Auschwitz

Onholiday(somemightsay) said:
I also liked Krakow when I was there......
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Went to St. Peter and Paul’s church last night watching the orchestra. Absolutely amazing, best £12,I’ve ever spent. The place itself it stunning and until last nights arrival of the stag do was a pleasant experience.

Nothing wrong with a stag do but I feel there more suited for Benidorm or magaluf if they just want to get wankered.
 
inchy14 said:
Yes mate. Pictures were everywhere tbh. All the barracks in Auschwitz had them in the corridors, looking at how short a time they survived was pretty upsetting. Couple of months here and there.
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They say 80 percent died within 4 hours of being there . The worrying about thing is the more you walked round the more you got used to it and became normal . Frightening thought that was
 
I think almost as many people were killed at Treblinka, which the Nazis completely destroyed.

The only photographic evidence of the purpose of Auschwitz is this album, which the SS created. It shows Hungarian Jews, who were the last to be deported, in mid 1944. You see the photos like the one of kids walking behind their mothers on the way to the gas chamber and it's just beyond words.

https://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/album_auschwitz/index.asp
 
inchy14 said:
Yes mate. Pictures were everywhere tbh. All the barracks in Auschwitz had them in the corridors, looking at how short a time they survived was pretty upsetting. Couple of months here and there.
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I’m away for a short break in Krakow in January. My first thought is I should do the Auschwitz visit, but at the back of my mind is the thought will visiting Auschwitz teach me anything I don’t already know. Guess what I’m asking is why in your opinion do you think it’s worthwhile putting my wife and myself through such a harrowing experience on a short break away?
 
crazyg said:
We went to a village named Oradour-sur-Glane in France, near Limoges, which is the site of a massacre by a company of Waffen SS soldiers in 1944.
642 men, women and children were murdered in reprisal for 3 or 4 Germans killed in a nearby village a few days before. The victims were mostly herded into the church, where they were machine gunned down and then set alight. the village was then destroyed. After the war, the village was turned into a Village Martyr by De Gaulle, and stands as a memorial to the dead as it was left, A new village, of the same name, was built next to the site.
A very eerie experience for us both, especially as we discovered that the day we went was the anniversary of the massacre, and we had just missed the memorial service. It didn't help that there were storm clouds in the area. with constant thunder all around.

2 years and 6 days later, my wife died about 50 miles away!

I would love to go and visit Auschwitz/Birkenau, but having seen the results of those atrocities on such a (relatively) small scale and been so affected by it, I'd be a gibbering wreck when I got there.
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My Grandparents live about an hour from Oradour-sur-Glane, a couple of years ago when we visited i'm sure there was a trial ongoing as they had found an SS Officer living in France who was complicit in what went on in the Village, I remember reading the articles in the local papers and he showed no remorse, basically just said it was his job, heartbreaking stuff. I bought a book from the Museum and as an extension to your post, they now think that they destroyed the Village and it's people as they thought they either had money/weapons hidden but they had been given wrong information and attacked the wrong Village entirely. When the SS carried out the attacks they tricked the Men by saying they wouldn't harm their Family's if they sacrificed themselves, utterly horrible. The Church full of a machine gun holes was a horrific site for me personally.
 
blueparrot said:
I’m away for a short break in Krakow in January. My first thought is I should do the Auschwitz visit, but at the back of my mind is the thought will visiting Auschwitz teach me anything I don’t already know. Guess what I’m asking is why in your opinion do you think it’s worthwhile putting my wife and myself through such a harrowing experience on a short break away?
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You absolutely should. For me and I suspect most visitors it’s not really about the learning but more about just being in the place it happened and it giving you a greater sense of scale and helps you to truly understand the numbers. I was in Kraków for just 3 days but spent essentially an entire day there and I’m very glad I did. Didn’t put a dampener on the rest of the break either if you’re concerned about that.
 
ninjamonkey said:
You absolutely should. For me and I suspect most visitors it’s not really about the learning but more about just being in the place it happened and it giving you a greater sense of scale and helps you to truly understand the numbers. I was in Kraków for just 3 days but spent essentially an entire day there and I’m very glad I did. Didn’t put a dampener on the rest of the break either if you’re concerned about that.
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Thanks it was the dampner on the rest of our break I was thinking off , think I was always going just a nagging doubt. How did you spend the other days, did you do the salt mines?
 
blueparrot said:
I’m away for a short break in Krakow in January. My first thought is I should do the Auschwitz visit, but at the back of my mind is the thought will visiting Auschwitz teach me anything I don’t already know. Guess what I’m asking is why in your opinion do you think it’s worthwhile putting my wife and myself through such a harrowing experience on a short break away?
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I think it's more that what you read about it doesn't actually do the size and scale of it any justice. For that alone i think it's worth it, no amount of books or documentaries you watch will ever make you realise the size, scale and just sheer horror of it. It smells different, sounds different. My words can't give it justice mate.

