Schindler's Factory and Auschwitz-Birkenau Camp

      The main reason that all of us wanted to go to the city of Krakow was because it was close to Schindler's Factory and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camps. We knew before we even went to Krakow that it was going to be an extremely emotional and life changing weekend. We went to Oskar Schindler's actual factory on Friday, and it was incredible to see. They turned the whole inside of his factory into a really beautiful museum, and we spent hours there weaving through the exhibits and reading everything there was to read. Oskar Schindler was known as a hero to the Jewish people of Krakow (as you know if you have seen the movie Schindler's List) and to be inside the factory where he saved the lives of these people was amazing. Every room was filled with information, and at the end of the evening when we were done I felt as if my brain was on information overload. Everything in that museum struck a chord within me and I felt a lot of sadness and hurt by what these people had to go through.
       The next day, we woke up early to go see the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps. I can't even describe in words how horrible and painful it was to walk through these same camps that innocent people suffered and died in. It was honestly so moving it brought me to tears at certain points of our tour. We were given a tour by a young woman whose grandpa was there at the camps. Her perspective and stories were so touching and she brought a realness to the experience that you can't get by reading about it in a book. It made me disgusted and horrified to think that human beings are capable of such evil, that God's beautiful creation could do things such as those they did at Auschwitz. It especially had a powerful effect on us since we went in the winter and we really understood just how miserable these people were at these camps in freezing temperatures with practically no clothes on. We were there bundled up from head to toe and were still cold, and yet these people were forced to stand outside and walk around bare foot in the same conditions. It is just sick to think that these people were treated in such a way. I will never forget this experience and it truly brought to life something that I only ever read about  in text books. Never forget the tragedies that took place there...

"Work will set you free" is what this translates to. People were brought to this camp fully believing that if they worked hard enough they would finally be free of persecution.

The electrical fences at the main Auschwitz camp, which was mostly prisoners of war and the strongest workers.

The "Wall of Death," an extremely upsetting wall where thousands of people were killed. May they rest in peace forever.

The railway leading into Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest of the three Auschwitz camps. This is the same railway that every person had to travel on to get to the camps.

A watchtower and part of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp that had been burned down by the Soviets when they liberated the people in the camp.

A railcar original to the Holocaust that is in memory of those who lost their lives there.

A memorial dedicated to the millions of people who unjustly suffered in the Auschwitz camps.

"For ever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity. Where the Nazis murdered about one and a half million men, women, and children mainly Jews from various countries of Europe. Auschwitz-Birkenau 1940-1945."

The electrical fence that surrounded the entire camp.

The barracks where people had to sleep in the hottest and coldest of temperatures...they were treated so poorly.