Remembering the history...

As we are almost through with the year 2018, I pondered over the places I visited this year, which include a few places in France plus other European countries with the penultimate one being Krakow, Poland. Although almost all the places have been splendid, Krakow for some reason has been etched to my heart. By far, I haven't seen any Christmas set up as beautiful as the one in Krakow. To top it, we were enthralled to experience the white Christmas!

However, the purpose of this blog post is to write about Auschwitz, which is nearly a 1.5 hours drive from Krakow. Auschwitz was the largest of the Nazi death camps where nearly 1.5 million people were exterminated either in the gas chambers or through slave labor. Some were even subjected to grueling medical experiments led by Josef Mengele. It is estimated that of the total lives taken at Auschwitz, nearly 1 million deaths were believed to be of Jews. 

As a student, we studied about World War II and the barbaric actions of the Nazis. However, the magnitude of the situation comes to you only when you actually visit the site where millions of innocent people were killed for the simple reason of being a Jew/gypsy/homosexual etc. that included several blameless children who might not have even understood the very meaning of those words.

The infamous rail tracks that carried
millions of people to Auschwitz

Auschwitz was initially used as a detention camp for political prisoners. However, Hitler's final solution to eliminate every Jew in his domain resulted in turning Auschwitz to a death camp. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were brought to Auschwitz from around Europe through these rail tracks, who were tested for their fitness before entering the camp - if unfit, they were sent straight to the gas chambers. Many also faced death eventually due to malnutrition and harsh cold conditions. 

Below are a few images from my visit to Auschwitz and the blog is completely dedicated to all those brave souls who were barbarically killed during the 2nd World War. Rest in peace! 

Medical center where monstrous experiments were conducted on the prisoners

It was -7 deg centigrade on the day we visited Auschwitz. It often used to be -20 back in those days and the prisoners had minimal clothing to protect themselves from extreme cold

The sorrowful walls of Auschwitz where you can feel the pain in the air

The exterior of the gas chamber. Photographs were not allowed inside the chamber but it had an unspeakable ghastly feeling when you step inside

Borders of Auschwitz

The reason for my blogpost remembering all the innocent souls