The Gates of Auschwitz

Dark Tourism has been defined as tourism involving travel to places historically associated with death and tragedy. No country is immune from it's past, no matter how hard they try to hide or ignore it. Personally, I have thought about dark tourism often enough to delve into the subject with a strange combination of curiosity and angst. The idea of going to Chernobyl, Rwanda, or the Stalin Gulags rests in a morbid need to convince myself that these horrific events in history actually happened. These were only places of books, movies or documentaries. There were places to point out on a map and comment in unemotional passing "that is where this happened." It was never about the true of depth of human suffering that occured because I do not think we who have not suffered cannot process the pain and horror of those who have.

I have been to quite a few "Dark Tourism" locations but I never label them as such. Places such as the The Killing fields and the notorious Tuol Sleng S21 prison in Cambodia and Nanjing in China (which the Japanese deny to this day) are gut wrenching to visit. It was in Cambodia, walking among one of the "Killing Fields" with an audio recording guide, that I had my first real emotional moments of reflection about what I was seeing and hearing. The audio explained in detail the occurrences where I was standing, with overlays of actual survivors who described the horror and pain they experienced. 

When you leave the "Killing Fields" and enter the Tuol Sleng S21 prison you enter a room that has hundreds of photos lining each wall. Each taken just before the victim was murdered in home horrific fashion. Men, woman and children, all knew they were going to die because you could see it in their expression, and the fhe fear in those eyes within each photo was palpable.

I came to the personal conclusion that the term "Dark Tourism" was a label that delegitimize the horrors that have occurred and it is almost insulting. It creates a checklist of places to visit, must like counting countries or the Seven Man made wonders of the world. You can say "Hey, I was there it was terrible," and you can then move on to something else. I recognize that It is a very cynical, 30,000 foot opinion but that is where I was at the time.

I have been to four of the Normandy Beaches (Juno, Gold, Sword, Omaha) and a few of the  WW1 Battlefields including Ypres, Passchendaele, Vimy Ridge,  and the war cemeteries in France and Belgium associated with each World War. There have been battle sites in Vietnam as well as the Hanoi Hilton. Kanchanaburi Thailand is where you can find the Bridge over the River Kwai fame including the cemetery, where British Soldiers as young are 16 are buried and the stories of their imprisonment are horrific. I never felt any real emotion but in the case of Vimy and Passchendaele there was a sense of pride, but that evaporated when I wandered through places such as Tyne Cot Cemetery. Those white crosses, all neat rows were real people who had died in those terrible battles that we glorify.

A view of the inside of the Auschwitz Camp

Now here I am, reflecting at the end of my short journey through a bit of Eastern Europe. First came Berlin then down to Dresden and then stops in Poland, Czechia and Slovakia. I never set off to have a "dark journey" or "dark experiences", but here I sit in Krakow Poland after returning from Oświęcim, where I had a three and a half hour guided tour of of the former Auschwitz-Birkenau "extermination camps. Historical reality has all changed for me.

Let me take a step back. There were six "extermination camps or killing centres " that the Germans set up in what is now Poland. These were Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Auschwitz-Birkenau and Majdanek as a part of their "Final Solution." For a bit of perspective here is a list of all the camps that existed under the Nazi regime and even the author explains this list might not be complete. He also makes note that it does not include all the "Jewish Ghettos" that were created.

I have been to two of the other six Extermination camps, Treblinka and Majdanek, and the sub-camps of Dachau and Kraków-Płaszów, which was told in the story of Schindler's list. There are two separate camps, Auschwitz I and Auschwitz-Birkenau. It is Birkenau that has the famous photo of the train tracks heading under the archway that lead into that camp. It is Auschwitz I with its infamous cast iron main gate that states "Arbeit macht frei," meaning "Work will set you free." It was the "genius" of the way that I was guided through both that has changed my perspective of the reality that was, as I took a walk in the shoes of the ill fated, metaphorically speaking of course.

