Saturday, October 20th
We began by touring Auschwitz I, the base camp.
These empty cans once contained Zyklon B, the poison used for executions at Auschwitz.
Flowers and candles are placed between blocks 10 and 11 in memory of the prisoners executed there by firing squad.
The gas chamber and crematorium at Auschwitz I are the only of their kind still standing. Those at Auschwitz II – Birkenau were destroyed by the Nazis to remove the evidence of their actions there when the camp was liberated.
After touring Auschwitz I, we proceeded to the extermination camp, Auchwitz II – Birkenau.
Although most of the buildings at Birkenau have decayed, been destroyed, or been dismantled for supplies, several have been reconstructed using original materials. The buildings that housed prisoners’ toilets and those that contained their bunks were originally meant to be horse stables.
Instead of housing the 52 horses they were designed to accommodate, the barracks at Birkenau could be crowded with up to a thousand prisoners.
All that remains of most buildings at Birkenau are their brick fireplaces.
Upon finding the memorial in English, we placed a small candle there and observed a moment a silence.
Crematorium III
Crematorium IV was set on fire by prisoners.
Crematorium V
To the memory of the men, women, and children who fell victim to the Nazi genocide.
Here lie there ashes.
May their souls rest in peace.
The sauna, where prisoners were processed after arriving to Birkenau:
This is the first room of the sauna through which prisoners passed. It was here that their possessions were taken from them.
This room is where the heads of all incoming prisoners were shaved.
Eventually, prisoners made it to the shower room. In the room beyond, prisoners waited cold and wet until they were brought camp clothes.
In the sauna’s final room, prisoners received their uniforms before being sent to their assigned barracks. Now, however, the room contains a memorial of prisoners’ photographs.
After returning to Krakow, several of us headed to Stadion Miejski to watch the home team Wisła (pronounced VEE-swa) take on visiting Jagiellonia Białystok.
Early in the game, someone in the section directly above us spilled a beer. Thanks to something of a flaw in the stadium’s architecture, Jenny was the first to find out.
By the end of the game, the score was still 0-0, the lack of scoring certainly didn’t keep Bettina, Elizabeth, and Kelsey from enjoying themselves. The guy behind them, however, was less than excited to see the game end in a tie.
