When we decided to make this a part of our itinerary, we did not know what to expect. Yes, of course, Krakow is a beautiful place by itself, the Old Town square, The Royal Palace...But the killing fields are also associated with Krakow. The Auschwitz and Birkenau Concentration camps,the two largest German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940 - 1945) operated by the Nazis; UNESCO World Heritage sites.
It was a full day trip. We boarded our mini van and passed beautiful countryside cottages before we reached our destination. There were thousands of tourists thronging and a sombre silence.
We put on our headphones and followed our soft voiced Local Guide as she led us into Auschwitz. The Germans founded the death camp #AuschwitzBirkenau after expelling the poor villagers. The second picture below shows the various places all over the globe, where Jews and other nationality prisoners were deported to these concentration camps
A place somewhere so cut off, so that the world would never know the way they conducted these death stories, almost like an orchestra. What kind of a depraved human mind would think of such a thing defies all humanity. In the second picture below: the camp orchestra had to assemble here, to play marches, while the prisoners filed past, only so that they could keep count.
Not a thousand words can tell of the horrifying conditions of ordinary human beings for no fault of theirs; but only the fact that they belonged to certain regions or if they defied the dictates of the #SS. As thousands of Jews and other nationalities were brought in through trains, where men, women, children were separated. A handful of the so called "stronger people" would be kept back, while all the rest, especially women, children, the old, the sick were sent to gas chambers. Of course, they were not told so. They were told they were going for a medical check up and disinfectant showers. Fake shower heads were also created to validate their point, so as not to create panic.
Beaten and intimidated by SS dogs, about 2000 of them were crammed and locked into 210 square meter rooms and Zyklon Poison gas was poured into the chambers. Bodies were stripped of gold teeth and jewelry. Hair was cut off. Personal documents were destroyed. All a part of a cold blooded calculated annihilation of the dignity of human body and spirit
The whole place was fortified by electrified barbed wires which acted as deterrents. And those who dared to escape were tried by the #Gestapo where they would be beaten and tortured such that they couldn't live to tell their tales. Look at the Divine Law of Justice. Here itself was tried one of their Commanders after the camp was liberated and hanged to death by the Polish National Tribunal.
Birkenau: Here the prisoners would be brought in from various parts of the globe almost like cattle in these wagons and led to the gas chambers.
That nature could have witnessed so much hatred and cruelty; that it needs only one match to start a fire that kills and annihilates the human spirit itself: This is a chapter in history that everyone should know, so that human beings are never divided because of color, race, religion and creed. The world should never be plunged into shame by being enshrouded by the fundamental darkness within one man!
We take these things so lightly, never stand up to injustice. If one wants a better world, the change has to come from Me and ripple outwards to envelop the whole world.
No one could have penned it better than John Lenon,
"Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace, you
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one