BajaNomad

AUSCHWITZ DEATH CAMP

BajaBlanca - 7-17-2015 at 12:05 PM

VIDEO -


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgCBw-L9o74&feature=em-u...




We drove on our own from Krakow to Auschwitz on the inside road. It was a very beautiful drive but the very last part - finding the concentration camp - was very hard. The signage, after the first sign, were non-existant!








The death camp costs NOTHING to enter, however there are so many visitors that they divide people into groups during the busy season. You can get your ticket online with the time you desire. We got there at 4:00 and were given a 5:00 pm entrance time.










THE FRONT:










PROBABLY BECAUSE ONE HAS TO WAIT SO LONG - THERE ARE BILLBOARDS WITH LOTS OF INFO OUTSIDE:























AND THIS INFORMATION IS SPREAD ABOUT INSIDE THE COMPLEX:


























EVERY BUILDING IS A MINI MUSEUM WITH ARTIFACTS - YOU COULD EASILY SPEND THE DAY AND NOT REALLY SEE EVERYTHING:















IT IS JUST ASTOUNDING TO ME THAT THERE WERE SO MANY DEATH CAMPS - I ALWAYS THOUGHT THERE WERE ONLY A COUPLE:




















GAS CHAMBER SMOKESTACK:











AND FOLLOWING IS A VIDEO MADE AS WE WERE LEAVING THE DEATH CAMP. I REFER TO THE MURDERED ONES AS POW'S....AND I AM NOT SURE IF THIS IS THE APPROPRIATE TERM? I WAS QUITE UPSET BY THE WHOLE SCENE WHEN I MADE THE VIDEOS....WHICH I KNEW I WOULD BE, BUT I THINK IT IS VITAL THAT WE REMEMBER. AND NEVER FORGET.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahnvyFYURn4&feature=em-u...












MMc - 7-17-2015 at 01:41 PM

Having been there if your are not effected by it you must be dead inside. The memory if that place still haunts me. I been twice first in 76 and in 99. I didn't want to go the second time but did and it had a bigger impact.

chuckie - 7-17-2015 at 01:50 PM

Visited Dachau.....Should be mandatory .......NEVER AGAIN....

Udo - 7-17-2015 at 01:53 PM

Had one relative on my dad's side that died there. (he wasn't jewish, but from Chekoslovakia)

desertcpl - 7-17-2015 at 02:25 PM


we had a dear friend ( now passed ) that was one of the liberating Generals attaché,,,

this was on Christmas eve on Harbor Island San Diego

we was at Tom Hams lighthouse drinking and eating dinner

he started tell every one about his story, maybe 20 or so people was there,,, you could have heard a pin drop, the looks on every ones face said it all

[Edited on 7-17-2015 by desertcpl]

bajabuddha - 7-17-2015 at 03:50 PM

The 94 year-old SS guard that was just convicted in Germany proves WE SHOULD NEVER FORGET. There is no 'statute of limitations' for some crimes. He's had to live with his past, yes... but unless it brings him grief, it is no punishment. Better late than never.

Too bad we haven't learned enough from the past. Bosnia... Kenya... the Sudan... Syria today... the list goes on and on.

BajaBlanca - 7-18-2015 at 12:18 AM

oh bajabuddha you are so right that the list goes on and on...I amjust astounded that we can stand by with all the horror going on.

and yes, the trial just ended:



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/116...




http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/01/accountant-ausc...





http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33533264





but I mostly love Eva Kor's story for striving to bring the word out to youngsters in schools - and making a museum - and for surviving as best she could:



http://www.auschwitz.dk/eva.htm









Hook - 7-18-2015 at 06:39 AM

Quote: Originally posted by desertcpl  

we had a dear friend ( now passed ) that was one of the liberating Generals attaché,,,

this was on Christmas eve on Harbor Island San Diego

we was at Tom Hams lighthouse drinking and eating dinner

he started tell every one about his story, maybe 20 or so people was there,,, you could have heard a pin drop, the looks on every ones face said it all

[Edited on 7-17-2015 by desertcpl]


