Auschwitz



Zelenskyy and the King attended
On January 27, the world honors the memory of the victims of the Holocaust. It was the Nazis' deliberate attempt to erase an entire nation—to kill all its people and destroy everything that reminded the world of the Jewish nation.
Six million victims.The crime of the Holocaust must never be repeated, yet, sadly, the memory of it is gradually fading. And the evil that seeks to destroy the lives of entire nations still exists in the world today.We must all fight for the sake of life and remember that indifference is the breeding ground for evil.
We must overcome hatred, which leads to cruelty and murder.
We must not allow forgetfulness to take root. And it is everyone's mission to do everything possible to ensure that evil does not prevail.On the eve of this Day, together with rabbis, representatives of the diplomatic corps and the team of our state, we honored the memory of the men and women, adults and children—millions who were killed in the Holocaust
 
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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This is the village in the very first episode of the world at war series.
 
I went to Auschwitz in December 2015 (or around that time anyway) and it was bitterly cold with a strong ice cold wind battering across Auschwitz-Birkenau, which just added to how horrible it must have been in winter - like it wasn't horrible enough already.

I found the whole experience fascinating. Obviously it's harrowing, but being somewhere real, where truly awful shit took place just gripped me like nothing I've experienced before.

When we got back to Krakow that evening me and the missus just sat there, pretty quiet, processing what we'd learnt, seen and felt that day.

I want to go back again as I've read and watched a few things since, so I feel like I need to experience it again with the additional knowledge I have now.
 
Fourinarow said:
I went to Auschwitz in December 2015 (or around that time anyway) and it was bitterly cold with a strong ice cold wind battering across Auschwitz-Birkenau, which just added to how horrible it must have been in winter - like it wasn't horrible enough already.

I found the whole experience fascinating. Obviously it's harrowing, but being somewhere real, where truly awful shit took place just gripped me like nothing I've experienced before.

When we got back to Krakow that evening me and the missus just sat there, pretty quiet, processing what we'd learnt, seen and felt that day.

I want to go back again as I've read and watched a few things since, so I feel like I need to experience it again with the additional knowledge I have now.
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It’s an eerie place isn’t it.

Someone in our group decided to open their baguette whilst the guide was whispering about the atrocities including starvation. It was unbelievable.
 
Millwallawayveteran1988 said:
It’s an eerie place isn’t it.

Someone in our group decided to open their baguette whilst the guide was whispering about the atrocities including starvation. It was unbelievable.
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And I've just gone reading back through the pages of this thread to read others experiences and have just seen I've already commented previously, oops, haha. It was 2013 I went according to my previous post.
 
Not been to Auschwitz, and can only imagine the gravity of being there, even today.

Have visited Dachau, which has an excellent museum and has built some small places of worship around the perimeter fence.

I can only imagine the horrors seen by those with the misfortune to have been forced there.

Never forget.
 
I attended a few Memorial services for Holocaust Remembrance Day in my capacity as CoG of a HighSchool. Our pupils were involved in them and they had a survivor there, who spoke so well and so movingly but with no self pity or hatred just matter of fact and I found that very moving. To my utter shame I cannot remember his name at the moment but he was well known in Salford area. (His name will probably come to me in the night!)

The pupils talked to me before and after and they were very interested and very determined that they would not let it happen again. “It couldn’t happen now could it Miss” being their most often asked question.
It mustn’t happen again.
 
I understand that the whole of the Auschwitz site has been left exactly the same as when the camp was liberated by Russian and Ukranian troops. No attempt was ever made to clean up the camp (obviously exempting body removal). Also this 80th anniversary must mark one of the last times that survivors will be able to relate their appalling experiences.
 
fanatic1 said:
I understand that the whole of the Auschwitz site has been left exactly the same as when the camp was liberated by Russian and Ukranian troops. No attempt was ever made to clean up the camp (obviously exempting body removal). Also this 80th anniversary must mark one of the last times that survivors will be able to relate their appalling experiences.
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One half is a museum the other has been left virtually untouched
 
The Holocaust probably the biggest crime against humanity ever and should never be forgotten. But 10 million died in it and 4 million none Jews seem to get forgotten ever time !
 
My big respects to all with family connections to that horrible time.

I visited Dachau some years back, which could only give a glimpse but a powerful one at that.
 
SPIDERBOY said:
Off to Katowice and then Krakow on Saturday,would appreciate any tips.
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Following your visit to the camps at Oświęcim, try to arrange to attend a string quartet performance here (see link below), if you do, it will set the experience in your imagination until your dying day – my emotional reserves were drained to empty on that day and have never quite restocked.



karnet.krakowculture.pl

Concerts at St Adalbert's Church

Royal Chamber Orchestra is an ensemble made of young musicians, graduates of the Academy of Music in Kraków. They perform in their native city, but also go on tours all over the world. Their...
karnet.krakowculture.pl karnet.krakowculture.pl
 
Slightly off topic. Many years ago one of my family's friends opened up about his war experiences, he very rarely did this as he said it brought back too many bad memories.
He was one of the first to get to Bergen-Belsen, he said for 2-3 days before they got there they could smell a really bad rotting smell, they all felt sick after smelling this for a few days. It was only when they got to the camp did they realise what they were smelling.
 
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