp, and Auschwitz II-Birkenau, the camp that was built later and designed to carry out the mission of the Nazi Party. We went to Birkenau first. It was expected to rain that day, but it had been sunny up until we arrived at Auschwitz. When we stepped off the bus at Birkenau, the winds picked up to about 30 mph gusts with dark clouds threatening a storm. I have never seen a sight as eerie as that. We walked through the brick gate, with barbed wire on either side, into a prison larger than I ever could have imagined. I couldn’t believe how massive this place was. We wandered aimlessly along the gravel paths, following the train tracks that brought 1.5 million people to their deaths. We reached the back of the camp, to a pile of rubble that was clearly once a large structure. I wandered up to the sign to read what this building once was. It was one of the five gas chambers and crematoriums. I walked to the edge of the rubble and stood there, taking in the most evil sight I have ever seen in my life. It was at that exact moment that it not only began to rain, but to pour. Buckets of water pelted me and my umbrella as I stood there, trying to comprehend what lay before me. We continued to walk along in the pouring rain. We felt as though it would have been wrong to stand there and wait it out; for how could we possibly be miserable, or complain about our situation? We couldn’t. We wandered on through the rain and puddles to the barracks that looked like horse stables. Shacks that had beds for not even 100 people, but that housed 400 at a time. Our final stop was at the back corner of the camp, at a seemingly beautiful grove of trees. Another pile of rubble lay underneath them and another sign. The sign told of how the rubble was another gas chamber and crematorium. The grove of trees was where people stood while they waited to enter. The trees were no longer beautiful, but instead made me sick. There was a field just past the rubble where thousands of ashes lay buried. Where thousands of people that were senselessly murdered, lie scattered together. I cried then, and I am crying now as I write this. I still can’t wrap my head around the immense evil that was present there.
After our visit to Birkenau, we went to Auschwitz I. This camp was very different than Birkenau. It was restored much more than Birkenau and much more of a museum. Inside the buildings were artifacts from the time and pictures of people that were murdered there. It was a different kind of horrible. However, Auschwitz I did hold the most terrible sight of all. In this prison still stands a building that was used for storage as well as shelter for air raids. It also was the first functional gas chamber at Auschwitz. We walked inside to this dingy, stone bunker; the sight that was the last for millions. The emotions I felt in there are ones that I can’t name because I have never felt them before. They were so much more than sadness and horror.
While I have put some of my experience into words, I can’t convey what it feels like to visit this place. I learned that pictures and stories do not convey the horrors that took place. After visiting Auschwitz, I feel like we will never be able to fully understand the evil that took place. We can, however, make sure that a horror like this never comes to this Earth again. We can spread Love and Hope and Acceptance for all people. We can take action to stop the evil we do see in our everyday world. We can speak up for those that are oppressed and terrorized. Because it does not matter where you come from, the color of your skin, your sexual identity or orientation, or your religious affiliation. A human is human. And every human deserves to be treated with Love, Respect, and Kindness.
Jenna Goes to Europe 