Auschwitz concentration camp

Today I did one of the hardest things that I had to do on this trip... go to Auschwitz concentration camp near Krakow, Poland. It's the second camp I went to... the first one being Salaspils right south of Riga, Latvia. I didn't take photos at either one, but I'll try to describe them. If you don't know what happened at these types of camps, please read the above info on wikipedia. If you don't like reading about this stuff, stop reading here.


First Salaspils. It was quite complicated getting there. Most people (even locals) don't know about it. You take the local train to one stop before Salaspils (the town) then walk through a very tranquil pine forest to get to the memorial.


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The memorial (or camp) isn't huge (as you see on the map), but I was the only person there, and that made it seem immense. I was OK until I got to the children's barracks. People bring toys and leave them there. I broke down. Overall, it was a very eerie feeling being there alone; but it let me take in what happened there at my own pace. I ran into the grounds keeper on the way out that sold me a map of the memorial (not how to get there), but it was nice to see a person after the hour or so that I was there alone.


Auschwitz was a very different story. I opted not to go with a tour and do it alone at my own pace. Once I got there I realized that I wasn't going to be alone like last time; even now in the almost off-season (on a Monday) there are tons of tourists. Auschwitz is also huge... split into multiple camps, the two biggest being 3km apart, Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II (Birkenau).


Auschwitz I is like a museum... and you can spend hours (maybe days) trying to read all the exhibits and visiting the different buildings. Most of it is also reconstructed, and simply has a museum feel. I went through it quite fast (maybe 2 hours?), and walked over to Birkenau, 3km away. I got lost on the way and think I wondered upon one of the other camps in the area that was closed to public but seemed mostly destroyed. Birkenau is quite a different story from Auschwitz, it's mostly destroyed and has that same eerie feeling as I got in Salaspils. Not to say I didn't get it (the eerie feeling) in Auschwitz I, but it wasn't as strong. Birkenau had way less tourists, and given it's enormous size, and lack of reconstruction, felt so much more real. Sitting (relatively) alone by the gas chambers and crematoriums, realizing that more than million people were murdered there, I think I finally comprehended what had happened here, and broke down again. I think I'm done with going to camps. Now onto happier travels.