Today was another long travel day, proceeding from Kraków to the nearby Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial, and then onto Eger, Hungary in the afternoon. We drove through Slovakia, but made no stops. It was a long and emotional day, ending in Eger later in the evening.
Auschwitz-Birkenau are, of course, former Nazi WWII labor/concentration/death camps where millions of Jews, Poles, Gypsies, intelligentsia, handicapped, homosexuals, etc, etc met their deaths. Above are the railroad tracks in Birkenau where victims arrived. The gas chambers are in the far distance, but were destroyed by the Nazis in the final days in a futile attempt to hide their existence. Shortly after the war, an effort was made to preserve these camps as a reminder of what a Nationalistic agenda run amok can lead to. The world has not learned its lesson yet.
Most of Birkenau is gone, as the buildings where wooden. Auschwitz buildings, seen above, were made of brick, and are fairly well preserved.
80% of those arriving went directly to the gas chambers. The remainder lived a few weeks longer, being forced to work under brutal conditions. Above is a display of human hair which was to be used for clothing and blankets. You are looking at a small part of a long corridor flanked on both sides with exhibits like this.
Similarly, there is a display of 80,000 shoes which were collected in just the last 4 days before liberation. They called this building the "Evidence Room".
And of course, we saw the gas chambers and crematorium. They were partially underground, and one had been converted into a bomb shelter for the guards.
Everyone needed a good drink after this day of our tour. We were all beat after the long day, and here you see the waiter serving us wine in a rather strange way. Yes, he could hit the wine glass from 3 or 4 feet away.
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