Auschwitz

Well breakfast this morning lived up to the promise of our waitress last night. It was fabulous and such a feast compared to the last couple of motels. There were cereals and juice and yoghurt and fruit to start, then a full range of cold meats, cheeses and salads, then hot dishes - scrambled eggs, sausage and a polish sausage in cabbage and the PANCAKES (crepe style). Ooh, now I am really full!

It is raining. Perhaps fitting as we head off to the former concentration camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau. It is only 5 km down the road. Well, yes, it was only 5 kms down the road from the hotel BUT. The signposted road to it is shut - they are working on the bridge it seems. And there is no detour marked. So we remember passing the camp on the way in yesterday and try to re-trace our route as Kate does not have it in her list of POIs (places of interest). After driving around for an hour unsuccessfully, I go back to the POIs and find another one for Konzentrationslager - sounds close enough so I choose it. It would have taken us to the back gates of the camp, but luckily we see a sign pointing the way before we get there. I am really pi**ed off - an hour of driving wasted for no good reason. Surely a detour sign is not asking too much!

But before we set out on our frustrating drive, we had driven in to the centre of Oświęcim to see what there is to see. Not much. Drab and untidy with lots of kredyt agencies and discount stores tells us that this is not a high income area. After finding a parking spot in Oświęcim we discover we lack coinage to feed the meter. Michael eventually finds a 'Microbank' whereby the Teller reluctantly changes a 'fifty' for some change. Feeding the meter in return for a parking billet we head off to view the sights.

Our first stop was to visit the tesselated roofed Catholic Church and to view its interior. Well, any opportunity to snap a few pics of this church's interior and architecture was somewhat thwarted...entry into the knave was barred by grills and a gate. However, parishioners were able to participate in their observances by the available pews. As there were a couple of parishioners in prayer we left them to their peaceful endeavours after lighting electric 'candles'. We normally light three, but as Michael only had a 5 złoty coin, when he put it in the slot through the grille, as though by magic, the next 5 'candles' sprung into light. So we have two available - I'll dedicate them to the highest bidders! We walked around the town centre for a short while longer, and decided to press onto our next objective - Auschwitz Konzentrationslager.

"I do not believe in God; its existence has been disproved by Science.
But in the concentration camp, I learned to believe in men." - Jean-Paul Sartre
Nothing can prepare you for the onslaught on the senses by the magnitude of the single-minded intent to irradicate the world of a race. Not Dachau. Certainly not Terezín. And in no way ever, any book you have read or documentary you have watched. And speaking very generally, there is so little we know.

I mean, Auschwitz was not one camp. There was Auschwitz I - Stammlager (the main camp in the town of Oświęcim), Auschwitz II - Birkenau (in the nearby village of Brzezinka) and Auschwitz III - Monowitz (in the village of Monowice) and a system of more than 40 sub camps.
Auschwitz was surrounded by an area of 40 square kilometres known as the Auschwitz Concentration Camp Zone of Interest, under Special Police supervision, in an effort to isolate what was happening from the outside world - so Mum, there is part of the answer as to why you never knew what was happening.
Auschwitz's role was an ever evolving one - formerly a deserted military base, first it was used for Polish political prisoners before becoming the fear of millions of people living in nazi-occupied lands.
The numbers are numbing. While we can never be sure of the final numbers because the nazis detroyed records (or for many Jews, never kept records) the most accepted figures are:
- 1,400,000 prisoners were murdered of whom 1,100,000 were Jewish
- Soviet prisoners-of-war, Gypsies, Czechs, Yugoslavs, Frenchmen, Austrians, Germans, Polish political prisoners but mostly Jewish.
- 232,000 children of whom only 650 were alive at liberation - that's less than 0.3% - not even 1% lived. Oh my god the children, why the children?
- 1942 - by then the Allied forces knew for sure of the existence and operation of the camp.

The managers of the Auschwitz-Bireknau State Museum in Oświęcim administer the site very sensitively. And although there are signs saying children under 14 will not be admitted, there are plenty of them there with their families. Why would you take a child into a place like this????
You can only go through the site with a museum guide (entry is free but the tour costs!). The various language groups are broken down to about 20 people per guide. Everyone puts on headsets and carries a receiver. The guide talks quietly. There is no reason to be loud. Signs ask for respect and silence, but many people ignore this. Most of them younger - but I can't criticise - at least they are coming here, witnessing the horror.
While we are being led through the camp, there are at least 20 - 30 other groups as well. If you consider that these tours are operated every hour, that is a lot of people.

