Krakow Visit

Arbeit Macht Frei'. As I stood at the front gates to Auschwitz I, towering over my head, I read those three eerie, deceiving words emblazoned over the black iron gates.

Sometimes, if you learn about a topic in the classroom, you don’t get the full appreciation of it. So, when the school offered a trip to Auschwitz this year, I knew it would be extremely impactful and enriching.

Upon landing, we were all eager to go and explore this new European city − Krakow. Most of us had never been to Poland before, so it was quite a new experience. Although we weren’t blessed with the best of weather, we were blessed with the stunning baroque architecture that towered above us as we walked through the cobbled streets.

After walking around a little in the Jewish Quarter, we made our way to the Galicia Museum, showcasing the history of Jews in Poland from pre-Second World War to post-Second World War. This was shortly followed by a talk from a survivor of the Holocaust. As we listened intently, the survivor told us about how her father had a job in Schindler’s factory, how her mother had escaped the ghetto with her, and how she and her mother narrowly avoided deportation to Auschwitz before going into hiding. It was an extremely heartbreaking story and one I will never forget.

The next day, we arrived at Auschwitz I, the smaller and less renowned of the Auschwitz concentration camps. So, there we were, staring up at those words on the gate: 'Arbeit Macht Frei' (work will set you free). I thought to myself how deceiving those words must have been. Perhaps the most shocking part of the whole trip was seeing the heaps upon heaps of human hair shaved from the prisoners upon entry. The mounds of child and adult shoes, and stacks of Zyklon B − the poison used to kill so many Jews and others. Seeing the torture methods which the Nazis employed was bone-chilling. Our tour guide also told us stories from the camp. An uplifting one was about a priest, Saint Maximilian Kolbe, who sacrificed his life for someone else, who managed to escape Auschwitz and lived a long life, until the age of 94.

After a short 10-minute bus ride, you could see the infamous lookout tower appearing on the horizon, belonging to Auschwitz Birkenau, or Auschwitz II. The train tracks running into the entrance reminded me of the history textbooks back at school, only we were now seeing it in person, and the whole place had a completely different feel. The barbed wire entwined across the meshed fences, and the brick archway gaped open as if it was swallowing its surroundings. It truly was an eerie place. The size of the camp was huge − 171 hectares to be precise − and you could really see that it spanned as far as the eye could see. The housing camps sat squat, dark and menacingly, and inside you could only imagine the terrible living conditions in the camp. At the end of the train track was a memorial for all those who passed in Auschwitz I and II. The engravings on the memorial had some powerful words − they described how Auschwitz should be a 'warning for future generations', highlighting that Auschwitz is open to the public as a warning of the consequences of mass genocides such as this. We all left in a reflective mood.

Later that evening, back in Krakow, we visited the former Ghetto, where we were all challenged to a scavenger hunt, asking us to undertake tasks, some of which were rather extravagant and involved us interacting with local people and fellow tourists. A fun night to remember! And after a walking tour of the Jewish Quarter on our final day, we flew back home.

Reflecting on our trip, I feel fortunate. Not just fortunate to have visited such a world-renowned site as Auschwitz, but fortunate that humans have learnt lessons from these atrocities, which means, hopefully, we will never ever have to see them again.