I was in Krakow for 5 days and had a wonderful time enjoying the sights, Christmas markets, food and drink but one cannot forget what happened just an hour's drive away. During the second world war the Nazis set up 3 main concentration camps in this part of Poland, known as Auschwitz 1, Auschwitz 11-Berkenau and Auschwitz 111- Monowitz
This is the entrance into the first Auschwitz camp. I visited this camp and Berkenau. It was not an easy visit to make but I felt it was one not to ignore. It was harrowing walking around and seeing some of the exhibits, none of which I photographed.
This is where hundreds of thousands of people, mainly Jews, disembarked from trains into the death camp at Berkenau. More people died at Auschwitz than at any other Nazi concentration camp. The camps are not a tourist attraction but a memorial to those who were murdered there in the hope that history will not repeat itself.
This photo was taken at the old Jewish cemetery in Kazimierz, Krakow
That had to be a hard trip to make for you. I don't know if I could go there, since I will never lose my horror of the Nazi death camps. But I appreciate you showing me what it was like for you there.
ReplyDeleteI visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC many years ago and couldn't contain my tears. There were parts I could not view. Thank you for honoring the lives lost there with your tribute post.
ReplyDeleteSuch a sobering place....but you're right, someplace everyone should visit as a reminder not to let something like this ever happen again.
ReplyDeleteIt is good that you made the trip but I am not sure I could.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this, I'm pleased you only took photos of the outside and honoured those who lost their lives by not photographing exhibits.
ReplyDeleteDiana
That would be a very harrowing place to visit. I recall being emotional when I visited Ann Frank's house in Amsterdam, so I can't imagine the emotions at these camps. Well done for going and showing respect.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that mankind never learns something of the past. Times are very troubled all over the world again....
ReplyDeleteThe emotions must be overwhelming at a place like that, I'm sure I'd have a very hard time knowing what happened there. It's unimaginable what people went through there, and how people could perpetrate those horrors is almost beyond belief.
ReplyDeleteohhhhhhh...what man can do to man
ReplyDeleteA difficult part of a trip to Poland, but I agree, important to see and remember what happened there. So very, very sad.
ReplyDeleteI was there four times and I think enough for my life
ReplyDeleteI have seen that Krakow is beautiful, but imagine it must be hard to be there and not make some sort of pilgrimage to where so much life was stilled. From the safety and security of the West, it is hard to comprehend such cruelty, barbarism and terror.
ReplyDeleteSobering place to visit. A place I would like to go to sometime if I ever get a passport again.
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