Everybody experiences it differently, I don’t know how you will. I can say one thing for sure – you will leave full of thoughts and reflection. Visiting Auschwitz will change a part of you and it will be a valuable change. Walking in and seeing this massive place and knowing there were miles and acres of torture was overwhelming. I was listening to how the concentration camp existed from 1940 till 1945. At first, only political prisoners were supposed to be there. Then, it became an extermination camp where over a million people died. I couldn’t believe that in five years, so much death and misery could happen. Often, I would lose concentration on what I was filming because I was thinking about these poor people who were robbed of their lives. One of the things that has continued to stick with me was our tour guy explaining that the prisoners were dying in gas chambers suffocated with poisonous gas, Zyklon B. The prisoners were told they were going to take a shower, however, when everybody was inside, and the SS dumped the gas through holes in the ceiling. The weaker people died immediately, but the young and robust people died after up to 20 minutes. I can’t get over the fact that the Jewish community worked so hard for their oppressors, and right as they were going to take a shower and clean off blood, sweat, and tears, they were murdered.
Another thing that greatly impacted me was an exhibition of kids’ drawings found in the camp after liberation. The pictures made me smile because what’s so great about children and a new generation is that we can continue a legacy. Some of their parents are now gone, the fact that they were able to start fresh after liberation and continue on. The picture of a family legacy and a positive trajectory was inspiring. I live in the Lee Hall District of Yorktown, full of trains. Every time I see a train pass by my backyard, I will think of the victims and how they would arrive in transit to a concentration camp, but also a departure and a chance at life.
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