Comments on: Would you visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp?

By: Kit

Kit — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 20:02:25 +0000

I visited Krakow in February of this year, aged 17. As a group of 12 we visited Auschwitz&Birkenau. The images of the camps will, of course, never leave me and i find it difficult to articulate to others the atmosphere in the camps. The sense of loss, atrocity, waste, madness, and the want&need to remember those who perished there and in the other camps across Europe. Yes, it was horrific: seeing piles of babies clothing, shoes, glasses, hair and suitcases at Auschwitz, and the railway tracks, watch tower and sheds of Birkenau. However, i believe that if given the opportunity we should visit such places. Many may not want to: too emotional, too morbid, or simply disinterested, but the period of sustained execution throughout the years at the camps is one which must never be forgotten. Millions were killed, and we should never forget them. I believe that visiting the camp(s) has enabled me to better relate to video footage, eye witness accounts, documentaries and records of first-hand experience of the terror committed by the Nazis. At 17 some may say i was too young to visit, but i know that this experience has allowed me to develop greater understanding of what millions of innocent people endured and has afforded me the opportunity to truly realise how wonderful life is in todays free society, where, in the west, we are not persecuted in such atrocious ways for our beliefs; religous or political.

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[...] only surviving Polish medieval town center. Pope John Paul II was born right outside the city, Auschwitz is only a short drive away, in winter you can watch ski jumping in Zakopane, or you can visit the [...]

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[...] Concentration Camp located just outside of Berlin. The camp is smaller, in comparison to Dachau or Auschwitz, but it provides a very strong visual representation of a gruesome chapter of human history. Most [...]

By: Fred

Fred — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:34:24 +0000

I visited last summer as part of a trip around Poland and Ukraine. We are both into history and look for trips that allow us to further enrich our understanding and education as well as actually having a holiday from work.

I would strongly suggest to people to think of your motivation for going. I saw too many people that were either disinterested until we reached the gas chambers, when they suddenly became very animated and people who talked loudly and took photographs in prohibited places.

I’m not sure what you’d want a photo of you infront of one of the furnaces for amongst your holday snaps!

So, if you’ve a genuine interest, respect to pay, just want to learn more, contextualise what you read at school, go. But, if you just want to go so you can say I’ve been, then rethink and do some reading then think again. I think a visit could educate someone who knows little about the attrocities carried out there but, if you do go please show respect and try and actively think about what it is that you’re seeing.

By: Karen Bryan

Karen Bryan — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 11:35:55 +0000

Matthew – I think you are being rather harsh.

Andy – I can see the point of view of the residents of SE Poland who don’t want the area to be known only for the horrors of Auschwitz. I don’t think that necessarily means that they want to obliterate its existence.

Kanga_Rue – It is incredible that a young person would know so little about the Holocaust. Is there a balance to be found between remembrance and moving on?

By: Kanga_Rue

Kanga_Rue — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 11:11:43 +0000

I visited one of the work camps while travelling through Europe a number of years ago. I was completely speechless walking through the camp. There was an educational video to watch, which was a good thing for me as it gave me time to compose myself. What completely blew me away was there were a couple of girls who ran out in shock as they had NEVER see any of the holocaust footage. Talking as someone who had family who died in the camps, who grew up watching anything holocaust related when it came on TV, I’m somewhat dumbstruck that this is even possible. So yes, I think the opportunity to visit the camps is educational and honors the victims and their families by remembering. “Moving on” by not remembering is only a way for the atrocities to occur again.

By: Andy Jarosz

Andy Jarosz — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 09:20:52 +0000

As a side note, I have visited Krakow several times since my visit to Auschwitz, and it’s interesting to hear the views of local taxi drivers and tourist businesses, many of whom view the nearby concentration camp with a different and jaded perspective. Whilst most recognise that a visit to Auschwitz is the primary reason for many to visit their city, many are fed up of being so inextricably linked with the camp and wish people would visit Krakow and the SE of Poland for the many “positive” attractions they have.
Insensitive, inevitable or a sign of times moving on? I remember speaking to a resident in Oswecim while we were visiting, and their emotions on this topic were stronger still.

By: Matthew Teller

Matthew Teller — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:52:04 +0000

Thanks, Karen – and I can see you’re playing devil’s advocate, so I feel vindicated in rising to the bait. “Relaxing and de-stressing from a hectic daily life” need not involve blithering pig-ignorance about either your chosen destination or the rest of life, which continues apace outside your ever-so-meaningful bubble.

Everybody’s life is hectic. Diddums. If you need to relax and de-stress so much that you deliberately set out to avoid experiences, go and lie on a beach in Lanzarote, or take one of those much-touted “staycations” and pull the duvet over your head for a week. Meanwhile, there’s a world to explore.

By: Karen Bryan

Karen Bryan — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:13:05 +0000

Andy – Thanks for expressing your sentiments about visiting Auschwitz. I think it is a personal decision. One has to acknowledge that everyone has there own agenda when travelling.

It’s an interesting question whether one can take on board these awful events through reading or watching documentaries or films, without actually visiting a concentration camp.

By: Andy Jarosz

Andy Jarosz — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:06:06 +0000

A visit to Auschwitz is not something you will ever forget. I wouldn’t recommend it strongly to anyone – it’s a matter of personal choice and how you feel you will react to seeing the site of such a horrific period of history. Many feel the need to see this place to understand at first hand where and how these atrocities were committed. Others are happy to learn about these via the many movies that have been made on the topic, and that’s fine.

I have been and found the experience depressing and sobering. At the same time I’m glad I visited, as it is the site of one of the most infamous episodes of inhumanity of the last 100 years and it was important for me to learn more about this by seeing the exhibitions and seeing the grim evidence of the crimes that were committed there.