RETRO DIARY FROM AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU

These were my real time thoughts of the day we spent at Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps!

Checked out of hotel from Krakow. About a one hour drive. 10 minutes in, realized left passports in safe at hotel. Have to go back. This is not starting well.

Our driver (I think his last name is Andretti) driving 180km/hour to make up for the lost time. Go see what that is in MPH. Not making this up. Had a specific tour time. He sees we are not happy and asks if we were stressed. Gee thanks! Finally off highway! Whew!

As we arrive, raining and about 40 degrees. About right for this visit. Went to bathroom. Got a dirty look as I walked out. Seemed I needed to give 1.5 zlotys to cashier as bathroom was not free. Ponied up the 1.5 zlotys.

Walking towards entrance. The sign: “AREBEIT MACHT FREI!” meaning “WORK SETS YOU FREE!” Yes, the murderous animals made the soon to be murdered believe they were there for a better life. They were made to believe they were going to work. They were led to believe they would be taken care of…food, healthcare!

Walking in the footsteps of those murdered. 3,000 people were murdered each day. 3,000! The murderers actually had an orchestra playing.

1.3 million people sent to these camps. 1.1 million were murdered. Repeat…1.1 million murdered. 90% were Jewish. Majority died in gas chambers. Many were murdered on arrival.

Thinking all this happened less than 80 years ago. Less than 80 years ago.

Doctors and physicians, those who are supposed to protect and save lives chose whom were to live and who were to die. A simple point of the finger. Women and children to the left. Men to the right.  At this point, all hope had to be drained. Took seconds to decide on life or death by these animals.

Just a road to death. Buildings with gas chambers. Crematoriums.

Watch towers all over.

12 TONS OF HUMAN ASHES. Just told this number. My wife wants to know if I am doing ok. Just getting more and more pissed off. How could this happen? Where were the good guys?

Liquid cyanide and Zyklon B dropped into chambers. People screaming. Took half hour to die.

Entering buildings.

Building 5

Sacks and sacks of human hair. A room full of human hair.  Traces of cyanide in the hair. My mouth agape. My head against the window. Breathing heavily. Others in stunned silence.

Another window. Eyeglasses.  A room full of eyeglasses. The eyeglasses of the dead.

Another window. Combs. Brushes. Tens of thousands of them. Possessions ripped away.

Suitcases with names. Stripped of all belongings.

Room full of pots and pans.

40,000 pairs of shoes. A  ROOM FULL OF SHOES. Adult shoes, children shoes , baby shoes. The tears are now flowing. Mounds and mounds of shoes. Everyone stunned. Everyone now crying.

Building 7

Pictures of actual prisoners. Living conditions. What living conditions? Straw mattresses side by side. Sleeping on concrete. Not fit for animals.  Sickness. Illness. Hunger. Death.

Building 10.

Using women as guinea pigs for sterilization experiments. Go read it yourself. Cannot even describe what these monsters were capable of.

Building 11.

The block of death. The wall of death.

The cells. Conditions not for cockroaches. People squeezed. No lights. No food. Freezing cold. No drink. Died of hunger if not shot.

Many shot to death in front of building. An actual shooting wall. Paraded out naked. Laughed at. Shot in the side of the temple.

Barbed wire everywhere. High voltage. Barbarians don’t miss a beat.

At Birkenau, 400 acres, 360 buildings, 4 crematoria.

Walking out. Thinking to myself. When these murderers were done with their day, what did they do? Did they contemplate what they were doing? What did they see when they looked in the mirror? Did they just go about life? What were their conversations about? Were these murderers just sick in the mind or were they vile, depraved, calculating murderers? Answer is simple. They covered everything up. They knew what they were doing. When the war was ending, they destroyed evidence. They were not stupid…just the biggest scumbags to ever live on the face of this earth.

1ST commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolph Hess caught and eventually hanged at Auschwitz. Too nice. Should have been made to feel pain.

When I now hear people complain that we should not help out in places like Syria and that we should take care of our own. When I see people complain about taking out 100 bad guys with a big bomb, I now say…take a little trip about an hour outside Krakow like we did. Sorry, how can we ever let what happened continue to happen, even in what is considered to be faraway places. Unfortunately, the statute of limitations on bad guys never ends. They still walk this earth with only murder in their minds. Someone has to do something about it. If not us…