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A day trip….to Auschwitz

Honest!

By jonesyincPublished 2 years ago 3 min read
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 A day trip….to Auschwitz
Photo by Lāsma Artmane on Unsplash

Ok, so guessing the title might have caught your attention - especially as I lived in Manchester, UK at the time.

Lets backtrack a little….

I used to write for an online gay magazine and they used to get some good gigs - test driving some tech, interviewing some stars, from drag to pop and back again.

They would advertise these chances and first come, first served got there gig.

The chanice came up and I grabbed it straight away, and then asked my manager at my day job once I knew it was mine!

The details were difficult - I had to get from Manchester to Luton to join the charter plane to Krakow with a group of other journalists and also lots (and lots) of teenagers.

The trip was all organised by The Holocaust Trust, who aim to make sure the deniers out there get what they deserve, and also make sure the public understand what happened and when/why!

Not exactl cash rich at the time, I bought a coach ticket to Luton, and got my coach late the night before the flight. Not too bad, lots of chance to sleep!

Arrived without any major hitches, and checked in ahead of flying out of the UK to Krakow.

This was all bizarre - a day trip to Poland? And a trip to the site of the most horrendous genocide in history.

The flight was odd, lost of journalists from niche titles, all invited to offer a different points of view. Mine was to offer an insight into the treatment of gay men during the holocaust, and their eventual end at the conctration camp at Auschwitz.

We caught a coach over to the camp, but stopped off at a Jewish cemetery in Kracow first - site of many acts of desecration and vandalis. Learnt how a pebble is placed on a gravestone to show that someone is thinking of them and they are not forgotten - now that cut deep as I thought about my own loss and how much it would mean to see thone pebbles on a stone for my own relatives.

From there, we went directly to the camp and that’s where it all started. The entrance though the gates is harrowing to say the least. you cant help but imagine what it might have been like for the former inmates to arrive and tramp through the gates, disembarking from the trains, held in cattle trucks until they were sorted and sifted to show who survived immediately as they were seen as “strong” or “useful”.

The interesting thing is that you are not allowed to visit without a registered guide - something I found intrusive at times But useful from a journalists point of view for facts, etc.

There are a few replicas on site, the wooden barracks having been destroyed but the marks still remain to show where they all stood.

The watchtowers over the gates are still there, and offer a chilling reminder of what the guards offered - death by bullet or returned to the camp to die slowly from starvation.

Some of the brick building stil stand and are used as museum showcases - these hit the hardest.

There are showcases of suitcases behind glass, along with artificial limbs, glasses, shoes, etc - all the ephemera the innocent interns brought, not knowing what actually awaited them.

These articles hit me the hardest, they brought the human story to life and helped you relate to the, at times, overwhelming situation.

The worst was yet to come, as we entered the gas chambers. Aushwitz had its chambers destroyed and all the chimneys were torn down. But this replic did its job - completed with “shower room” and scratches dug into the wall as people scratched for survival. Replica or not, the empathy in place was immense.

I would urge anyone to do this trip, visit the site and l;earn as much as you can - but be prepared. Harrowing is an understatement - we think we know, but we don't.

I cant explain its impact on me, it does change you - this is no Hollywood blockbuster, there’s no acting, just the facts.

Holocaust deniers might do well to visit and see - then get back to me!

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About the Creator

jonesyinc

Each story links ot one area of my business and life:

*create is all about anything creative from art to craft

*photo is all about photography and images

*learun is all about development

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