Holocaust Memorial Day is in January, recalling the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland, where the larges concentration camp was situatedarn and the huge majority died. Our guide told us that although we were tired after touring several barracks buildings and the forecourt were the roll call was held and poeple were hanged, we must go on to Birkenau down the road.
In Auschwitz you see te railway track which brought the trains from all over Europe. In Auschwitz, you see the receiving room where those who were kept alive were given numerical stamps on their arms, and you see the before and after photos, inlcuding one girl I recall.
After 3 months the inhabitants were so thin and haggard they were not recognizable from photos and needed numbers. Then in other blocks you see the suitcases with names, then the children's shoes, the eyeglasses. The underground cells for the priest who took the place of a prisoner and was held until he starved to death or was killed.
When you reach Birkenau with the gas chambers, you go from the individual horror to the horrifying scale of the tragedy. You see the fields surrounded by tennis netting and watch towers.
Your guide, who usually has a connection such as a relative who died there, is a guide for a set time and then needs a break from the emoitonal strain. Your guide says, this field held the French, the next field held the Italians, the next field held the Greeks, the next field held ..." Jews and other prisoners from the whole of Europe, transported here, en masse, and exterminated.
All the more remarkable are the ones who got away, some just before the war, or after the war started before the killings. Plus discoveries of items buried at concentration camps or elsewhere. And new reserachers, seeking grandparents or other relatives as the internet expands the numbers of people doing family research.
For more about the survivors and Prince William and Kate see previous post.
Interesting Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp
https://holocaustlearning.org.uk/learning/untold-stories-for-key-stage-2/
About the Author
Angela Lansbury is teacher of English. (Advanced English and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, an aspiring polyglot.)
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Member of many toastmasters speaker training clubs, and speaking contest judge.
Angela Lansbury, the author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations, has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore.
She has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:
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