This past weekend I took a trip to Krakow, Poland. The main point in my short trip was to go to Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau, to try and pay my respects. I thought long and hard while there and since I got back to Rome in regards to what I am comfortable sharing about this experience. Then it hit me, that to not share this experience would be selfish and it would do a part in keeping this horror hidden. It was very important to me that I went and learned as much as I could. In hopes that this will take this horrible, sickening tragedy out of a textbook and into real life, as now someone you know, has walked through these streets. It is real, it did happen and it was not that long ago.
As a history fanatic, I thought I knew everything about this war and this horror. Yet a trip to this place taught me more than I ever imagined.
Standing in the gas chambers, looking up at the small cut outs in the ceiling where the gases were dropped from. Seeing rows upon rows of destroyed barracks, where nearly 700 people were crammed into. Looking at photographs I had never seen before, photographs outside of the rooms where the victims were forced 4 to a pad on the ground, or hay on the dirt. And the most difficult, knowing that once I walked through the gates surrounded by electrical wire, that I could leave, yet 1.1 million people could not.
We can’t forget this and we can never let it happen again. We all need to do better as a society. If every individual believes that their hateful actions don’t matter, then with time the world will be filled with hate yet again. We owe it to the past generations, to the future generations, to the 1.1 million men, women and children. No more hatred.
Please ask me about my experience here, I would love to tell you everything I learned and what it taught me.
I will not be editing these photos, as that is not the point in this post. The post is to spread the images that I saw, the truth of this place and to ensure that everyone knows it cannot be repeated.
