“Ως μεν νυν εν ελαχίστω δηλώσαι, παν είρηται.”
All has been said that needs to be said.
– Herodotus, “Histories”, 2.24
Fifteen years ago, in the summer of 2006, I was playing beach tennis in Cyprus with my brother. I can’t remember which beach it was – maybe Fig Tree Bay (60% chance), or Konnos Bay (40%).
We were due to fly back to the UK imminently. My wife and son were staying on holiday for a bit longer with my in-laws. So, my brother (let’s call him ‘Bambos’) and I started talking about where we might go for a weekend when we were back in the UK.
After the usual suspects of European metropolitan destinations were listed and discarded, one of us (I’m sure it was me) said, “How about Auschwitz?”
That stopped us in our tracks. Bambos said. “Please investigate. Interested.”
About two weeks later, we were boarding an EasyJet flight from Luton to Krakow, Poland.
We had booked a hotel (Copernicus) in the centre of Krakow and a hire car. The town of Oswiecim (Polish for Auschwitz) was an hour’s drive away – the journey being parallel to the Vistula River.
We drove there the next morning, and joined a group of around 30 people, led by an English-speaking Guide for the day.
The camp Auschwitz-Birkenau is now a museum, and it is kept in its original state. Entry is free, but we paid the Guide.
After a short film about the liberation of the camp by the Red Army in 1945, we were taken on a 4-hour tour. Auschwitz One is where most of the museum is, and we walked through large rooms which housed the real possessions of prisoners – shoes, suitcases, prayer shawls, glasses, combs. They were in massive window displays. One room had shaven hair, which was found in tightly packed bags in the camp warehouses.
Exhibits include photographs from the period, and maps showing where the prisoners had come from.
Then we walked to Crematorium 1. Everyone was silent at this point, as the Guide pointed to the chimney-like holes into which Zyclon B gas cannisters were inserted. We walked inside and stood there. Then one of the American tourists began to speak to his wife and was immediately told to shut up.
After a moment of reflection, we were taken on a coach to Auschwitz Two, which is called Birkenau. This is huge (around 400 acres) and houses brick and wooden barracks, and Crematoria 2, 3 and 4 (a fifth was under construction). This is where the famous railway tracks are, and where the trains terminated. We walked along this rail track to get back to catch our bus back to Auschwitz.
Above the entrance is the inscription: “Arbeit Macht Frei” – meaning Work Brings Freedom. “Cynical”, was how our Guide described it.
Our Guide, Lukas, a young Pole, was knowledgeable and serious. He ended our tour with: “This was history, but please don’t be sad. Speak about it to others. And enjoy your lives.”
In 1939, there were 3 million Jews in Poland. In 1945, there were 600,000.
Krakow is a beautiful little medieval town. Charming, endearing, eye-catching. And steeped in Jewish heritage. We spent the next day in the central market, gently easing our way back into a quiet normality.
Valuable references: –
Films
– Denial
– Shoah
– Life is Beautiful
– Mr Death, The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter Jr.
Books
– “The Irving Judgment: David Irving v. Penguin Books and Professor Deborah Lipstadt”, by Mr Justice Gray
– “Eichmann in Jerusalem”, by Hannah Arendt
James Neophytou
