Aushwitz II

This entry is the continuation of 'Auschwitz I'. Continuing our tour of the Jewish and Polish work camps, we arrived at our final destination. This place has become known around the world for its cruelty, its malice and its overwhelming amount of suffering. Just like the first camp, this one had overgrowth occurring throughout the construction. Regardless, this faint green growth could not change the face of depravity that this history has dawned and will continue to evermore. This place can be seen from many perspectives. Many people see it as a place of great loss, others see it as a symbol that an idea can become something much more. The buildings constructed were surprisingly different from the previous camp. There were far more and they were made of wood rather than stone. The wooden pillars and walls had markings and age was obvious. This place did not know of humanity. It only knew how to strip it from those that were confined inside. There was nothing here that expressed any form of appreciation for life. In every room, in every bunker like quarter, on every dirt path, there only seemed to be more and more suffering. It did not seem to end. We walked along the same path as those that we destined to perish in the gas chamber. They walked, unknowing that what was to come was not the gruesome beatings, backbreaking labor, or the rape of their innocents. For many of them, this was a walk toward a different ending. Wrapped in deceit, terror and the smothering of life. This became known as the death-march. The building in which they went to had been destroyed. Woman, children, men, the elderly would enter this place and all that would remain of them on their way out would be a pile of ash that over time grew into a mountain and later developed into a sink hole. In this hole there had been the growth of algae and other small forms of plant life. Among those green patches were dark areas. That soot-like material was what remained. On our way out of the camp we were offered the opportunity to look from the overlooking tower that could view the entire camp. The view was something more than just a moment or picture. This moment, I once again realized, that a man no different from any other, stood where I stood, the only difference between where I was now and only moments before was that from where I was, I could see an entire world of suffering. The scary part was that someone was paid to every day and make sure it didn't stop. My day had been riddled with troubling ideas and thoughts but this was certainly the worst.

Thank you for reading my experience, though my words don't properly express what I've seen. This is a place where people need to see what happened. Not read.