Anyone been to Auschwitz?

[Herbie]

I've always wanted to visit Auschwitz and am planning at trip to Krakow sometime early in the New Year....always wanted to go there at probably the most bleakest time of the year....Anyone been there at this time?

 

[Archie_tect]

It's harrowing- niece went there on a school trip.... they didn't expect to be so upset by it.

 

[postman]

I watched a film The Hiding Place a few weeks back,About Corrie ten Boom.That made me bawl,it was horrible.then i watched The boy in the striped pyjamas,another shocker.

 

[Herbie]

It's harrowing- niece went there on a school trip.... they didn't expect to be so upset by it.

I'm taking my 21 year old son with me...i'm expecting it to be an overwhelming sad experience

 

[Archie_tect]

It was the quietness that got to them...and the platforms at the end of the lines... where the trains stopped.

 

[MrsDangermouse]

Not to Auschwitz, but I did visit Mauthausen when I was 20.....a very haunting and moving experience. I've never forgotten it, and probably never will.

 

[Norm]

I've always wanted to visit Auschwitz and am planning at trip to Krakow sometime early in the New Year....always wanted to go there at probably the most bleakest time of the year....Anyone been there at this time?

Stunning and, not to make light of something so dreadful but any visit is at a pretty bleak time.

I haven't been inside but worked for a fair while in Munich, with a good friend working on Dachauer Straße and the subject often led, inevitably, to Dachau and the echoes of history. Quite, quite remarkably horrible.

One thing, about the whole "don't mention the war" thing is that the Germans who I met and talked to have got past their past far better than we have. To me, the very word "Dachau" had only one meaning but, to visit it now is to see a perfectly normal Bavarian town with golf clubs, parks and squares and excellent S-Bahn links to Munich, one of my favourite cities. Auschwitz is a little different, as the name was changed back to the German when it was annexed and it has reverted to the Polish name of Oświęcim (shamelessly Wiki'd), but I have to say that you might, still, be very affected by the place and by how remarkably normal the rest of the town is, considering what was on their door step.

 

[vernon]

Not to Auschwitz, but I did visit Mauthausen when I was 20.....a very haunting and moving experience. I've never forgotten it, and probably never will.

I visited Mauthausen this summer. Although it was primarily a labour camp, it also exterminated members from a whole raft of nationalities and religions - something that I wasn't aware of. I'm not sure that I could cope with the magnitude of destruction at Auschwitz.

 

[Herbie]

Stunning and, not to make light of something so dreadful but any visit is at a pretty bleak time.

I haven't been inside but worked for a fair while in Munich, with a good friend working on Dachauer Straße and the subject often led, inevitably, to Dachau and the echoes of history. Quite, quite remarkably horrible.

One thing, about the whole "don't mention the war" thing is that the Germans who I met and talked to have got past their past far better than we have. To me, the very word "Dachau" had only one meaning but, to visit it now is to see a perfectly normal Bavarian town with golf clubs, parks and squares and excellent S-Bahn links to Munich, one of my favourite cities. Auschwitz is a little different, as the name was changed back to the German when it was annexed and it has reverted to the Polish name of Oświęcim (shamelessly Wiki'd), but I have to say that you might, still, be very affected by the place and by how remarkably normal the rest of the town is, considering what was on their door step.

Thanks Norm i know it is a dreadful place and not for a second do i think it would be a more pleasant place to visit in the summer months or at any other time but in the winter months it must be an even more unimaginale place.

 

[fossyant]

Norm as always - say it as it is.
I doubt I could go there, ever. ! Doubt I could deal with the history.

 

[StuAff]

Visited Terezin (aka Theresienstadt) one March. It was a crisp day, but it was a very bleak place, can imagine it would be even in summer. Glad I went though.

 

[Herbie]

Norm as always - say it as it is.
I doubt I could go there, ever. ! Doubt I could deal with the history.

People should never stop visiting places like this even though it is harrowing otherwise they could after some time be forgotten

 

[Fnaar]

Yes, I 've been to Auschwitz. Moving, certainly, but also very educational. You can't change the fact that it happened, so you may as well learn from it.

 

[Fasta Asloth]

Went there many years ago in April/May time, was the only place on my eastern europe trip where there were no bird sounds whatsoever, very noticeable given the time of year.... Overall a very humbling place.

 

[Norm]

People should never stop visiting places like this even though it is harrowing otherwise they could after some time be forgotten

Indeed. I mentioned above that I hadn't been inside Dachau. Even seeing the outside of the memorial, even seeing the town's name a couple of times every week as I drove to visit friends, even the name of the street made me feel both insignificant as a person and immensely grateful for what I've got when seeing those names after a day in an office thinking about nothing more important than quarterly forecasts.

It is to my eternal shame that I didn't make more of an effort to overcome my own reluctance to take more time in Dachau. What's the phrase about not regretting anything you've done, just some of the things that you didn't do? That's me, that is.

You are spot on, Herbie, that these places should not be forgotten.

On a lighter note, just east of Dachau is Erding, and I think I can hear a bottle of their Dunkel calling my name.