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A Chilling reality (lest we forget)
- Thread starter KermitGKona88
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munkey_bwy
Retro Guru
Re:
Yes, It was a dark period in world history.
The GF and I have been allotted tickets to go the the 100th anniversary commemorative ceremony of the Battle of the Somme in Thiepval.
Whilst we are in France we are going to visit Oradour-Sur-Glane to witness another place where to SS performed a great atrocity in WWII.
Yes, It was a dark period in world history.
The GF and I have been allotted tickets to go the the 100th anniversary commemorative ceremony of the Battle of the Somme in Thiepval.
Whilst we are in France we are going to visit Oradour-Sur-Glane to witness another place where to SS performed a great atrocity in WWII.
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We have learnt nothing.
Re:
25 years ago I was working and living in Poland, based in Warsaw (or Warszawa). I'd been in Bielsko Biela, where the old Polski Fiat 126 was built, in the far south and the journey back to Warszawa was car to Krakow then train.
A good friend arranged for someone who was driving to Krakow to give me a lift and could drop me at Auschwitz if I wanted to visit. The literature advised against visiting alone and that the birds didn't sing but I wanted to go and wasn't sure of the next opportunity. The driver spoke only a little English and during the first part of the journey not much was said after the initial (dzien dobry) hello. After a while he asked me why I wanted to go and be a tourist at such a place. I replied that not to be a tourist but wondered if we were not to forget then how else but to go and see. After another silence he said yes he understood but would I mind if he dropped me in Oswiecim (the local town, some 50km from Krakow) and it would be just a short taxi ride, it was just he couldn't go back.
I caught a taxi, with the taxidriver talking about a film being made by Steven Spielberg and he'd been Steven's driver when he visited. This was before the film came out. First I went to Auschwitz I where the the buildings are and the displays (for want of a better word) of glasses and shoes. This was the first camp originally for political prisoners. It is then a short walk to Auschwitz II or Birkenau, the extermination camp, with the railtracks through the gatehouse. Its pretty much as it was left, you can see where all the wooden huts were with the chimney remains. It is huge and difficult to describe the scale but removes any doubt as to how over a million people were killed. It took a long time to walk round the perimeter, and while the birds were singing on a spring day, it is truly an awful place. I'm glad I went but would not want to go back.
The following year I saw Schlinder's List at the Cinema in Warszawa not far from the "old town" and the ghetto. That too was an experience I will not forget.
25 years ago I was working and living in Poland, based in Warsaw (or Warszawa). I'd been in Bielsko Biela, where the old Polski Fiat 126 was built, in the far south and the journey back to Warszawa was car to Krakow then train.
A good friend arranged for someone who was driving to Krakow to give me a lift and could drop me at Auschwitz if I wanted to visit. The literature advised against visiting alone and that the birds didn't sing but I wanted to go and wasn't sure of the next opportunity. The driver spoke only a little English and during the first part of the journey not much was said after the initial (dzien dobry) hello. After a while he asked me why I wanted to go and be a tourist at such a place. I replied that not to be a tourist but wondered if we were not to forget then how else but to go and see. After another silence he said yes he understood but would I mind if he dropped me in Oswiecim (the local town, some 50km from Krakow) and it would be just a short taxi ride, it was just he couldn't go back.
I caught a taxi, with the taxidriver talking about a film being made by Steven Spielberg and he'd been Steven's driver when he visited. This was before the film came out. First I went to Auschwitz I where the the buildings are and the displays (for want of a better word) of glasses and shoes. This was the first camp originally for political prisoners. It is then a short walk to Auschwitz II or Birkenau, the extermination camp, with the railtracks through the gatehouse. Its pretty much as it was left, you can see where all the wooden huts were with the chimney remains. It is huge and difficult to describe the scale but removes any doubt as to how over a million people were killed. It took a long time to walk round the perimeter, and while the birds were singing on a spring day, it is truly an awful place. I'm glad I went but would not want to go back.
The following year I saw Schlinder's List at the Cinema in Warszawa not far from the "old town" and the ghetto. That too was an experience I will not forget.
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