I had a videography student at Leisure World, Laguna Hills (now Laguna Woods) CA., that was an attache to Eisenhower and was responsible for 16mm film documentation of the opening of the camps, after liberation, in 1945. His name was Hal ???????. Could it have been the same person? I think this would have been in the early or mid 90s. He was president of their camera club at the time.

desertcpl - 7-18-2015 at 10:24 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Hook  
Quote: Originally posted by desertcpl  

we had a dear friend ( now passed ) that was one of the liberating Generals attaché,,,

this was on Christmas eve on Harbor Island San Diego

we was at Tom Hams lighthouse drinking and eating dinner

he started tell every one about his story, maybe 20 or so people was there,,, you could have heard a pin drop, the looks on every ones face said it all

[Edited on 7-17-2015 by desertcpl]


I had a videography student at Leisure World, Laguna Hills (now Laguna Woods) CA., that was an attache to Eisenhower and was responsible for 16mm film documentation of the opening of the camps, after liberation, in 1945. His name was Hal ???????. Could it have been the same person? I think this would have been in the early or mid 90s. He was president of their camera club at the time.




no don't think it was him,, Frank Wolf was his name, he later went to work as a Physicist with one of the government agencies cant remember now which one

Pompano - 7-18-2015 at 12:54 PM

Thanks for the tour, Blanca.

A good friend of mine in college once invited me to his Jewish home for dinner. He introduced me to his grandmother, who was a survivor of the death camps in WWII Germany. She was a very withdrawn lady. She had the tattoo on her forearm as a grim reminder of those cruel times. She never talked about it...or about anything.

If there is a God and a Heaven, then there is a special Hell for those responsible.

[Edited on 7-18-2015 by Pompano]

Whale-ista - 7-18-2015 at 01:17 PM

Thanks for sharing your experiences. If/when you ever get to Israel, visit Yad Vashem in Jerusalem- another amazing museum documenting these death camps, and the history leading up to them.

As others have noted: it was not just Jews who were rounded up and sent to their deaths. Begining in the 30s, people from Poland, Czeks, "gypsies," and countless others were part of this extermination.

When I served in the Assembly, we honored survivors with a floor ceremony in the Chamber every year. The guests sat with us at our desks- most were quite frail by that time. (We gave them our comfortable chairs and sat on folding chairs.)

One year a survivor at a desk next to mine made eye contact with me. He spoke limited English, but insisted on offering a photo of himself from his days in the camp. It was kept in his wallet (!) with other documents of that era- the tattered remnants of a photo, and an ID card, showing him before being sent to the camp - as a young man, thin but healthy... and then he offered another, after his release: skeletal.

He pushed up his sleeve and showed me his tatoo- indecipherable, but that hardly matters now...

He was with a relative, and I encouraged them to make copies of those original documents and photos to keep for future generations.

I also encouraged the organizers to interview the men and women who were able to attend, and capture their stories for all to hear later. (I think they do this every year now)

Thanks for the reminder. We must never forget.

[Edited on 7-18-2015 by Whale-ista]

BajaBlanca - 7-18-2015 at 09:55 PM

thanks for your words, everyone, you always have such interesting stories to add!


I have had numerous Jewish friends over the years and was always an avid listener, hence my interest.

Oh I do hope I go to Israel one day and visit a kibbutz.

TMW - 7-19-2015 at 07:00 PM

Excellent, thanks. Pictures are great.

Cliffy - 7-19-2015 at 09:42 PM

Over 50 years ago I worked with a guy named Bernie who had the forearm tattoo from there. One day they lined everyone up and took every other person and just shot them. On one side was his brother and the other side stood his Father.

vgabndo - 7-19-2015 at 10:35 PM

I swear by God this holy oath, that I want to offer unconditional obedience to the Führer of the German Reich and people, Adolf Hitler, the commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht, and be prepared as a brave soldier to risk my life for this oath at any time.

Correct me if I'm wrong. The German people who put on the uniforms and who were in charge of building and operating these death camps were 60% Lutheran, and 40% Catholic.

Presumably in the hours of their deaths they prayed to their god for forgiveness and were saved by Christ's death on the cross. The American Taliban can look forward to meeting them all in heaven.

The poet of my time got it right... https://vimeo.com/97672176

BajaBlanca - 7-20-2015 at 10:31 AM

all in the name of God???? amazing thought.