Auschwitz

DAY 5

Today we went to Auschwitz – a great deal I cannot express in writing & my still-limited knowledge of the events of World War II & Nazi Germany. Still, I will share what I wrote & a few pictures.

Today: Left Krakow at 7:30am, drove to Auschwitz. We did do a tour, which was good because our guide was direct, didn’t avoid any of the hard truths that sometimes people would prefer to avoid. I learned a great deal more, and want to do some more reading on that time period. There are 3 camps, Auschwitz-Birkenau is the biggest with around 300 barracks, wooden and brick. The wooden ones were built as stables but housed 400+ prisoners. There were over 1000 concentration camps and 6 death camps in total. The gas chambers were new, what made those 6 death camps. 90% of Jews that arrived in Auschwitz were sent directly to the gas chambers, and then the crematorium. No movies are historically accurate, refer to documentaries instead. Most survivors are men, and 80 years old by now. The visit was educational, emotional and very important especially if I continue teaching. I want to be able to teach history with more truth than the average American textbook.

(We then drove to Prague, where we stayed at a hotel a bit outside the center.)