Day #6: Auschwitz

Supermarket and Auschwitz 

Just stopped at a Polish supermarket, it was hella rad. It was really different and Annie almost bought a full watermelon( I stopped her). However I could not stop her from buying a knife, so to Annie's parents, watch out!! Anyways that was actually really fun , now we are on our way Majdanek....

I just want to blog about yesterday real quick though too. Yesterday was my 17th birthday and it was an experience spending it at Auschwitz. It was a very emotional and our group had a really good talk together which resulted in everyone basically crying. I feel a lot closer to everyone now though. I was also able to see the building where my grandpa was held as a political prisoner. While walking through I got a really dark feeling in my gut, that was strange and upsetting. Auschwitz was a very hard place to go to , the vastness of it was surprising and also, this may sound strange, but it was really beautiful. There was grass everywhere, flowers sprouting all about and even birds chirping. It was bizarre how something so awful happened there but in present day it's so beautiful. 

Also I'd just like to take a second to thank everyone for the birthday wishes I received and the support(Bridget!!) . You guys are all really great, thank you. Also Alexis, Nora Co, and Annie's parents, your kids are freaking awesome! When we got back to the hotel they actually went out and bought pizza and cake and surprised me for my birthday. Just wow, really brightened my day after being at a concentration camp for hours.  (Elizabeth H-B.)

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Auschwitz & Auschwitz Birkenau

Today was one of the hardest days emotionally and physically. First thing in the morning I woke up late and missed breakfast. What an awful, rushed start. The bus ride was about two hours and we were just joking around. I hadn't realized the gravity of our trip until we arrived. We went to Auschwitz I and II (Auschwitz-Birkenau) and as awful as it sounds, it was beautiful. We struggled with the idea of whether we were in an awful place or just a place where awful things happened. I had a hard time imagining the horrific events that occurred there because of all the grass, the birds, and the butterflies. It was such a contrast with how I saw Auschwitz in my head: grey, cold, wet. Our tour guide and the secret pictures that were taken there really helped me understand.

Walking through the barracks was really difficult because all I could think was "how could people live in these conditions" but the truth is they really had no choice. We entered the "evidence/proof" block where the camp displayed the items taken from the targeted groups of the Holocaust. This was the most painful thing to see. The first exhibit showed tufts of hair from floor to ceiling. It was heartbreaking to see that so many people were stripped of something so natural and were publicly humiliated. The next few exhibits showed basic items that people brought with them. Thinking they would live here for a while, people brought such simple belongings like brushes and shaving materials, even though they were likely killed immediately. Then we entered a large room with huge piles of suitcases and luggage with different names scrawled on it. It was so hard to think that the belongings people brought with them, they never saw again. 

Finally, we walked into a room that showed thousands of shoes from the victims. The immense number of the shoes was what scared me the most. We always hear such huge numbers like 1 million or more victims during the Holocaust and we don't really think much of it because it is such an impossible concept to grasp. There's no way to imagine that many people and seeing the stacks upon stacks of shoes really showed me that. There was only about a thousand pairs of shoes in there and all I could keep thinking was that all of those shoes were worn by victims. 

At the end of the day we sat in a circle and reflected on what we saw. It was so beautiful because we all started crying. I think we are all so grateful to be on this trip rather than at the Bahamas or partying somewhere. It was a great experience and I really want to thank Judi and the rest of the chaperones. Thank you so much! (Jessica K)