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| Entrance to Auschwitz: "Work will set you free |
I'm not sure I'm capable of explaining my reaction to the camps (can anyone?) so I'll try to explain the lasting images that will stick in my head probably for the rest of my life. As depressing as the place is, I highly recommend seeing it. I don't think I'll ever go back.
In Auschwitz, they had several collections of things that were taken from prisoners, each more and more dehumanizing.
Books-take away their education, entertainment and concept of an outside world.
Eyeglasses-take away their sight.
Hairbrushes, toothbrushes, shoe polish brushes-take away their ability to control their appearance and basic sanitation.
Human hair- take away their personality. There was a display the width of a basketball court of human hair. In one hall, pictures of male prisoners lined the left wall and female prisoners lined the right. The inmates were almost indistinguishable by gender.
They also preserved the punishment barracks to show the different types of torture employed-suffocation, starvation, standing for days on end, arm breaking, more.
There was a wall between two Barracks that used to be used for firing squads before the gas chambers were developed. The Nazis found that the firing squad was too inefficient and personal. They wanted something of greater scale and with no human contact.
Our guide told us that the guards at the gas chambers often made the prisoners believe they were taking a shower. They would tell the prisoners to take off their clothes and remember where they left them, but they obviously never got to collect them.
The last and most chilling image that's etched into my memory are the fingernail scratches on the walls of the gas chamber.
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