This blog is taken from a talk given in Chapel by two LVI Form Historians, Imogen and Eleanor, about their visit to Auschwitz earlier this year.
Eleanor: Before going on the daytrip to Auschwitz we went to an orientation seminar in Exeter where we had the privilege of hearing from a Holocaust survivor called Ziggy Shipper. He was an old man with a wonderful sense of humour whose main message was ‘Don’t hate anybody’. He shared his stories with us and the 200 other pupils on the Lessons From Auschwitz programme, and expressed his sadness at the fact that many Auschwitz survivors do not talk about their experiences, saying that only by talking about what happened can people appreciate the horror of what occurred and learn lessons from the past.
Before we went on the trip we were all asked to write down what we expected Auschwitz to be like. Most people said that they expected it to be cold, quiet, depressing, sad and scary. We were also asked what we expected to learn from the trip, with most people answering that they expected to understand more about what happened during the holocaust, and the conditions which prisoners had to endure.
After having arrived at Exeter airport at 5am, we arrived at Auschwitz I- where most non-Jewish prisoners were housed. When we arrived we were surprised at the sunny weather and also at the queues of people, food shops, and gift shops outside the entrance. We thought it insensitive that the site has become such a tourist destination. But then again it is a very significant site, and it’s a good thing that people want to be aware of it. The buildings of Auschwitz I were purpose built by the Nazis to house prisoners, and we were struck by their architectural appeal; we had expected the buildings to be oppressive and ugly.
Auschwitz I has mostly been turned into a museum, with exhibits including a room full of hair shaven off women prisoners so that they would not escape the camp unnoticed, a room full of suitcases taken from prisoners upon their arrival, and a room full of shoes. All of these were incredibly striking and really brought home the sheer numbers of prisoners that must have endured time at Auschwitz.
After lunch we moved to Auschwitz II, otherwise known as Auschwitz-Birkenau. This was the part of the trip that most affected me. A long train track enters at the watchtower and carries on into the camp. On either side there are rows, and rows, and rows of wooden barracks, originally built to house cavalry horses, which had a changed purpose of housing Jewish, Roma and Sinti people. It was incredibly bleak.
An estimated 6 million people were systematically killed during the holocaust. With such a large number it is impossible to understand the scale of it. The most important thing I gained from the trip was the concept of re-humanising the victims. Every person who got off a train at Auschwitz-Birkenau who was sentenced to life or death by Mengele, or other Doctors like him, had a family, a life and a livelihood which was taken from them. In one of the mother and child barracks there is a children’s nursery painting. It seems innocent at first. However, in order for this painting to have been painted there a prisoner risked his life and his job as a painter by smuggling in colours and brushes to paint it in order to bring joy to the persecuted children.
Some perpetrators also risked their lives through their acts of compassion. One man, when ordered to burn photographs of prisoners, put hundreds in a suitcase and buried it. The photographs in this suitcase are now on exhibit in the sauna at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
The most important thing that we took away from the trip is to not only think of the Holocaust in numbers, but also to think in terms of individuals. So many people were involved in the Holocaust, whether bystanders, perpetrators or victims. In order to learn from the past and ensure that a Holocaust can never happen again, it is crucial to get a better understanding of the motives of those involved.
Imogen: One of the reasons I went on the trip to Auschwitz was that earlier this year I wrote an Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) on rescuers in the Holocaust and the positive stories that can be found amidst the negative ones. In my EPQ I focused on the country of Denmark because Danish citizens rescued 99.3% of all Jews living or taking refuge in their country.
Similarly, whilst walking around Auschwitz, we heard a surprising number of stories showing the human kindness and hope which existed there. We listened to the story of one man who was ordered to be put into a starvation cell (where he would simply die) as a punishment after prisoners had attempted to escape. He begged the guard to be spared, saying he had a wife and two children to be looked after.
After hearing this, another prisoner – a Catholic priest called Maximilian Kolbe – volunteered to take his place in the starvation cell. The priest never despaired and encouraged the other prisoners until he was the only person left alive. Eventually Nazi guards got tired of waiting and killed him by lethal injection. The father survived as did the rest of his family and his children and grandchildren now live because one prisoner sacrificed his life to save him.
When we were going around Auschwitz II we were given a book of testimonies from survivors as well as prayers and poems and one of these really struck home with me:
Would you speak if they came for me?
I may differ in colour to you,
In costume,
I may not dress like you,
Sound like you,
But would you speak for me?
Would you have the courage of a lion,
Courage of your conviction?
I may believe in a different god, or no god, But our belief in justice binds us, you and me.
So if they came, pistols loaded to take me away, Would you speak out, speak out for me today?
