Auschwitz visit

A few from ours:

Auschwitz I

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Auschwitz II-Birkenau

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The place needs to be visited so that the people can be remebered and also the terrible way the SS treated the Jews etc.
 
Studied the history of the place, enough said?

That has nothing to do with what I asked.

Why would you be ashamed to have not visited a place of horrific evil? Should everyone else who hasn't visited it be ashamed? Do you judge people who won't visit it?

You don't need to visit the places that these crimes took place in to remember and honour the innocent lives lost at the hands of brutal murderers. We'd forever be travelling the Earth to honour all of the locations where heinous crimes have taken place lest we be judged as being disrespectful otherwise.
 
looking at those pictures made my hairs stand on end a truly terrible time for mankind...

i may go one time in my life but its not exactly a place you would really want to go..
 
Disappointed I have been to Krakow twice in the last 2 years and never been to Auschwitz... Was just 2 drunken weekends. Plan to go next time if I go back to Krakow.

Krakow itself is an amazing city. Really enjoyed myself both times I have been and would go back in a heartbeat...
 
Ashamed to say I have been to Krakow twice in the last 2 years and never been to Auschwitz... Was just 2 drunken weekends. Plan to go next time if I go back to Krakow.

Krakow itself is an amazing city. Really enjoyed myself both times I have been and would go back in a heartbeat...

Why are you ashamed? it's not mandatory to visit the place
 
It's worth remembering that scenes like this aren't consigned to the history books. The Rwandan genocide happened in our lifetimes and the pace of that genocide was 3x that of the Nazis.
 
I'm normally the first to say "Sod it" to stuff like this, don't really care about what happened to the jews since no one seems to have taken any notice of it anyway (People think and say they have, but their actions speak clearly).

Haunting pictures however. Does make one contemplate. Particularly like simulatorman's second to last picture.
 
Never been, want to go.

Recently read:

Inside the Gas Chambers: Eight Months in the Sonderkommando of Auschwitz

Seeing the pictures in this thread captures the horrors that were faced by the prisoners. In the Sonderkommando, you assisted with the killing and disposing of the bodies or you were killed yourself, but most were eventually killed anyway. As a German, you could be either sent to the front line or assist at the camps working on the 'Final Solution'.
 
Have a few more pics:

Some of the glasses collected from the victims

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The luggage taken from prisoners on arrival as they were asked to bring their personal belongings with them

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The wall were 1000's of people were shot but bullets became too expensive so they moved over to gas. The posts on the left, prisoners had there arms tied behind their back and were then hung from their wrists which resulted in their shoulders dislocating. This was just a punishment.

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Camp 2 - Birkenau

The famous picture of the train tracks which then lead straight through the gates to the gas chambers. Until 1942, there was a train station further away but that was too slow for the Nazis so they built a railway straight through.

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The camp itself with the electric fence and wooden huts. A lot of prisoners killed themselves by throwing themselves on the fence rather than keep working or the daily punishment.

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One of the rail box carts used to ship people into the camp.

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My experience of Auschwitz was a bit different - there were plenty of rather sobering sights, and I did feel sad for all the victims, but I never felt anything close to shock or a deep horror. I found seeing the various sites very interesting and put things into perspective, but I'm not sure that it made a huge impression on me. I found being outdoors at the Birkenau site was not that unpleasant, and all the Israelis marching round the place with giant flags made the whole thing seem less serious.
 
My experience of Auschwitz was a bit different - there were plenty of rather sobering sights, and I did feel sad for all the victims, but I never felt anything close to shock or a deep horror. I found seeing the various sites very interesting and put things into perspective, but I'm not sure that it made a huge impression on me. I found being outdoors at the Birkenau site was not that unpleasant, and all the Israelis marching round the place with giant flags made the whole thing seem less serious.

Surprised. There is a big difference just walking around the place now and actually been imprisoned in the camp, 3 people to a bed, working 12 hours per day, punishments and beating for the slightest thing and not being fed enough calories per day to survive so basically dying slowly. All the while knowing when you get too weak to work, the gas chamber awaited you.
 
That has nothing to do with what I asked.

Why would you be ashamed to have not visited a place of horrific evil? Should everyone else who hasn't visited it be ashamed? Do you judge people who won't visit it?

Its a personal feeling I guess, sure, I feel ashamed that I have not visited there.

I don't judge others who have not visited but I certainly feel that they should.

I am merely expressing my considered opinion after years of researching WWII & the Nazis,and before anybody asks, I'm not some Skin headed neo!
 
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