go to Auschwitz?

[NYEXPAT]

Iv'e visited Dachau as well and was moved. Being of German extraction visiting with my young Jewish mistress was a life changing event for me. As an aside the town of "Dachau" is beautiful and seem's like another world. I highly recommend the restaurant at the top of the hill as you enter town.




























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[RunningBum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ugeauxgirl Thanks- this is exactly what I wanted to know. I do know and am horrified at the atrocities of the concentration camps- it is somehow intolerable to me to watch/ see/ read about violence and cruelty I can do nothing about. Athena seems to have the same thing- if she's glad she went maybe I will too.

Good. I agree with what Athena said. I don't recall anything gruesomely graphic that demonstrated the atrocities.

[Mdlerth]

If you decide to go, perhaps you could alleviate your distress the same way EMTs and nurses do when their patients slip away. Try to mentally compartmentalize the tour into a learning experience rather than an emotional one.

Some scenes will almost certainly remain with you afterwards. When making your decision, consider both the pain and the spiritual value that will accompany those memories.

Pax vobiscum.

[tfudtuckerpucker]

Here are photos of what you would see at Auschwitz-Birkenau. You could spend some time looking at these to see if it would be too disturbing. If you prefer, there are videos of the entire camp

here

and

here

.

[Teacher Terry]

What gave me the panic attack was seeing all the people's shoes, eyeglasses, hair and suitcases that they had confiscated. You see children's shoes and it really hits home.

[Totoro]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teacher Terry What gave me the panic attack was seeing all the people's shoes, eyeglasses, hair and suitcases that they had confiscated. You see children's shoes and it really hits home.

I've been there too, it's a bit similar to the killing fields in Cambodia in my experience.

Two suggestions from OP's 'profile' description.

• Do go, there's no blood or gore like in movies and very educational and rewarding.
• Avoid said above room. It's by far the most confrontational. Everything else you can regulate yourself reasonably well to what extent it affects you.

[CoolRich59]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ugeauxgirl I'm sure that many of you have been to concentrations camps- are you glad you did or wish you hadn't?

Very timely post for me.

I visited Dachau in 1982 and it was a horrific and powerful experience that it hard for me to put into words. But, what I mean by timely is that just yesterday, I came across this video a fellow made about the importance of being respectful if one does visit.

The video resonated so strongly with me that I tracked down the man's contact information and sent him a note to thank him.

Here is a link to the video: https://youtu.be/bfAnmqy5uYE

[Totoro]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRLLS And every visitor, I mean EVERYONE was respectful and quiet.

Unfortunately, not when I was there. Most were, a few weren't.

[CoolRich59]

Quote:

Originally Posted by samclem I have toured Auschwitz. Like most who have been there, I found it very moving, and I would recommend that others see this place. That does not mean it is for you. If your goal is to have a happy, uplifting day, then you should not go. If you think it will leave you worse off than if you hadn't seen it, you shouldn't go. If you think it will leave you better off as a person, then maybe you should experience it. It is part of our human heritage, and incredible evidence of what type of institutional cruelty is possible. This wasn't an alien or ancient culture thousands of years ago, it was a modern western culture with values uncomfortably similar to our own in many ways.

Very well said samclem. As I said in my post, my experience is difficult to put into words, but you have captured the essence of my experience incredibly well.

What struck me most at Dachau was the assembly line efficiency of mass murder. It was horrific to see.

[Breedlove]

We have been to Anne Frank house and Corrie Ten boom a few times . It is soboring . At the end of the Anne Frank house you see the letters written in all the different languages . Famous words from Corrie ten Booms's father at the Corrie Ten boom house makes you feel so strong.
Never been to any of the camps but seen something at Anne Frank house that flat out shocked us . At the end they have photos and history of atrocities around the world . In one area they have the famous photo of the Nazi with the rifle pointed in the little girls face as she is begging him . Right beside it is a very large dark picture of a man holding a chain and the story below is about the murder in Vidor Texas of Mr. Byrd . We seen a little girl asking her dad what that was about and all he said was pigs , pigs

[Nemo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoolRich59 Here is a link to the video: https://youtu.be/bfAnmqy5uYE

Excellent.

I've always loved this one featuring a survivor.....a big "F*** You" to those who carried out these atrocities:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFzNBzKTS4I

[CoolRich59]

Not to derail this thread, but I'm reminded of Sir Nicholas Winton.

Here is a short account of what he did: https://youtu.be/PKkg6bAZk

[Nemo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoolRich59 Not to derail this thread, but I'm reminded of Sir Nicholas Winton. Here is a short account of what he did: https://youtu.be/PKkg6bAZk

Wonderful!

[Chuckanut]

I had the privileged of listening several times to a survivor of those camps when I was teaching middle school. The 8th grade history classes had a specvial speaker, a very sharp lady in her 80's who was a survivor,

She mentioned one thing I did not know. The women were served a 'special' soup that contained something that would, over time, sterilize them. One of the first things she learned was not to eat the soup.

At the end of her talk she would get a big smile on her face and say this:

Quote:

Mr. Hitler tried to kill me, but I am still alive and he is dead. Mr. Hitler tried to keep me from having children, but I have several children and more grandchildren.

[Marita40]

I haven't been and don't know if I could go. A couple of years ago I read an book on Hitler's women's camp, Ravensbruk (where they experimented on women), and I still have nightmares about it.
It is one of those things: I'm very glad I read it (it is an excellent, well documented history), and I wish I hadn't read it at the same time.
https://www.amazon.com/Ravensbruck-D...40_&dpSrc=srch

[WestUniversity]

I cannot even imagine what an emotional experience it could be. We were in NYC and went through the 9/11 Memorial. IT was overwhelming for me. Sped to the exit before I had seen everything. It was simply too much. By comparison one of the death camps could truly be more than I could take...

[gerntz]

Were I to visit Poland, I would make it a point to go. That I was moved and saddened when I visited Gettysburg, Vietnam War Memorial, and Normandy Landing cemetery is all the more reason I’d go.

[Nemo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gerntz That I was moved and saddened when I visited Gettysburg, Vietnam War Memorial, and Normandy Landing cemetery is all the more reason I’d go.

+1

My own personal feeling is that there's a moral obligation to those who died.

[Red Badger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ugeauxgirl DH would certainly go without me- I would encourage him to. But I am considering going thanks to Athena's comments.

I visited Bergen-Belsen (north of Hannover, GE) many years ago. There were no gas chambers, but for too many innocents, it was still a death camp. Because the Nazis destroyed so many records, there is no accurate count of the deaths there, but estimates run above 100K. The corpse of Ann Frank was found there, along with over 12K other unburied corpses.

When I learned that I share last names with the camp commandant, I left in tears. Was the emotional scarring worth it? Yes, but I'll never use any ancestry test - I never want to know (my ancestors lived in that region of Germany). It is depressing, but it does make the abstract become very concrete. As others have well stated, it is one way to strengthen our collective resolve to end genocide, right now and in the future.

If you are a person of faith, consider bringing something to comfort you (bible, koran, rosary, etc) as you walk through hell on earth. Godspeed in both your travels and your difficult decision.

[Marita40]

I was very moved and also haunted by Gettysburg and Vicksburg. Ancestors of mine fought on the Union side and died from their wounds in both places.