Auschwitz

Wednesday, 21st September

A very early departure from Warsaw at 7.30 am and a late arrival at Krakow - 7.00 pm! A big day, therefore a double blog.

We finally saw some sun this morning, unfortunately it quickly disappeared into the usual murk. We crossed the Polish Plains with the usual farms and pine trees to reach Czestochowa, which was a most unattractive city of grey concrete apartment blocks. However, this city is the site of the Monastery of Jasna Gora, home of the Black Madonna painting. This also was our lunch stop and we quickly discovered why pilgrims tend to bring their own food. With the help of our Polish speaking guide, we were able to purchase, chips, hotdogs and hamburgers before joining the 2 million (at least!!!) pilgrims and tourists attempting to get a look at the Black Madonna. Unfortunately, she had had a very busy morning looking at pilgrims and was at lunch, with a gold screen across the painting. We were told after battling our way back to the bus that this happened every day! No one on the bus seemed to be blessed with a miracle.

Cat had an interesting time on the bus this morning - a school bus (probably 12 year old girls) pulled up beside us and he started waving to them, like a friendly tourist. Next minute, Dog appears at their window and passengers on both buses had a difficult (and hysterical) keeping the two apart. Thank goodness there were two layers of glass between them!

It was good to have a bit of light relief because the day suddenly became very serious as we arrived at the Auschwitz Memorial and Museum. What an emotional place - it is impossible to describe the feelings we all felt. A guide led us through the gate into the barracks compound, where we saw, not only photos and drawings, but items the Germans had confiscated and not had time to destroy before the Russians liberated the camp. A long room filled with human hair, another of shoes, another of brushes (hair brushes, toothbrushes, shaving brushes, etc), suitcases, glasses and the list goes on. One can only wonder at the reason why. We were taken to the execution wall, with its floral tributes, then into the actual gas chamber and crematorium. No words can describe these places or the emotions they evoked. The second part of the tour was to the much larger camp of Birkenau with its internal railway depot and hundreds of stables which were used as barracks. The Germans destroyed that gas chambers and crematoria of this camp in an effort to remove any evidence of the extermination of over 1.3 million people - 90% Jewish.

This was truly a draining day, both physically and especially emotionally.