Poland: Auschwitz

Auschwitz: 28 dec - feast of Holy Innocents

it was very cold and the place was quiet. you don't get the feeling as though you are in a bad place, but a somber place. the stories and actions that people did, however, can make you sick. the grounds are orderly, neat, and somewhat pleasant in their own way, somewhat uneven as if hurting from a scar. the actions, the stories we heard were so cold, deprived of cosideration of deeper realities, mechanical, scientific, deadening. it makes me wonder about love-with such atrocities organized as they were and obediently followed, what would love look like in that scenario?



"communal responsibility" the nazi policy that everyone shares responsibility for the others within the camp. if one prisoner escapes, 10 others must die in his place; if the count is wrong at the end of the day (even if the bodies of those who died during the day were not carried back to roll call) the whole camp is punished; prisoners who were put in charge of other prisoners beat the people worse than the nazi's did--harsh deadness to another rakes over the whole scenario. somehow, someone still remembers love and is willing to give himself enough to be a light for others--St. Maximillian Kolbe steps out of line and takes the punishment of another for himeslf. o Lord, open my heart to Love, do not let me be detached from Truth.






pictures:
1- slogan told to prisoners: "work makes freedom"
2- Auschwitz 2 (10 min away) - death camp (most of the buildings have been destroyed, only the chiminys
remain of all the "dormitories", picture shows only a small portion of this camp
3- "dormitory" these buildings were designed to hold 50 horses, when death camps came to be they used the same model to shove in up to 500 Jews. chimneys existed but were rarely lit. bottom bunks had to deal with rats, top bunks had wind and rain dripping on them. uninsulated, 4 to 8 people per bunk, every couple of hours a horn blew and everyone had to turn at the same time as it was the only way to move (circulation problems)
4- sign at Auschwitz 2
5- entrance to the smallest/only crematorium still in existence. stories to terrible to write.