Auschwitz Birkenau

Video has some profanity

People from all over the world know about this Extermination/Concentration Camp because of one movie ~ Schindler's List. This movie came out in 1993 and won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Its hard to believe that a movie so dark would win an Academy Award, but because it was put together so well I think the Academy had no choice. Schindler's List is a movie I could only watch once, just the horror that the Jews had to face seemed unsurmountable and it was for many Jews.

Since we live in Europe, Auschwitz Birkenau was on Michelle's radar ever since we got here. I'm not the biggest fan of World War 2, but since there was so much history here it something I've come to enjoy.

Being in Poland these 5 days, we planned our trip and Auschwitz was the first excursion we wanted to go on. Securing a spot for a tour guide was done online only and needed to be done in advance. They just opened the museum back up in June, getting an appointment was easy. There were a lot of openings and I just grabbed the 1100 opening.

Getting to Auschwitz from Krakow wasn't that easy, so I thought. We needed to get there on time and it is about a one and a half hours drive from our hotel in Krakow. I didn't want to risk public transportation and arrive late so I scheduled a private shuttle for $70. On the day of the tour, our driver arrived on time and showed us a 50 minute video about the camp. Needless to say I was in shock at what the Nazi's did to the Jews at the camp even though I have prior knowledge. Our driver took us to the town of Oświęcim where the Auschwitz camp was located.

We arrived at about 1000 and had to wait an hour. Michelle and the kids were confused at the set up. They thought it was a self guided tour because we had headphones, but I told them that because there were so many groups we had the headsets on so we wouldn't hear the other groups.

Auschwitz is broken down into two camps. Auschwitz 1 and Auschwitz 2. They are over 1.5 miles apart, when you go you have to check into Auschwitz 1 first. We joined the English speaking group although not many of the people in our group were from the United States. Our guide was a Polish National who spoke English. Malia said she couldn't understand a word she was saying.

This tour was a walking tour and would take about 4 hours total, 2 hours at Auschwitz 1 and 2 hours at Auschwitz 2. Just like Dachau, we would walk around the premises and in the buildings learning about the horror going on within the camp. The most profound information I learned was when the passengers got off the train they would check in with the SS. This guy would point his finger at a specific direction; if he pointed his finger straight it was execution, if he pointed his finger to the left it was to register as a prisoner. For some trains, he would point straight for the entire train that meant the entire train would get executed. Crazy shit yeah.

After walking through Auschwitz 1, we would take a short break and catch a shuttle to Auschwitz 2 which is the Birkenau Camp about 1.5 miles away. This camp was huge at 400 acres in size. Just to give it reference Auschwitz 1 was only 50 acres in size.

The Birkenau camp was featured in Schindler's List. If you remember the scene in the movie where the train tracks go directly to the camp. The way Spielberg shot that scene gives you goosebumps. At the end of the train tracks was the two gas chambers. This is where the SS would send many of the Jews to get executed, most of the time right when they get off the train. Most of the camp is in ruins and only a few structures have survived. Most of the barracks only have the chimney left standing.

We did a lot of walking throughout the camp mainly because of size. Our tour guide explained that many of the barracks were old horse stables and the conditions were extremely poor at best. Many people died of infectious diseases.

After our tour, we caught the bus back to Auschwitz I and needed to wait 2 hours for our 1700 shuttle. I thought Michelle would have like to spend time here, but I guess not and she and the kids wanted to go home. We boarded an earlier shuttle and I ate the $20 I paid for the 1700 shuttle. I told her it was okay.

We were tired going back and I fell asleep on the shuttle. When we got back to Krakow, we had enough energy to eat dinner and shop. Michelle had pierogi's again, but I had Hungarian Goulash Soup made with venison meat. The taste was amazing! It was like they cooked that stew for days.