Auschwitz Main Camp; Aller Anfang ist Schwer

Spending four days around Auschwitz, and two afternoons at Birkenau was extremely hard, this is why the article gained the title 'Aller Anfang ist Schwer' meaning 'All Beginnings are hard' This was my first time going to the grounds of Auschwitz, luckily I was with a group who mostly had been before. The first time we arrived, it was getting dark, the snow was falling and the grounds were white. It was such a weird situation to be in, the ground which we walked on had once been scattered with ash, to make it easier to walk on through icy weather, the ash coming from the burning of the bodies which were constantly murdered because of hate.



The darkness chilled me, the snow froze us.. but as we kept reminding ourselves, even with our countless layers on, we were still cold... imagine how the inmates felt with their thin clothing and wooden clogs (thats if they had shoes still!) how cold they must of been, how many thousands must of frozen to death because of the Polish winter, the snow freezing over the land. It was such a surreal moment, standing outside the gates which say 'Arbeit Macht Frei' (Work makes you free) it was truly a strange feeling, the place was practically empty apart from the few media cameras which were there. We walked down to the gas chamber, which was empty of visitors which gave us time to really look around, without being rushed or asked to take photos. The wired fences with their half working lights gave the camp a tiny amount of light for us to see as it slowly got darker, it was truly a scary and haunting sight to be seen.


As I stepped into the gas chamber, I felt the walls closing in around me, the scratches on the walls from the thousands who had been murdered in this room. Where we were standing was once where people were murdered in huge numbers as part of the Jewish Problem, a problem which was a lie and brought on through hate. Being there, I realised what this work will bring, even with countless sleepless nights I knew I was prepared to give these up, knowing that I could make a difference, knowing I could keep the voices of the victims of the Holocaust in the present memories of students and adults alike. Those scratches on the wall just show the pain and agony of what these poor innocent people went through just because of who they were. Their lives ended because of the ideology of the Third Reich. It's something we need to know take into consideration when we are preparing to vote for our next government, just think of who they blame things on, their scapegoats and their enemies, are we not falling for this trick again? People hate because of a religion, a sexual preference, a skin colour... is that not what the Third Reich and the nazis did?!

We would come back the next day, spending a full day there, walking around the buildings, seeing the different blocks and the wall of death. The medical experiment blocks 6 & 10, block 11, all of these blocks had different stories which need to be remembered, again we were lucky enough that there were no tourists or visitors there, we were able to take our time to walk around the different blocks, not going inside them, that would wait until Thursday. Block 10 is not open to the public, as it remains untouched from the 1940's, luckily I was able to go inside this block and see it's haunting walls which the paint is flaking from, the wooden floors, the experimenting table, which looks more like a sink... and much more. It is truly haunting. Not many people, including the staff are unable to go in there, it was because of who we were with that we were able to go in, look around and leave quietly, in a state of shock.

Block five was probably one of the most haunting experiences, the suitcases, the wooden legs, glasses, belongings... but something which haunts me when I close my eyes was the small display of shoes, jumpers and clothing and a small doll which were the belongings of children who arrived at Auschwitz, the small display was so terrible to look at, I couldn't help but cry, the children who were murdered, they were so young, how they were hated just because of their religion, too young to really understand the world and see any of the beauty which was waiting for them. Families completely destroyed because of the ideology of the Nazis. Just seeing the small shoes, it was heartbreaking to me, the small footsteps they would of taken, holding onto their mothers hands as they walked towards their fates. So many thousands, millions of innocent lives were marched towards those gas chambers, not only at Auschwitz but at the other camps too.. Millions died because of hate..

I will write more soon, I am struggling now to continue..

Never forget the footsteps which marched through here. 

Never forget the innocent lives who were murdered here

Together we can help stop history from repeating itself.