The residence of DEATH.

Main SS guide house-Death Gate.

The purposes for making this trip to Poland are I have been to Poland yet and I want to see the residence of DEATH--Auschwitz concentration camp with my own eyes. That is a sunny morning and I spend my day there at Auschwitz concentration camp. Even it is a bright shiny day but it is raining so hard in my heart. As I mentioned in my previous entry that I have been reading and watching lots of documentaries about the Holocaust, however, it is still very much frightening when those sites are just showed in front of me. I, somehow, could not believe what I just saw. In turn, I just could not believe how come there are someone so cruel and cold blood that they could just shoot someone innocent stand in front of them with no harm.

The Auschwitz concentration camp is the mesuem of the Holocaust now which represent what the victims of WWII had suffered and how they were treated during the hardest time in their life. However, there is antoher concentration camp which is not too far away by shuttle bus, called Birkenau where visitors can have a whole picture of where the victims were forced to live.

I still spend a few hours at Auschwitz Museum to get to know more about the Holocaust. However, what I really want to see is more than just the evidence of how Nazis treated those victims but see the concentration camp. There were over 1 million people's lives murdered by the Nazis via gas chambers, death marching and shooting at Auschwitz concentration camp. It was the largest concentration camp which built by the Nazis during the WW II.

When I take the shuttle bus to Birkenau, I see the death gate which I am so familiar with through reading and watching films. The very famous gate and railways, just as you could see from the photo. They look just normal in the photo but there are millions of stories behind them. When the trains took thousands of victims to Birkenau daily during 1942-1944, the victims had to face the threat of death. Victims were asked to queue along the railways. The Nazis would make their selection---people to the right would have to work and people to the left would be sent to gas chambers right after. How did they select? Easy!! It depended on whether the victims could work or not. Therefore, old people, young children and weak womem and whoever they thought that you could not work would go to the left and ready to hop on the train to DEATH. People who could work would be taken to wash and given the strips uniforms and ready to WORK.

My feeling is so complex while I am walking along the huge concentration camp. I recalled all the stories and films I have been reading and watching--I try to feel a tiny bit of how the victims had been treated and the journey they had walked through. I could not imagine how many lives are under my feet while I am walking around the camp. What under your feet are human beings' lives--that could smile, cry, talk and move around if they are still alive now. Those were the lives of babies, young children, grandparents, ladies and gentlemen. By thinking of it, I feel my heart is so hurt.

What ever happened during the WW II had happened and none of us could change it. However, we still have future--we must look forward to the future that no one would treat anyone like that again. Everyone's live is equally important and has equally value to the whole world no matter who they are, what colour of skin and eyes they have. It is never too late to start to learn to love and accept people around the world--the world will be changed once you begin to do it first.

Let's work it out together!! Let's look forward to world of JOY and PEACE!!