As I said, our guide, Petr, talks quietly. Flatly. Without emotion.
But with passion. His use of language is interesting. Nazis instead of Germans. Death camp as well as concentration camp. Murdered. Beaten. Starved. Stripped. Shaved. Selected.

It is emotionally a very hard journey we make. And all the time, I can't help but think that the 'powers' in the world knew about this. For at least 3 years, people were murdered while the allies knew. And you must understand, it was the Russians who liberated the camp at Auschwitz, not the English, not the Americans.

It is the detail that gets you.
- The mound of jumbled, ensnarled, broken and twisted glasses.
- The long heaped row of prosthetic limbs.
- The floor of a room covered to about a foot deep with shaving brushes, hair brushes, toothbrushes.
- The pile of human hair that extends the length of a room, shaved from the heads of women and destined for local industries in carpet making, wig making, cloth manufacture.
- The Prayer Shawls.
We are led through room after room in building after building that once 'housed' these poor people seeing with our own eyes the evidence of cruelty and horror. And if I ever meet anyone who wants to deny that this 'holocaust' ever took place, well, I won't be held responsible for my response.

Our tour through Auschwitz I lasts 2 hours. We then leave as a group for Auschwitz II - Birkenau for another 1 hour tour. And now it is pouring. Very apt that as we enter this place that will forever be remembered as evil, that even the heavens are weeping.
I have had enough. There is a lot of uneven ground here, and although there is less to see, it is still quite a walk, and to be honest, my emotions have peaked and I am not sure I can take the next hour. So I take the coward's (?) way out and wait outside on the one bench that is there. In the rain (but at least I have my umbrella).

And the only reason that there is less to see here is that the nazis, knowing that the Russians had almost reached here, bombed and burned the evidence of their work. This site, like much of Auschwitz I has been left as it was found. Michael reports that in particular, the ruins of the Crematoria and gas chambers, the unloading patforms, the pond into which ashes were tipped, the washrooms and latrines bring horrific images into your heads. As with Dachua, there is only a small proprotion of the infrastructure of the barrack buildings still remaining.

Auschwitz was bombed once - an it appears to have been an accident by allied bombers who were targetting German factories in the area. One of the former prisoners has been recorded as saying it would have been better that the camp had been targetted.

And so, better educated, but totally numb with horror and pain, we are glad to leave this place. But more glad that we came. We have bougt two books -
Illicit Letters from Auschwitz by Janusz Pogonowski - a Pole from Cracow who at the age of 17 years and 10 months was sent from a local prison where he had been arrested in the street as a result of the nazi operation against the Polish intelligence, to Auschwitz. One month later he and 11 other prisoners were hung on the parade ground as a reprisal for the escape of 3 other prisoners. These secret letters describe his dramatic experiences and the yearning for his family. They quite simply are heart-breaking in every sense of the word.
The other book is titled London Has Been Informed - reports by three Auschwitz Escapees. I haven't started it yet, but the title got to me.

So we head off with the rain matching our mood, for Kraków. Just over an hour later we reach the city about 7:30 pm. Magical Kraków as it is marketed. We are staying at the Hotel Jan, about 150 metres from the main market square. But there is no parking anywhere near us so we drive around trying to determine which is the closer. We eventually park about 700m away and traipse with our stuff arund to the hotel, but not before we haggle with the parking attendant and get the price for 48 hours down to 195 PLN (złoty - about €50!) while 24 hours will cost you 165 PLN! Up to our room to discover that the internet connection is not working - no good! So back down to change our room. That done, we quickly unpack and head out to find something to eat.

We end up at the Ristorante da Pietro on the edge of the market square. The first Italian restaurant in Kraków and one of the few still open for dinner at 10 pm! Our choices:
Chleb Czoskowy (Garlic bread) to start
Rolle di Pizze - roladki z pizzy z nadzieniem z podsmażonych pieczarek, szynki i sera (pizza rolls stuffed with mushrooms, ham and cheese) Michael
Quattro formaggio pizze - z czterema rodzajami sera (Pizza with four kind of cheeses) Maria - and finished by Michael!
We finish with profiteroles and coffee before walking back down the street, dodging the fairly noisy and inebriated young groups.

