On Saturday 14th April, I travelled to Auschwitz and paid for a private guided tour of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp. I went with Christina and two girls from our dormitory as well as four friends who were visiting the girls. We got a minibus there and back, the journey took around 40 minutes from Katowice.
It is very hard to put into words the feelings and emotions that I experienced before, during and after the tour.
I chose to go and visit Auschwitz because I felt it would be valuable for myself to gain a fuller understanding of what the largest German Nazi concentration camp and extermination centre was actually like, this could only be experienced if I visited the site. We visited both sites, Auschwitz I (the original concentration camp) and Auschwitz II-Birkenau (a combination concentration/extermination camp).
It was a difficult day and although I learnt alot and felt connected to how the victims must have felt, I would not visit again and I don't particularly want to write a long blog post about the experience.
I am pleased that I went and it has made me realise quite how lucky we are in the present day, we must not take anything for granted.
I feel grateful I was able to gain a better knowledge of a large part of Poland's history and I think this visit has helped me to gain a better picture of Poland's cultural identity both in the past and in the present, how it may have changed due to the horrific events of WW2.
"For the dead and the living, we must bear witness" - Elie Wiesel
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