Poland

So we have now completed out second day in Krakow Poland. Yesterday we went to see Auschwitz, which was our primary reason from coming to southern Poland. I will only give my thoughts and will not try to convey any of Lynee's. For me, Auschwitz was very surreal, and I feel that I did not appreciate the gravity of where I was. We have now been traveling for almost 7 weeks and have seen countless sights. Because of this, I think a lot of the destinations we are now seeing are starting to disappear into a blur of cathedrals, cobblestone streets, old buildings, foreign languages, and historic memorials. As such, I don't think it really sank in, and may not for some time to come. My mind simply cannot comprehend the 1.1 million (minimum, some estimates are 1.5 million or more) people exterminated in those camps. The guides were tactful, but also did not try to hide the gruesomeness. The 2 remaining camps that remain are very well preserved, with many buildings constructed out of brick (I envisioned them all out of wood, which many were in the 2nd camp where most the killing occurred with multiple gas chambers and crematorium). The reason the number of those killed is not confirmed is because the Nazis did not make an attempt to record those sent directly to the gas chambers from the trains (the fate for the majority of Jews... Jews also constituted ~90% of those killed). Those who were sent into hard labor were recorded. I will leave the gruesomeness out, there were many things shown to us, but I think the guides held back a great deal, for I have read and heard many more disgusting and heart wrenching things that go beyond those described for us. One thing I found interesting that I had never really heard before was that when the Soviets were approaching the camps as the Eastern front of WWII approached. The Nazis began trying to dismantle the camp as fast as they could in order to hide the crime. The phrase "evidence of the crime" was repeated one of the most times above everything else by the guide. The Nazis were very meticulous about many of their record keeping, but bringing a charge against them with evidence was of great concern. Even during the full operation of the camps as small resistance group member happened to find a camera amongst the mountains of stolen clothing from the victims and was able to shoot 6 pictures on it and get them smuggled out, these were important after the war in the criminal trials. As the Soviets approached the Nazis desperation to hide the crimes lead them to start blowing up crematorium and gas chambers... but it didn't slow the killing down. Eventually they marched the camp... where huge numbers died... to other camps deeper into Germany. So even liberation of the camp did not free a great deal of those in the camp because they were marched off days before liberation. A terribly disterbing fact they gave us is that only about 10% of the Nazis involved at the camp were brought to justice.

Overall though, the camps did not affect me as deeply as I thought they would. I think movies that depict it (like Schindler's List or The Pianist) bring about a greater anger and emotion than the camps did for me. I have been trying to think the last 2 days why this is. I think part of it is because the buildings in the camp... were largely just buildings. I can't see the excruciating living conditions in the camps by simply looking at the barracks. I can't see the only 2 bathroom breaks given the prisoners a day by looking at just the buildings. The buildings don't show me the brutality of the guards, the lack of food, loss of loved ones, or overall terror. For me, our trip to Auschwitz was important to remember, important to see, important to not forget. But it did not mark me as deeply as I anticipated because I don't think I could really grasp where I was.

Moving on from such difficult things. We hadn't booked any other tours or excursions for after Auschwitz because I didn't think we would be in the mood to do any tourist activities. But after we got back we realized there was still a great deal in Krakow we still wanted to do... but we were supposed to leave the next day. So we did some last minute scrambling, adjusted hostel bookings, airline flights... etc, and managed to squeak out an extra day.

Today we went to a truly massive salt mine near Krakow. The whole time it kept reminding me of the "Mines of Morriah" from Lord of Rings... only later to find out that Tolkien had visited the mine shortly before writing the novel. A mine is a bad description, it is more like an old underground city. It has about 40 chapels/churches, massive chambers, a restaurant, a medical center, about 200 miles of tunnels, etc. It boasts the first underground bungee jump in one of the taller chambers and first underground hot air balloon. It was well worth staying longer. Afterwards we walked around the old area of Krakow, saw a large castle, did a small river boat ride and are now trying to unwind a bit at our hostel... an unfortunate side effect of staying longer is that we have a 5:30 am flight to Prague in the morning, but we figured we wouldn't get any less sleep than a sleeper train. Tomorrow we fly to Prague for a couple days before heading off the Paris.