Never Forget

On this day, January 27, 1945, troops of the Soviet Union liberated the death camps at Auschwitz and Auschwitz Birkenau in Poland.

Today, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, marks the 78th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the First Ukrainian Front. While Auschwitz and its more than 40 subcamps are by far the best known of the Nazi concentration camps, we must not forget that there were in fact some 27 main concentration camps with more than 1,100 attached satellite camps. 

Not all of the more than 6 million Jews who were murdered by the Nazis died in camps. That total is a 'mere' 2.3 million. But it is the deaths in concentration camps that most people think about when they hear about the Holocaust.' In the early stages of the mass murders, Jews were rounded up and shot on the edge of deep pits they had been forced to dig. But Nazi officials decided that technique was too stressful for the executioners. So they developed mobile killing facilities that used the exhaust from vehicles to murder people. Then they switched to the use of Zyclon B, a pesticide.

Entrance to Auschwitz I. 

Of the 1.3 million people sent to Auschwitz, some 1.1 million were killed or died of starvation or disease. Some 900,000 of those murdered were Jewish.

Several years ago I, along with a group of 10 Americans and one Canadian, visited Berlin and Oswiecim, Poland, to learn about the roots and history of the Holocaust. 

After a few days in Berlin, we traveled to Poland, where we spent several days delving into the history of the camps, getting in-depth tours, and going behind the scenes to talk with archivists and conservators who work to preserve everything left behind when the camps were liberated. 

Some surviving barracks at Birkenau.

We spent an entire afternoon with a local Polish guide touring the original camp, and another full afternoon walking the much larger Birkenau camp. The scope of this camp left us all stunned and silent as we tried to imagine the horrors and suffering that took place there. A gloomy and rainy day only added to the somber nature of our visit. 

I have read dozens of books about the Holocaust, among them works by some who survived the horrors of the camps. I visited both of the main camps very briefly a few years ago. But nothing could have prepared me for the reality of life and death at Auschwitz. Even then, because Auschwitz has been preserved as a museum, the true horror of the camps is evident only in the imagination.

We did a service project at the original camp that consisted of raking leaves and reviewing English-language displays for damage and for correct word usage and punctuation, as they had been translated from Polish. These tasks, while mundane, made me feel that I was in some small way atoning for what others had done. Knowing that I have some German ancestry made me wonder whether any of my relatives took part in the atrocities. My paternal great-grandparents had immigrated to the US before the war, but I wonder whether I have other, distant relatives who were there.

Entrance to Auschwitz-Birkenau camp

This was without a doubt the most moving, impactful and emotionally and physically draining trip I have taken. The one question that remained unanswered was "Why?" Why did this happen? Why did most of the German people turn a blind eye to the atrocities taking place in their name? 

Now, more than 80 years after the start of the war, those questions, despite years of study, still have no answers.

Our group leader asked us one evening during our daily reflection and discussion about what we had seen and experienced that day, what would we do with the information and experiences of this trip once we returned home.

Writing about my experiences in this blog, which I did previously and now again on this sad anniversary, and sharing a few of the many images I gathered, is my attempt to encourage others to never forget.

I also took this image during some free time at the main camp. The photo is quite simple: a single strand of barbed wire. A brick wall with a light fixture and a sign with a number on it. Four simple elements. The focus in on the strand of wire, which is why the background is deliberately out of focus but still recognizable.

This image of a single strand of barbed wire (there were others above and below it) is part of a fence within the original Auschwitz concentration camp. The brick wall is part of Block 23, a former Polish army barracks converted, along with many others, to become a prison. Block 23 was one of several buildings that held Soviet prisoners of war. The vast majority of these prisoners died of starvation or disease.

This photograph tells a story despite its stark simplicity. Its four elements tell a story of imprisonment and cruelty and death. 

"A picture is worth a thousand words" goes an old adage. I think this image is worth a lot more than 1,000 words. It speaks to torture, cruelty, imprisonment, starvation, death on a mass scale, hatred, inhumanity, sadism, and so many more of man's basest actions.

Being so deeply immersed in the story of the Holocaust on several levels was overwhelming. We struggled to put our thoughts and our feelings into words. Saying that it was a 'great trip' somehow seems inappropriate. It was intense. It was overwhelming. It was mind boggling. And yet, what we saw is, in reality, a whitewashed version of the enormity and depth of the horrors that confronted millions of people. My mind struggled to comprehend the atrocities that took place in the camps we visited. I didn't shed a lot of tears, but what I saw and heard kept me awake at night. Even as we raked leaves and picked up trash, we were reminded of prisoners forced to work outside in all kinds of weather. We, someone pointed out, were dressed properly. We had suitable shoes and gloves. And if we got thirsty, we could take a break for a drink of water. I am saddened that this trip is no longer offered by Road Scholar, as understanding the origins and consequences of the Holocaust is crucial if we are to avoid repeating this horror.

The memories of this trip will remain with me, and with each of us who took part in the trip, forever. We were not there as Christians or Jews. We were there as humans trying to understand one of the darkest periods in recent history.

All of us who shared this trip are joined by a common experience. Our backgrounds and our family histories are different. But I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we will never be the same after this experience.