I'm really glad that i went and i personally would recommend it to anyone but i also would never ever want to go back.
 
blueparrot said:
Thanks it was the dampner on the rest of our break I was thinking off , think I was always going just a nagging doubt. How did you spend the other days, did you do the salt mines?
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The night of our visit to Auschwitz was a quiet one, we arrived Wednesday night and went to Auschwitz first thing Thursday. On the Friday we'd thought about going to the salt mines but decided we'd do that next time so we stayed around the main square and then went to the church of St Peter and Paul's as there's a classical concert on in the evening, excellent value for £12.

I wouldn't say it will put a dampener on your visit but you will reflect on it.
 
blueparrot said:
Thanks it was the dampner on the rest of our break I was thinking off , think I was always going just a nagging doubt. How did you spend the other days, did you do the salt mines?
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An Understandable worry. Didn’t impact us but I suppose everyone is different. Could always leave it until your last day if it’s a concern. We went to Auschwitz on our second of three days. Went first thing from our hotel in Kraków doing both sites and got back to our hotel around tea time so it’s a lengthy visit and takes a big portion of your trip if you’re on a short stay. we was going to book the salt mines when we booked Auschwitz but the missus didn’t fancy being tied down to an itinerary for 2 days so we skipped it in the end although I hear it’s quite interesting.

We personally spent the remaining time mainly just wandering and soaking up the city with no real plan which suited us, there’s plenty to see, we wandered down to the castle before coming back up through the old town where they had some kind of market/event going on so we spent some time there and before we knew it it was night time and we went on the hunt for a nice place to eat.
 
SPIDERBOY said:
Off to Katowice and then Krakow on Saturday,would appreciate any tips.
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Walking Tour - https://freewalkingtour.com/krakow/ a few different options, I went on the 'Old Town' was really good and you just tip the tour guide at the end.
Auschwitz - Krakow Direct, picked up from our apartment and dropped us back and includes all your travel there and getting in etc.
Miod Malina - Restaurant, superb food and drink. Cheap (compared with UK) but very very good.
Free Now (Taxi) - Basically Uber but its in countries where Uber doesn't have a presence. Very cheap and felt safer using this around the city and from the airport etc than jumping in a cab outside.
Wodka Bar - Vodka Bar, enough said. Really recommend the tasting tray or whatever they called it!
Bull Pub - just down the road from Wodka bar, a decent pub with plenty of TV's so will have the football on if you want to watch it!

Also, get yourself on the Bird bikes or the other red ones you see laying about. Super cheap and nice and easy to fly across the town or just go for a cruise about (might be age dependent!)
 
blueparrot said:
I’m away for a short break in Krakow in January. My first thought is I should do the Auschwitz visit, but at the back of my mind is the thought will visiting Auschwitz teach me anything I don’t already know. Guess what I’m asking is why in your opinion do you think it’s worthwhile putting my wife and myself through such a harrowing experience on a short break away?
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I went for 4 days in September and whilst Auschwitz-Birkenau was a sobering experience, it didn’t dampen the rest of the trip. Krakow’s a superb place. Great main square, the Jewish Quarter is full of good bars, the Salt Mine’s tour was good (although I’d steer clear of trying to cram the Salt Mine tour in on the same day as a trip to Auschwitz), and so was the tour of Oskar Schindler’s old factory, now converted into a museum dedicated to the war years (including the story behind Schindler’s List). If you want an additional, slightly quirky, trip, then the ‘communist’ tour of Nowa Huta, a model town built on the edge of Krakow by the Soviets for propaganda purposes, was decent as well. They pick you up in a Trabant for added authenticity. I’d recommend the upgrade including the Soviet restaurant visit....

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attra...bile_from_Krakow-Krakow_Lesser_Poland_Pr.html
 
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