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8
ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE
Visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau
By Sixth Former
Aaron Gruen
‘It happened, therefore it can happen again:
this is the core of what we have to say.’
Primo Levi, Auschwitz survivor
Aaron was previously at Munich
International School.
Waking up at four o’clock in the morning is
not everyone’s perfect idea of how to start a
Leave Weekend, but for 24 pupils in the Sixth
Form and four members of staff this is exactly
how it began on a cold January day.
A two-hour plane journey took us to the
town of Krakow, still well preserved from
the war with a slight ‘boutique’ feel to it. It
was hard to believe that the mass murder of
around six million people had taken place
only a one-hour bus journey away from this
pleasant town. After lunch, we walked to
Krakow’s beautiful Wawel Cathedral, where
Pope John Paul II was a Bishop, and then
enjoyed a relaxing afternoon of free time
before heading to the oldest Jewish restaurant
in town where a group of Klezmer musicians
accompanied a hearty meal.
This sounds like an idyllic trip and, as a
matter of fact, up until that point it seemed to
be just so (apart from the -15°C temperature!).
None of us were prepared for the excruciating
six hours that would be spent completely
outdoors at Auschwitz. Our first stop was the
camp of Auschwitz I – this is the camp with the
infamous
Arbeit Macht Frei
sign that all visitors
pass under as they enter. It is impossible to
express the emotions sparked inside me after
viewing the exhibitions that now take up some
of the barracks. In one room the decaying hair
of 15,000 prisoners was piled behind a large
glass screen. It sickened me to think of the
ways in which these innocent men, women
and even children suffered and eventually died,
helpless. The final part of the Auschwitz I tour
was the
Book of Names
. This was a 16,000-
page book that had the names of all the known
people who were murdered at Auschwitz
inscribed in it - around 15 million people.
I found the name of one of my ancestors in
this book.
The day grew colder and no-one really
wanted to eat much for lunch. We still had
the camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau on our
agenda, which is the bleakest, most dismal and
horrifying place that I have ever seen. Seeing
the camp in real life is so much more horrific
than any description or pictures. Imagine
seemingly endless rows of barracks on either
side of train tracks with nothing else but a
watchtower in an otherwise barren plateau.
The train tracks lead directly to the gas chambers,
which no longer exist. Some prisoners never
actually saw the camp itself - they were taken
straight to the gas chambers and exterminated
like livestock entering a slaughterhouse.
There will never be a day when the
memories of this overwhelming experience
will not haunt me.
At the memorial in Birkenau. Above, Grace Allen (
Dragon
)
Pictures by Tom James