"Arbeit macht frei," meaning "work will set you free," on the main gate

I am not going to write about the history of the camp or what each building housed. What I will tell you about is how we were led through the camp, and a few moments that and places that stood out, if for only the wrong reasons. Our group gathered in the main reception area where we were lead down a long and winding semi-enclosed path. As we slowly walked for five minutes names of a person who was killed at the camp was softly said over speakers every 20 second. The softer the sound making us listen a bit more intently and putting us in the right frame of mind for what we were going to experience.

** I really struggled with the idea of taking pictures. My plan was to take the main entrance to each camp but it was the guide who encouraged us to take photos so we could share the experience with both picture and stories. As we walked building to building there were displays of shoes, eyeglasses, children's toys, clothing, prostheses, suitcases and a myriad of utensils, bowls, kitchenware, hats and other personal items that the prisoners had brought with them. It was emphasized to remember that each pair of eyeglasses were one real person. There were over 10,000 in the pile. There was a huge case of human hair, which the Nazi's had used to make ropes, mattress stuffing and socks. It really made you want to puke and scream. The display of empty canisters of Zyklon-B sent a shiver down my spine.

As we walked the guide explained areas of torture, such as sleep and food deprivation, cells cramped with people that has no ventilation, so air deprivation. The tiny shaft where 4 people had to stand all night because there was no room to sit. They would work 10 or 12 hours, then return to their standing cell and in complete darkness, as the entrance was a small hatch at the bottom where the victim had to crawl in. It was not uncommon for a person to suffer through this for up to three days/nights. The cells had the bricks removed at various levels to give us the sense of the size. I still cannot wrap my head around it.

Execution Wall

It was all here, right in front of me. The medical building where Josef Mengele did his experiments on children, with a high degree of focus on twins. If he could figure out why twins occured, that would give the Nazi regime the ability to create more Germans at a faster pace. There was the execution room, where the victims undressed and walked out into a courtyard and were immediately shot all based on mythical charges against the regime. We continued to walk and learn more about the suffering as we approached what became the entrance to the remaining gas chamber that did not get destroyed when the Nazi's fled. There it was right in front of me. The guide led the way. Here is a link to the extermination process of Auschwitz

Gas Chamber Entrance

These steps we were taken were the same path of hundreds of thousands before me. The shower room was large and up to 1200 would be jammed in. There were four holes in the ceiling from which the gas was dropped, and the steel doors were solid and frightening. Nobody, myself included said a word and it was obvious nobody wanted to hang around. I also did not see a phone or camera being used. This was a "room of death". Standing there, even for a couple of minutes was enough to completely change the dynamic of the group from curiosity to despair, well at least it did for me.

I did not look back as we left the gas chamber and entered the crematorium. Again, I struggled with taking photos of some of the things we were shown, including the crematorium. In the end, I took a quick shot of the ovens and the carts that the bodies were loaded onto after they came out of the gas chamber as I thought it was important.

The Carts that were used to push the bodies into the Crematorium

It was a quick march through the gas chamber for me while a few lingered. It was when I exited that I noticed how small this site was, compared to the industrial crematoriums that were in Birkenau. However, this was very real and in my face. Yes, the trees did exist at the time. They were replanted after the camp was liberated and it became a museum. The Nazis had planted the trees to hide the crematorium and the smoke from the chimney thinking the Jews would never know what was happening.

The backside of the crematorium at Auschwitz

This was the end of the Auschwitz part of the tour. As we walked towards the busses that would take us the 15 minutes to Birkenau, a few of us lingered. The guide (I with I remembered her name, but she has been doing tours for 19 years), was patient with all our questions. She then pointed out the yellow house that was no more than 50 metres away, outside of the fence. This was the camp commandants house, where he lived with his family. He could see the crematorium chimney from his bedroom window on the second floor. This was the focus of the 2023 move The Zone of Interest, which I highly recommend. 

"The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp." - IMDB