When we planned our vacation to Krakow, it was a must-see destination for me. Many people find it difficult and prefer to avoid it, but as far as I’m concerned, I’ve never regretted my decision.
The Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp is not something you “want” to see, but it is something you should see at least once in your life.
As our bus pulls into the parking lot, the sky is unusually bright. Before dividing us into language groups, the tour leader gives us the necessary instructions while we eat a sandwich.
After donning our headphones, the first stop is a cinema, where a film about the camp is shown, with unfortunately already well-known and harsh images capable of piercing you a thousand times, and while the first tears begin to fall, you are left wondering how such a dark period of history could have occurred.
After watching the film and remembering one of the most important messages, “Thank you for your courage and desire to commemorate this place,” we officially begin the tour.
It almost seems surreal. As we pass through the gates of Birkenau, under the dreaded sign “Arbeits Macht Frei” (work makes you free) that we have seen in all history books, the experience becomes more real and you are transported to another universe, so distant but also palpable and capable of leaving you with confused emotions.
It’s impossible to put into words what happens once you’re there. The mind can only wander in search of those ghosts of the past, what they experienced, the terror, fear, and fading hopes. However, none of the feelings felt will ever be close to reality.
The breeze that characterizes the day seems to carry this whirlwind of emotions with an almost spectral rigor, inside and outside, beyond the barbed wire and over the identical buildings, like an imperceptible melody, but always present.
Visiting the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp You’ve probably studied World War II in school, seen Holocaust films, or read books like “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” or “The Diary of Anne Frank,” and you’ve almost certainly learned in school about the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, which was the site of one of the largest mass murders in history.
But here’s a secret: no book or film will ever be able to do this place justice.
You are transported to another world after passing through the camp gates.
More than one million people were killed inside the camp, including not only Jews but also Poles, Hungarians, Roma, and anyone else who drew the Nazis’ attention. Auschwitz: the name alone conjures up images of horror. Humans committing atrocities against other humans.
It all began when the Germans occupied Owicim, a former Polish army base, and transformed it into the city we know today. They constructed three concentration camps: Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II-Birkenau, and Auschwitz III-Monowitz (where the writer Primo Levi was imprisoned).
Two of these have now been turned into museums as a memorial to all those who died there.
Auschwitz II-Birkenau
It is the largest camp, built in 1941 to accommodate up to 200,000 prisoners, and is the place where the horrors of this dark period of human history can be perceived.
Upon arrival, the barren and desolate landscape, the lines of barbed wire fences, and the many guard towers immediately catch the eye, created to limit freedoms that none of us have ever thought, or will ever think, we will have to fight for. Reflecting on this alone cannot describe the pain that those people experienced.
The railway track in the center of the camp is a witness to those moments when the selection of prisoners took place, when it was decided who would survive and who would die.
Despite most of the camp buildings being destroyed in 1945 when the Nazis, as the Soviet army approached, tried to hide evidence of what they had done, Birkenau remains an indescribable place.
As I write, I still feel the weight of its presence. What words should I use to describe what it feels like to enter one of the gas chambers? Or to describe what it feels like to see piles of personal belongings of those who unfortunately saw their lives end without a valid reason?
How can I ever pay due respect to a place like this?
None of us can ever truly imagine what it means to work for 12 hours a day in thin clothes in the cold, humidity, fighting against illness, fatigue, abuse, or simply for our lives.
Visiting Birkenau is not like visiting any museum. It is a place of reflection, where we are left alone with our thoughts, where each of us tries to make sense of the horrors that have occurred.
Auschwitz I
Auschwitz I was originally a Polish army barracks that was converted into a prison camp for political prisoners in 1940. Much of the first and smaller Nazi camp has been preserved, starting with the entrance gate where the inscription “Arbeit macht frei” is carved into the wrought iron. “Work will make you free”: a horrible irony in the place where so many people came to die.
You can walk between the rows of brick cabins in the camp, each of which had a different function. There is cabin 20, the so-called “hospital”, which was more of a laboratory where doctors like Dr. Mengele used prisoners as test subjects to experiment with different ways of killing them more efficiently. There is Cottage 11, the prison within the prison, where guards devised new and more horrible ways to torture prisoners who dared to rebel: through starvation, suffocation, or by being forced to stay in a tiny one-square-meter cell for days.
The most heart-wrenching are the piles of personal belongings – the huge piles of suitcases, shoes, cups and bowls that people brought with them when they thought they were only going to work and that one day they would return home.
Then there are the unsettling piles of glasses, wooden legs and human hair. By taking away their clothes, personal belongings, and shaving their hair, the Nazis stripped them of their humanity. But walking along the hut corridors, you can see lines of faces looking down at us. In the early days of the camp, new arrivals were photographed and recorded, until the number became too large to follow.
Looking into their eyes, you can see a mixture of fear, horror and challenge. Seeing their faces, reading their names, nationalities, ages and occupations brings humanity back to the people who were dehumanized. It helps translate abstract numbers into real people.
It is impossible not to imagine how you would have faced the situation if you had been there in their place: would hunger, cold and illness have killed you before the gas chamber, or would you have been one of the few who made it? Because among all the horror there are stories of challenge and survival, of people who made it despite the odds.
Auschwitz raises as many questions as answers. And the most important one is: is it right for thousands of visitors – from bachelor parties to school groups – to visit a place where so many people died? For me it was a bleak experience that was difficult to shake off, but that was so important to do.
As a quote at Auschwitz states: “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.
Looking at the camps 70 years later, it is difficult for us to imagine how this could have happened. But in a world still full of hate, is it really so impossible? Visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau and seeing these places firsthand is an experience that will never be forgotten,
an experience to carry with you and keep as a talisman that it will never happen again.
Practical Information
The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum is located about 65 km from Krakow, on the outskirts of the city of Oลwiฤcim. The site is open from 7.30 a.m. every day, with the last admission time varying during the year (from 2.00 p.m. in December to 7.00 p.m. in June, July, and August), while the closing time is 90 minutes later. Admission to the site is free: it is possible to book a timed ticket with or without a guided tour on the website.
There are several options for reaching Auschwitz-Birkenau and visiting the site. If you want to visit it independently, you can take the train from Krakรณw Glowny (the main railway station of the city) to Oลwiฤcim, the station is 2 km from the camp, so it can be reached on foot in 25 minutes, or you can take a local bus.
We opted for one of the many organized tours available on the Get Your Guide platform with pick-up from Krakow.
It is useful to have a guide, especially if you are not familiar with the history. When you arrive at Auschwitz, you can participate in a 3.5-hour small group tour that is managed in many different languages. The cost is 50 zลoty (ยฃ10.50) and must be booked well in advance during the high season.
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