Auschwitz-Birkenau

It was sunny when I arrived in Auschwitz. The red brick buildings on tree lined roads were unexpectedly pretty. Tourists and students were bustling in and out of them like museums.

The horror of it all didn’t hit me until I saw the black puddles and pond and realised that they were black with the ashes of the children, men and women who were murdered here.

The Nazis had attempted to destroy parts of the compound to hide their guilt.

It’s nice to think that this was something that happened a long long time a go and will never happen again. But you only have to visit Amnesty International’s website to see that human rights are still not respected in many parts of the world today, especially in China and parts of Africa where slavery is still common.

I spent a cold snowy birthday here and it was one of the two most memorable birthdays I have ever had. We can’t forget, we shouldn’t forget, or it may happen again.

I think that visiting this place will change the life of anybody. For sure worth visiting!

I went with my mother while staying with family in Poland. It was an extremely humbling and thought-provoking experience, especially walking into the crematorium. I’ve also been to the beaches and graves of Normandie and it’s incredible to think that all of this happened not so long ago. (And atrocities continue to happen!)

i went in november of last year and stayed in krakow. a friend and i got a coach to Auschwitz and i was so excited because this was a place i have wanted to go my entire life. first of all, the camp was closed bar the main bit (i.e. Birkenau)and the main buildings were just memorials of people who were persecuted. i imagine it would have meant much more to me had someone of my ancestral line been there or had anything to do with the holocaust, but they didn’t. the last couple of buildings were emotional and the wall was emotional… that was it though. there are more delightful things to see in Poland than auschwitz.