Page: 1 2 3

Perfect and beautiful snow. (21)

Puddin_Von_Puss's profile

Puddin_Von_Puss

Posted by Puddin_Von_Puss on Sat 11 Feb 06, 11:42 PM to Puddin_Von_Puss's blog.

My trip was split into two parts; the part that involves 41 teenagers and laughing my conkers off every two minutes, which I'll blog about in the next few days and the afternoon we spent where none of us spoke.

We moan about the cold here, but we have no idea what cold is. That afternoon wasn't just cold outside deep but inside too. Cold that I've never experienced before and that I'll never forget. The deep snow made the place look somehow clean and very neat when we walked through the gates. I'd seen the gates before on films and it clicked into place for the first time where I really was: Auschwitz. The trip had been hanging over me for some time but I was standing here now and walking through those gates.

Because of the snow, we could only see what looked like a negative of the place. Just the pure white snow and the dark buildings. I think like most people I didn't realise that the Auschwitz I'd seen on the telly was actually Birkenau, the second part of the camp where the train passed through the archway. Auschwitz was a more permanent camp, with mostly sturdy brick buildings unlike the wooden barracks of Birkenau. These are now the Auschwitz museum that house some of what was left behind. Pictures, clothes and shoes, pots and pans, human hair and the ashes of millions of people under your feet. You walk from one building to the next, up and down stone stairs that are worn from the thousands of feet that have trudged along them long before I was born. By the time we got to the second building, I think, we began to see rooms, and I don't mean small rooms, full of belongings. Shoes, suitcases, toothbrushes and combs, children's shoes and clothes and probably the most macabre: the hair. Before women were taken to the gas chambers, their hair was cut off with blunt knives because this could be sold to make fabric. In one corner of the room was a piece of wooden machinery used to weave the hair into fabric used to make suits and other garments. When you looked closely at the ends of the fabric you could see fibres, that eventually registered as human hair.

Each of these rooms full of belongings held it's own emotion. When I saw the room of suitcases, thrown on top of each other, I couldn't help notice the care and pride with which so many had taken to scribe their name, address and date of birth. Pride in the lettering that would only come from people who didn't know that they'd never recover their belongings. The cases were taken to an area know as 'Canada' so called because in this time of history, people were beginning to emigrate to Canada and this was seen as a place to start a new life. The people brought here really did think they would not only survive, but would start again. They were told this all the way to the gas chambers to minimise the problems getting them in there.

I'm sure you've heard all the stories before, so I'm not going to describe what our guide told us that afternoon. But I will tell you of the two things I saw that I wish I had never seen, and that I'll never forget. The first was block 11. This is where the cells were for people who had committed 'crimes' The people who died there more often that not had died of starvation. This was because they had been forced into the cell, and it had been bricked up for a few weeks before tearing down the bricks, removing the bodies and refilling the cell with the next people. At the end of the corridor in the basement were the standing cells. Imagine a tiny room about the size of the cupboard under your stairs. If they squeezed in, 4 people could stand, face to face in that cell. They would be worked for 14 hours a day, then returned to the standing cell at night. Until they died from exhaustion. No food, no toilet, no chance. I stood for as long as I could outside that cell, all of about 20 seconds, but I feel like I saw every detail in the brick and stone.

The second was the gas chambers. I really didn't think you'd be allowed in there and wandered in already in shock and on autopilot. I think most of us by that point were only sort of listening to what our guide was saying to us. We all seemed to see the same thing at the same time: The walls were covered in finger nail marks, from the people who had hopelessly tried to scratch their way free from certain death, in the 20 minutes it took them to be gassed. 12 thousand people a day were gassed here. We walked into the next room where the bodies were thrown into the furnace and then into the bitter cold and snow outside.

We were then taken to Birkenau, the more recognisable face of the death camp. By this point the weather had worsened even by Polish standards to -21 and we were told that we would only be able to stay for about 15 minutes as they were going to have to close the place for the day. We saw the flimsy wooden barracks that housed thousands of people as the snow drifted inside. Wherever you were, that building with its terrifying arch that so many people passed through loomed at you. So black against the miles of white.

It was the most perfect and beautiful snow I've ever seen.

