A Moment of Silence

Terezin - A short history information session of Theresienstadt and why it was important that I visited the concentration camp and the ghetto. Terezin was founded as a fortress in the late 1700’s. During World War 1 - Terezin was used as a prison for Gavrilo Princip after his conviction for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, which was what started WWI. Then in 1940, it became the ghetto and concentration camp. The camp was used as the “model Jewish settlement” for propaganda reasons with the Red Cross.

The Entrance to Birkenau - Train stop and selection
process to your left.

When I first walked onto the property of the camp - I was affronted with grave stones, a Cross and a Star of David. I couldn’t begin to grasp the thought process of moving thousands of people - men, women and children - to the ghetto and the camp, and knowing it was a holding stage before they were meant to be shipped to an extermination camp. 

Before we left to the concentration, I was partially prepared to what to expect, but once I arrived, it was a different story. Reading about places and being places have no comparison when it comes to mass murderous places. Once I walked into the camp I was accosted with the famous sign “Arbeit macht frei” apparently it is common among the camps. Knowing that work will not set you free, but will ultimately be your death sentence.

The double barbed wire gates with the watch tower
at Auschwitz

Terezin was constructed of dirt walkways, brick buildings and wooden beds. Everything that you learn in school about the way of life of the camps is accurate and it is shown through the photos. 

Terezin was interesting and the background information leads up to Auschwitz-Birkenau helps understand how the process went in the larger camps. Terezin was only 1/3 of the size of Auschwitz-Birkenau-Buna. 

 Auschwitz was the original camp and then Auschwitz II–Birkenau (a combination concentration / extermination camp) was built. Finally, Auschwitz III–Monowitz/Buna (a labor camp to staff an IG Farben factory), and 45 satellite camps were built for prisoners. At least 1.1 million prisoners died at Auschwitz, around 90 percent of them Jewish; approximately 1 in 6 Jews killed in the Holocaust died at the camp. However, the others were deported to Auschwitz which included 150,000 Poles, 23,000 Romani and Sinti, 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war, 400 Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, and tens of thousands of people of diverse nationalities.

Gas Chambers at Auschwitz

Even with knowledge of the history and other people experiences, it will not prepare you for Auschwitz-Birkenau. Nothing will. I can honestly say that I will never return to this place of historical value. It is the most emotional place that I have ever been. When we first arrived at Auschwitz there is a building you walk through, once you walk through the doors there is not a way out, you see the camp. I then walked to the famous “Arbeit macht frei.” I then visited the barracks and the museums within each barrack. I’m not going to give descriptions of each barrack, I’m insisting that each person goes to the museum to experience it for themselves. 

Crematorium at Auschwitz

A destroyed Crematorium

Next we went to Birkenau - the killing center. We went through the main entrance that became famous through numerous movies - look at my photo you will know what I am talking about. It was a scene that will never leave my mind. The train tracks in the middle. Selection block next to the train tracks. Brick buildings to the left. Wood buildings to the right. And the two destroyed crematoriums at the end of the lane. Many people came the route that we took. I have no idea, nor do I want to know how they felt. Did they feel scared? Relieved to be off the train? What were they initial reactions? The sounds? The smells? The people? I do not want to experience what they felt, and I hope that the Holocaust will never happen again. 

The memorial plaque next to the crematoriums.