Imogen James
Live page reporter
In bleak, cold December, I took a trip to Krakow. It feels like in going there, you must also face Auschwitz.
After taking a long drive in a mini bus, we pulled into Auschwitz I – there’s something extremely surreal about walking through those infamous black gates that I’ve seen so many times in books, documentaries and films.
I don’t think I uttered a word for the rest of the day.
The entire site is eerie. It’s quiet, it’s well kept, and it’s a brutal and stark reminder of what once was.
In this camp, you can see how the bunks were, the prisons, the uniforms, and where people lived and died.
Some rooms contain stacks and stacks of personal items, like pots and pans, suitcases and even hair.
-We then went to Birkenau, a short drive away – most of this camp is gone now, bar a few standing buildings far in the distance from the railway tracks.
This place, felt perhaps heavier. Too brutal to stay intact, as the Nazis themselves destroyed so much of it to cover their tracks.
You can walk freely around the site, inside a building that remains as it was. Uninhabitable.
It’s a day that I think about often, and cannot imagine how people had the strength to survive.
Swiss
