Pilgrimage to Poland - Part 3

The Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and death camp complex is located in the city of Oświęcim about 70 km. (43.5 miles) east of the city of Krakow.

It was initially built as a prison camp in 1940 by the Nazis for Polish prisoners. In 1941-1944 it was expanded and designated as the primary slave labor camp and Jew-killing facility as the “Final Solution” because of its convenient central location and good railway links to the main population centers of the Jews in Eastern Europe.

This allowed the Nazi regime to “relocate” the large Jewish populations in Poland and in the adjacent countries of Eastern Europe, who were to be rounded up and shipped there in closed box cars for the purpose of slave labor, medical experiments, or immediate extermination. The Nazis and their collaborators were extremely efficient and cunning at dispensing deception, cruelty, humiliation, and death; and to creating the closest thing on earth to Hell.

There was irony in our morning bus ride to Oświęcim. As our modern air-conditioned bus travelled on a scenic highway, looking out the window we saw pleasant countryside views, modern housing, beautiful forests, peaceful fields; Poles going about their business of making a living, shopping, taking their kids to school. It all looked so peaceful and ordinary.

Inside the bus however, we were thrust back in time by our guide to the story of our people and the great tragedy and horrific fate they met at our soon-to-arrive-at destination.

During the Nazi occupation, the name of the town was re-named “Auschwitz” the German language equivalent to Oświęcim. After the war, the Poles restored the town to its original name, but the German name of the concentration/death camp complex was retained.

As we approached our destination my eye caught a traffic sign which I found disturbing. It directed motorists and visitors to the death camp with the simple words, “Auschwitz Muzeum.” I could not help, but feel it was another subtle way of distancing the Polish people from recognizing the collaboration of their earlier-generation countrymen in the “Final Solution.” The sign was so sanitized and so non-descriptive of what we were about to see.

For the Jewish People Auschwitz-Birkenau can never be reduced to a museum. It is the last resting place of our brothers and sisters from where their souls rose into heaven; and as such it is hallowed ground for all time!

We finally arrived at the parking area outside the grounds of Auschwitz I, which was the slave labor camp and holding cells for the condemned, earmarked for death by gas and cremation.

Auschwitz II, named Berkinau, was where Dr. Mengele selected those that would be held for medical experimentation and those that would be sent directly to the on-site gas chambers and crematoria.

When we arrived, we were met with many buses of similar constituent groups who were converging here to tour the facilities and to march the next day with the thousands of participants from around the world, in solidarity that this evil perpetrated by the Nazis would never again be allowed to recur.

In order for the promise of “Never Again” to be kept, the March of the Living is intended to be a perpetual annual event so future generations of humanity should “Never Forget” and be “Constantly Reminded” of what occurred at this site and at dozens of other sites in Poland and throughout Europe.

After having a boxed lunch, and with a heavy heart and chills running down my spine, I along with our group, solemnly walked through the gate that marked the entrance to Auschwitz I with the cynical overhead sign, “Arbeit Macht Frei” - “Work shall set you free”.

To be continued.

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