The only reason we went to Poland was for Auschwitz and Birkenau. Both my dad and I are big WWII um....not fans, not buffs, but....studiers? I'm not sure what the correct term would be but we both have read a lot about the Holocaust, Hitler, etc. So we were very interested in seeing these concentration/extermination/death camps. However, we did learn a few other things about Poland along the way, as well.
-Grungy it may seem, but friendly it is. The first thing that happened when we stepped off the night train into Poland was that my dad realized he had left his passport under his pillow. By the time he realized this, the train had already pulled away! Can you believe it! My nightmare happening right before my eyes to my dad - losing your passport. If I wasn't paranoid about it before, my OCD tripled after that happened. While we were trying to find someone who spoke English so they could understand what we needed (I swear, there was only ONE english speaking woman in the whole train station and its a good thing we found her when we did), there were a bunch of homeless guys following us around, asking us for money or food or something, we couldn't really tell since they were speaking Polish. You just have to ignore them and keep walking, pretty much cuz they will keep it up with any kind of encouragement. The lady contacted the train conductor and sent my dad to meet them at some office. My dad and brother said it was totally sketchy and creepy and they thought they might die that day, but in fact, the man was very honest, friendly, and kind. He had taken nothing from my dad's wallet and would accept nothing for returning it to him. A similar situation happened to me on the bus to Auschwitz; a man who I believe was drunk came on the bus and sat down right next to my brother and I. He tried talking to me but again I didn't understand him. Now he seemed a little creepo at first, but then we all kind of realized at the same time that hey, he looks a little sketch, but actually, I think he's harmless. He's just being friendly.
-A salt mine tour isn't as boring as it sounds! The mines were actually incredibly large and they had basically built an entire city underground. There were stables for their horses and several chapels to worship in. One chapel was huge, with 5 pure salt crystal chandeliers.
-If going to a real concentration camp is your first exposure to the Holocaust, then, yes, it's going to be a bit heavy/depressing/emotional/extremely mind-blowing. If it's not, and you've done your research on the horrible things that happened during the Holocaust, not just to Jews but so many others, then a concentration camp will just bring it all home for you. Everyone we talked to about going to Auschwitz said that they had cried, that they hadn't eaten a thing the entire day after visiting, that it was incredibly emotional. Me being the cry baby wreck that I am assumed I'd be sobbing all day. But in fact, I only teared up a couple times. And the first time was at the very start of the day. It was quiet at Auschwitz, we were among the first people there. The camp was empty but for my family. The loud high school tours had not yet arrived, and our very first stop was at a crematorium. Before stepping into the building, the sign outside it read something like this: The building you are about to enter was the site of thousands of people's deaths. Please be silent, honoring them. That shook me. I get goosebumps just thinking about it. That building was so filled with sadness, there was no way a person couldn't feel that something
absolutely terrible had happened in that very spot just a short 70 years ago. That was my sobering moment of the day. And from then on, I was ok. I mean, I wasn't happy-go-lucky, but I was stable at least.
The only other times I cried was when I would read about individual families or people, and their stories - survival or not. I couldn't fathom the millions. I couldn't picture the thousands. I couldn't grasp the concept of so many people dying. But, what I could understand was the photo of the little girl I was looking at, and the caption below that told me she had been separated from her family, her parents killed in front of her - and so many other horrifying stories.
-Auschwitz was set up like a museum - every building that was open had a different exhibition in it, such as medical experiments, prison life, etc. Every exhibition was a museum of its own, with hundreds of pictures and captions. There is no way you can read everything in every building in a single day. Birkenau was more open, with less direction. It had started getting crowded at Auschwitz, with high school tours making it loud and less personal. It was more of a personal reflection time for me at Birkenau; I had a strong sense that I had been there before - kind of like deja vu. I felt it was right that I was there on that day, feeling the rain appropriately matching my emotions and dripping down my face.
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