Anyone been to Auschwitz?

[Herbie]

A friend of mine went a year or so ago and got ****ed off at some people taking photos as if it were a tourist attraction. Just a thought.

I can see myself taking some photos but discretely but if photos are not allowed i'll abide by that but i can imagine what you see there will remain in your heid forever

 

[Herbie]

I have never been, and personally, I don't see the point. The detail of what went on in those places is for all to see in lots of films and documentaries, and random film clips, and books. You can form an opinion about it without the "Grief-Lite" tourism. I queued to visit Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam ten years ago and hated the faint requirement to display a solemnity in public.

I do not wish to criticise your experiences, BTW.

Happy Christmas.

cheers...each to their own eh...merry xmas

 

[Herbie]

And yes, ok, someone said that the Germans seem to have gotten over their past more than we might have. That might be, but still.... and I am not one who gets terribly moved by these things, actually, the places weren't massively busy, but really, it was enough that I just wanted the kids (and some parents who really should have known better) to SHUT UP!

No no, go any time except for Summer...... the middle of winter actually to avoid the idiots..... which sounds exactly what is planned anyway!


By the way, talking of Auschwitz, I do remember bird song, although it seemed to be from outside of the camp confines, but I do remember the Butterflies and other insects were quite happy to call the place home, so it wasn't somewhere completely devoid of life as some would have you believe.

aye dougie thats exactly my intention...to go there when most folk dinnae

 

[grolyat]

I went to Auschwitz last April - cycling out and back from Krakow.

It was very moving and quite upsetting. I didn't sleep properly for many days afterwards. I was surprised by the vast scale of the place and the apparent innocence of the Poles in what was a colossal industrial enterprise.

I was pleased to see that it was a huge tourist attraction. On the day I was there, hundreds of coaches from every corner of Europe filled the car parks. The more people who are horrified, the less chance of it happening again. IMHO.

 

[coffeejo]

No not Aushwitz, but I have been to Yad Vashem. Be prepared for it to affect you for the rest of your life but don't let that put you off going.

Same here. I don't know what tore my heart more - the Children's Memorial or the sight of a friend pointing to the name of her family's pre-Holocaust town inscribed on a wall in the Valley of the Communities.

 

[BrianEvesham]

Not been but would like to visit one day.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

I was pleased to see that it was a huge tourist attraction. On the day I was there, hundreds of coaches from every corner of Europe filled the car parks. The more people who are horrified, the less chance of it happening again. IMHO.

Which is ok, but it would have helped if some of the people there the same day I had been able to actually treat the place with at least a modicum of respect and not just treat it like some sort of macabre themepark. The notion of anything even resembling horror didn't appear to be on the agenda with some.

No, as I, and others have already said, avoid the fannys and go off season, that is all I'm going to say on the matter because it actually irritates me the more I think about it.

Go when it is empty so the place has a chance to wrap itself around you.

 

[Herbie]

Which is ok, but it would have helped if some of the people there the same day I had been able to actually treat the place with at least a modicum of respect and not just treat it like some sort of macabre themepark

Avoid the fannys and go off season, that is all I'm going to say on the matter.

good points very well put Dougie