Replies

12 Feb 06, 12:20 AM livetotell 6 yrs	kazzaz wrote: It was the most perfect and beautiful snow I've ever seen. That was very moving. I don't cry very often , but that brought a tear to my eye. You write very well. Fall mountains, just don't fall on me.
12 Feb 06, 12:22 AM Puddin_Von_Puss UK(WA), 6 yrs	Thank you for that, it's kind of you to say. It's taken me 2 days to get the balls to write it! And this is ony a fraction of how it felt to be there. Thanks again x Loved up, toe tapping, raspberry blowing, 30gig, wriggling, kinkster.
12 Feb 06, 12:23 AM mini_velvet UK(EH), 6 yrs	ive read it 3 times and dont really know what to say. i dont want to write anything that sounds trite or flippant. I have relatives who died at Auschwitz, ive never been there yet, but i felt like i have reading your blog. Those memories will stay with you and change you. Thank you for sharing them with us. xxxxxx Edited 12 Feb 06, 12:24 AM by mini_velvet
12 Feb 06, 12:24 AM msbossboots UK(CO), 6 yrs	kazzaz wrote: Thank you for that, it's kind of you to say. It's taken me 2 days to get the balls to write it! And this is ony a fraction of how it felt to be there. Thanks again x Beautifully written my friend....xx "All roads are good"
12 Feb 06, 12:29 AM Puddin_Von_Puss UK(WA), 6 yrs	Thanks guys x Loved up, toe tapping, raspberry blowing, 30gig, wriggling, kinkster.
12 Feb 06, 12:37 AM romaro UK, 6 yrs	i agree, is a beautiful piece of writing, ive been asked to go but could never do it,
12 Feb 06, 12:39 AM Puddin_Von_Puss UK(WA), 6 yrs	romaro wrote: i agree, is a beautiful piece of writing, ive been asked to go but could never do it, I though that. I really didn't want to, but i'm glad i did now. In a way x Loved up, toe tapping, raspberry blowing, 30gig, wriggling, kinkster.
12 Feb 06, 12:41 AM romaro UK, 6 yrs	kazzaz wrote: romaro wrote: i agree, is a beautiful piece of writing, ive been asked to go but could never do it, I though that. I really didn't want to, but i'm glad i did now. In a way x maybe i will one day
12 Feb 06, 12:45 AM O2BTied 6 yrs	kazzaz wrote: My trip was split into two parts; the part that involves 41 teenagers and laughing my conkers off every two minutes, which I'll blog about in the next few days and the afternoon we spent where none of us spoke. We moan about the cold here, but we have no idea what cold is. That afternoon wasn't just cold outside deep but inside too. Cold that I've never experienced before and that I'll never forget. The deep snow made the place look somehow clean and very neat when we walked through the gates. I'd seen the gates before on films and it clicked into place for the first time where I really was: Auschwitz. The trip had been hanging over me for some time but I was standing here now and walking through those gates. Because of the snow, we could only see what looked like a negative of the place. Just the pure white snow and the dark buildings. I think like most people I didn't realise that the Auschwitz I'd seen on the telly was actually Birkenau, the second part of the camp where the train passed through the archway. Auschwitz was a more permanent camp, with mostly sturdy brick buildings unlike the wooden barracks of Birkenau. These are now the Auschwitz museum that house some of what was left behind. Pictures, clothes and shoes, pots and pans, human hair and the ashes of millions of people under your feet. You walk from one building to the next, up and down stone stairs that are worn from the thousands of feet that have trudged along them long before I was born. By the time we got to the second building, I think, we began to see rooms, and I don't mean small rooms, full of belongings. Shoes, suitcases, toothbrushes and combs, children's shoes and clothes and probably the most macabre: the hair. Before women were taken to the gas chambers, their hair was cut off with blunt knives because this could be sold to make fabric. In one corner of the room was a piece of wooden machinery used to weave the hair into fabric used to make suits and other garments. When you looked closely at the ends of the fabric you could see fibres, that eventually registered as human hair. Each of these rooms full of belongings held it's own emotion. When I saw the room of suitcases, thrown on top of each other, I couldn't help notice the care and pride with which so many had taken to scribe their name, address and date of birth. Pride in the lettering that would only come from people who didn't know that they'd never recover their belongings. The cases were taken to an area know as 'Canada' so called because in this time of history, people were beginning to emigrate to Canada and this was seen as a place to start a new life. The people brought here really did think they would not only survive, but would start again. They were told this all the way to the gas chambers to minimise the problems getting them in there. I'm sure you've heard all the stories before, so I'm not going to describe what our guide told us that afternoon. But I will tell you of the two things I saw that I wish I had never seen, and that I'll never forget. The first was block 11. This is where the cells were for people who had committed 'crimes' The people who died there more often that not had died of starvation. This was because they had been forced into the cell, and it had been bricked up for a few weeks before tearing down the bricks, removing the bodies and refilling the cell with the next people. At the end of the corridor in the basement were the standing cells. Imagine a tiny room about the size of the cupboard under your stairs. If they squeezed in, 4 people could stand, face to face in that cell. They would be worked for 14 hours a day, then returned to the standing cell at night. Until they died from exhaustion. No food, no toilet, no chance. I stood for as long as I could outside that cell, all of about 20 seconds, but I feel like I saw every detail in the brick and stone. The second was the gas chambers. I really didn't think you'd be allowed in there and wandered in already in shock and on autopilot. I think most of us by that point were only sort of listening to what our guide was saying to us. We all seemed to see the same thing at the same time: The walls were covered in finger nail marks, from the people who had hopelessly tried to scratch their way free from certain death, in the 20 minutes it took them to be gassed. 12 thousand people a day were gassed here. We walked into the next room where the bodies were thrown into the furnace and then into the bitter cold and snow outside. We were then taken to Birkenau, the more recognisable face of the death camp. By this point the weather had worsened even by Polish standards to -21 and we were told that we would only be able to stay for about 15 minutes as they were going to have to close the place for the day. We saw the flimsy wooden barracks that housed thousands of people as the snow drifted inside. Wherever you were, that building with its terrifying arch that so many people passed through loomed at you. So black against the miles of white. It was the most perfect and beautiful snow I've ever seen.

Next page