After Veera and Pinja decided to visit me in Krakow, we chose to take a day trip to Auschwitz.
We took a bus right in front of my house and reached the site about one hour and twenty minutes later. A Unesco world heritage site, it is infamous for being one of the largest and most known concentration and extermination camps. After getting off the bus we headed inside (the entrance is free), and immediately found ourselves confronted with the main entrance and its infamous Arbeit macht frei or work brings freedom. We walked along the main pathway, lined by barbed wire and wooden barracks. Each barrack contained the story, objects and info of prisoners coming from different regions and countries of Europe. We visited most of them, and then moved on towards the gas chambers. It was a grim place, a small sized room with dark walls and mostly dark and right next door the ovens were set to show what happened after. We then went back to the barracks and saw the living quarters, bathrooms and rooms the prisoners had to stay in; they were mostly recreated as the Nazis destroyed most of the camps throughout Europe when retreating. We then headed out, and thought it was a lot to take in; especially at this moment of the year when most of the camp is empty f tourists and there is snow everywhere making it even more eerie. Just outside, we decided to have lunch in a restaurant, before then catching the bus back to Krakow.
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| The barracks and barbed wire |
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| Interior of the gas chamber |
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| The ovens |
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| General view of the barracks |
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| One of the living quarters |
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| Guard tower |
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