We ask the night porter if there are always so many police on duty as we saw quite a few while eating - he shrugs and says that this is not so many! They are there to keep the peace but only intervene when you "start to puke on the street"! His words! Also on the streets this late are the now common horse drawn carriage rides for tourists - yes, even the horses work late here.

PS Take a gander at these 'shoes' that two of our fellow tourists were wearing today. Wonder how comfortable they are on stony surfaces - despite the hard sole!

Reflections

This morning we left Prague - all too soon and my second visit has only increased my hunger for this fabulous city. Rightly so it is called the Paris of the East.

While the Black Eagle hotel has THE prime position in the Lesser Town, that is about all that it has. The rooms are hot - almost unbearably, they do have airconditioning but only in the 3rd floor rooms and no lift! It is billed as a non-smoking hotel, but staff stand at the front door puffing away as though their very lives depended on it. And you would swear that the surly young lass serving breakfast is paying for it out of her own pocket the way she doles out the limited supplies. All that said however, the reception staff were very obliging and the rooms are large and otherwise comfortable. Not sure if we would stay here again. But can't beat the location!

Its a sort walk to the car and this morning my calf muscles are screaming at me! After all, yesterday what went up (us in the funicular) had to come down and we did it by foot over some pretty steep and rough terrain. But the further we walk, the looser they get!

The Terezín Memorial is only about 45 minutes from Prague. Given what we learned (when we were at the Jewish Museum the other day) of the Jews from Prague being 'relocated' here in this ghetto established by the nazis, it seemed fitting that we come here before we drive over to Poland and to Oświęcim. The drive out is all on the motorway and pretty ho-hum. It was interesting to see suburban Prague - by comparison with other places we have seen recently, it is a tidy and pleasant city. Once we are out of the city proper and in to the semi-rural areas surrounding Prague we are amazed at the level of pollution. Not only can you see it, you can smell it. The air has that burning, rubbery metallic smell so symbolic of industrial places.

The town of Terezín has had a chequered past. Emperor Josef II founded this town at the end of the 18th century as a fortress; still surrounded by its massive ramparts, the town lies at the confluence of the rivers Labe (Elbe) and Ohře (Eger). The Main and Small Fortresses at Terezín, although the modern for their period, gradually became obsolete, and having lost their military function fell into disregard.

In the course of World War II the town was used as a "model" concentration camp for Jews from all over Europe, and the Small fortress served as a prison for the Prague Gestapo. The 5,000 odd residents of the town were forced to leave during the Nazi occupation of their homeland. In their place, over a period of 4 years more than 140,000 Jewish prisoner passed. Their story is tragic and told very movingly at the Memorial today. Click on this link to get a better picture.

How horrified the people of Prague must have been to arrive in such a place. Now, the town of Terezín is quite nicely laid out in an ordered grid around the central town square with its fountain and garden. But as nice as it might have looked, it would have been a far cry from the civilised, refined and lively arts scene that was Prague. Those transferred to this town now set up as a ghetto (n; A usually poor section of a city inhabited primarily by people of the same race, religion, or social background, often because of discrimination) had to walk the final 3½ miles from the train station - many of the old and infirm did not survive this hike.

Two quotes on a wall titled A Day in the life of a Terezín prisoner heightened the horror of life in this place for me:
"The bread has been stale recently. You get used to everything, even the repugnant and ghastly things"
"There's an entire orphanage here. I helped out at the sluice gate with children from L318. Some of them still don't even know how to talk properly, two or three years old, with transport numbers hanging around their necks and Waisenkind (orphan) written in pencil."

Oh, the children. Why the children?? In all, 63 transports left Terezín for the East, carrying a total of more than 87,000 individuals; of these only 3,800 would see liberation. The fate of the children of Terezín was equally tragic; of the 7,590 youngest prisoners deported, a mere 142 survived until liberation. Only those children who remained for the whole period at Terezín had any really chance of being saved; on the day of liberation, Terezín contained some 1,600 children aged 15 or under.

But maybe one of the most horrific things about Terezín was that the nazis actively used it to film propaganda showing how well the Jews were settling into their new 'lives' in the ghetto. Fake concerts and performances, sporting games etc were all staged and helped to hide the true brutality of the regime from the rest of the world for a time. Today, there are very limited opportunities to take photos - maybe one way of ensuring that never again can the town be so manipulated.

