Pilgrimage to Poland - Part 4

As we stepped through the entrance gate of Auschwitz I, marked with its overhead sign, “Arbeit Macht Frei,” “Work shall set you free,” I was trying to figure out how I was going to emotionally handle what I was about to experience.

Our group was not alone, dozens of other visitors were already there when we were introduced to our personal docent, an English speaking, albeit difficult to understand, middle-aged Polish gentleman at least one generation or more removed from World War II and the Holocaust.

Not surprisingly, his explanations and descriptions were presented in a matter-of-fact manner, and consistent with the Polish government’s policy of creating distance between Nazi responsibility and Polish collaboration.

My first views of the camp were of barrack-like buildings as far as the eye could see. It could have looked like any army base or boy scout summer camp in the U.S. It did not take long however to notice the double-layered barbed-wired fences laced, we were told, with over 3,000 volts of electricity which would bring about instant death if they were touched.

Later in our tour we learned that potatoes were planted between the two electrified fences and tended by Jewish slave laborers to produce the meager food supply for the camp’s in-mates. Many Jews met their death by accidentally falling or unintentionally making contact with the electrified barbed wires.

The barracks closest to the entrance have been reconstructed and have been converted into the main part of the museum. In these barracks are exhibits housing the collection of everything salvageable from the victims.

We saw collections of prosthetic devices taken from prisoners before they were killed such as artificial limbs, eyeglasses, metal items that could be used to manufacture ammunition, literally tons of hair, if you can imagine the enormity of the number of victims to create that weight.

Every gold filling was removed from the mouths of victims before the bodies were cremated, and most distressing were the piles of children’s and toddler pairs of shoes salvaged from the youngest of victims; the better-conditioned pairs sent back to Germany to be distributed to German families.

The incredible deception used by the Nazis to placate the Jewish communities in Europe was that they were only being relocated; and to pack clothing and some of their important possessions with them for their journey to their new homes. There was no way of knowing in the beginning of the unprecedented fate of total annihilation they were facing.

This is evident by the thousands of suitcases on display at Auschwitz I, each with the names, addresses and towns of origination painted or marked on the exterior of every suitcase — real names, real home addresses, real towns from all over Europe … real people! As I walked past the display, I tried to recite as many names as I could and their hometowns; my way of bringing them back to life if only in my own mind and if only for one fleeting moment.

We took a walking tour among the barracks and other facilities. We walked past the residence of the Camp Commandant, a luxurious home built right next to a gas chamber and crematorium. I could not believe it was possible for a human being to commit such evil and go home to his wife and children as just another day at the office.

The juxtaposition of the residence housing the Commandant’s family adjacent to these death chambers convinced me that I was witnessing the darkest moment in human history. That was before we went to visit Auschwitz II — Birkenau — that same afternoon.

To be continued.

If you wish to comment or respond you can reach me at melpearlman322@gmail.com. Please do so in a rational, thoughtful, respectful and civil manner.

Mel Pearlman holds B.S. & M.S. degrees in physics as well as a J.D. degree and initially came to Florida in 1966 to work on the Gemini and Apollo space programs. He has practiced law in Central Florida since 1972. He has served as president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando; was a charter board member, first vice president and pro-bono legal counsel of the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Central Florida, as well as holding many other community leadership positions.