Krakow

[tonymadge]

Went to Krakow with people from work fascinating and vibrant city with wonderful people and cheap beer

Sad as it was a must place to visit is
Auschwitz I and the nearby and huge Auschwitz II (Birkenau)
Until you see it pictures and TV footage do not really get the message over. :-(

[speedbird591]

That must have been very moving, Tony. I would find it very emotional. They say that there is a tangible atmosphere at the place.

Ian

[Keith Jones]

I had a similar experience a few weeks ago when I went to Prague for a long weekend. One of the trips I went on was to the former concentration camp at Terezin. I thought I was OK with it all until I saw one particular room in the ghetto museum. In that room were pictures drawn by children who were there; pictures full of hope and optimism and then to see the huge lists of names on the wall. I cracked when I realised the list was the names of all the children who had been there at one time or another - 68000 of them. I'm very glad I saw it though. I've hardly grumbled about anything since then because what those people went through is many orders of magnitude more significant than my problems.

[Nigel H-J]

Very moving photographs Tony especially showing them in black and white....colour would not have been suitable as what went on inside there and at other concentration camps can only be described as inhuman and terrible.

The one of the main building at the end of the railway line is very poignant.

Regards
Nigel.

[Techy111]

I went there in '87 Tony...I was VIP driving for the then CinC RAF Germany from Gatow to Auschwitz for a visit.

Very moving and the place was devoid of sound....not even a bird chirping....Very eerie...!

Thanks for sharing mate....brings lots of memories back...

Tony

[Buggyman]

Very similar experience when I visited Belsen with my son.

The moment you step through the gates the atmosphere changes, no flowers or birds, just acres of brown scrub with mounds bearing signs proclaiming the number of dead at that spot in thousands. Very moving and sombre event and it is almost unbelieveble that human kind can exact such cruelty on itself.

You can imagine my reaction on returning to work the next day to be told by my "reformed" ex nazi clerk (I was working in Germany) that the whole lthing was a lie, a theme park set up to make the Germans look bad. To this day I don't know how I managed to prevent myself from doing that woman damage.

May we never see the like again.


Allan

[Tako_Kichi]

My late father was a RM Commando in WWII and took part in the D-Day landings (amongst other things) and then went all the way to Germany (he was de-mobbed in Berlin in '46). He passed through Belsen two weeks after it was liberated and said it was the most sickening experience of his entire war. Apparently you could smell the place three miles before you got there and the allies were using bulldozers to push huge piles of corpses into mass graves in an effort to prevent the spread of disease from the decomposing bodies. He also said the German POWs (the former guards) were being made to manhandle a lot of the bodies to the burial pits as a 'punishment' for the way they treated the former camp inmates.

Brutal times! :-(

[Paul K]

Dachau was bad enough for me, very disturbing. Goodness knows what Auschwitz/Birkenau must be like.

Has anyone been to the permanent Holocaust exhibition at the IWM in Lambeth ? There is a life size photograph of a frightened naked little girl who was euthanized by the Nazis because she was mentally handicapped. I'm not given to public displays of emotion, but that terrified little face got to me badly.

Good photos, Tony, well worth the posting.

[Seaking]

Thanks for posting, I know of quite a few people that have made that visit, I have said for years that one day I would do the trip. I know
I would find it very emotional. So many people mention that once you step inside the gates there's not a sound of nature anywhere,
incredible.