Our time here was limited to 2½ hours, but this was plenty. And although there was lots we did not get to see, it gave us the beginning of the picture that we will complete tomorrow. Not a nice picture at all either. Oh, and guess who we ran in to? Small world - we met up again with Tony, our guide from the boat cruise on the Vltava River. He seemed hurt that we would be here with another tour company but brightened considerably when we told him we had driven up ourselves!

We pass through the aptly named town of Hrdly - blink and you are sure to have completely missed it. The next small town though we can't remember the name has a most impressive church and about half a mile away, a smaller version as a chapel with another smaller chapel beside it. Faith must have been one of the few sources of pride here for a long time.

So then we are back on the road, headed for Oświęcim in Poland. We need to follow the fastest route because we have delayed our start today by coming to Terezín. So it is on the motorways all the way, skirting through the edges of Prague and even Brno. Boring sort of driving and part way, I get Michael to take over the driving as I am in danger of falling asleep. So he drives and I sleep and after about 2 hours we swap again and Michael sleeps as I drive. It is almost a 6 hour trip.

As we get nearer to Poland, the landscape gets hillier. And while there are still large tracts of land being farmed, there is now more trees on the hills. A nice contrast to the vast open spaces we have seen recently. The towns are more nestled at the foot of the hills and are much more compact. There are still a lot of sunflowers in the fields and hay - heaps of it. It is surprising to see the high yield from the land - lots and lots of large hay bales tell the story.

As soon as we reach the border with Poland it all changes. I did not expect to see the border areas looking so tired and abandoned. Sure, with membership of the EU there are no formal border controls any longer, but the infrastructure could be put to great use as a welcome area for tourism. But no, it is vacant and vandalised and overgrown. And almost right on the border, the road deteriorates - badly!

Poland near the border looks more like Slovakia than the Czech Republic. It seems that the country is still trying to throw off the shackles of its history and the occupation by others. Buildings are grey and grubby and tired. It looks like little has been done to keep them modern. And so the collective individual houses mean that the towns too look dated and past their prime. And did I mention the roads - honest to god, much of the main road is like a goat track. There is some work being done, but it does not seem to be with the same sense of urgency that many of the other European roads are - there is little equipment around and what is, is quite antiquated. We come across yet another long line of traffic trying to negotiate road works, only to get to the bottle neck finally and find that the deck of a bridge has hit the road underneath (a clover leaf). It looks as it is being demolished deliberately, but you have to wonder!

And so we reach Oświęcim, coming in to the town passed the former Auschwitz concentration camp site - so we know where to come tomorrow. We drive through the town noting that there are quite a few other sites we could see including a medieval castle and the market place - I suspect there won't be enough time though. At first we drive straight passed our hotel, but soon realise and turn back to reach it. It appears that they are in the process of adding an additional building to the complex.

The Hotel Galicja is modern and very nicely appointed with eating areas in the garden, three restaurants (we think that they must do a lot of functions here as well as be one of the better restaurants in town) as well as the accommodation. Our room is large and airy, air-conditioned and with a window that opens to the garden. A nice change. Shame about the mosquitoes! We choose to eat at their Polish Restaurant - we have the choice of all in our Dinner, Bed and Breakfast deal. The Restauracja Stara Poczta (the Old Post Offivce Restaurant) is lavishly set out and very classy. For those on the DBB deal they have four set menus to choose from! We settle on the following: Zupa (Soup):
Zupa pomidorava z ryżem (Tomato soup with rice whitened with sour cream) Michael
Żurek staropolski zabielany (Old Polish traditional soup) Maria
Danie glówne (Main course):
Filet a kurczaka z grilla z ziemniakami i zestawem surówe (Grilled chicken fillet served with potatoes and salad) Michael
Kotlet schabowy nakapuście z ziemniakami (Pork chop served with potatoes and fried cabbage) Maria
Deser (Dessert):
Szarlotka z bitą śmietaną (Apple pie with whipped cream) Michael
Sernik z bitą śmietaną (Cheesecake with whipped cream) Maria
The meals were truly delicious and freshly chef prepared - no packet stuffs here!

Back to our room where we catch up with all the kids on Skype. James leaves home after a short visit today to go to see his 'best friend ever, Chelsea' in Adelaide before going up to Darwin to stay with Antony, Amanda and Bella for a little while. Gen, of course, is staying in Maryborough - keeping Harry company.