Auschwitz.
- Thread starter misteroo
- Start date
Yes, went in December last year.
We went to Krakow for a long weekend and booked the trip via the hotel. You go to the original Auschwitz first, then they take you to Birkenau, which was the actual death camp.
It's a bleak place, but incredibly interesting and moving.
I'd recommend seeing it.
Krakow's a fabulous city too - well worth seeing.
We went to Krakow for a long weekend and booked the trip via the hotel. You go to the original Auschwitz first, then they take you to Birkenau, which was the actual death camp.
It's a bleak place, but incredibly interesting and moving.
I'd recommend seeing it.
Krakow's a fabulous city too - well worth seeing.
Cheers azaro...I take it you arranged flights and the Hotel yourself then?
Can you remember the Hotel you stayed in? and roughly how much it all cost?
I was considering driving so I could visit Belgium and the war graves on the way through, but its a bloody long way to Poland!!!!!!!
Can you remember the Hotel you stayed in? and roughly how much it all cost?
I was considering driving so I could visit Belgium and the war graves on the way through, but its a bloody long way to Poland!!!!!!!
Wife booked it all.
Flew from Liverpool and stayed at
Hotel Senacki
ul. Grodzka 51, Krakow 31 - 001, Poland
+48124227686
which was a 5 min walk from main square.
Fabulous hotel.
Think hotel was about £200 for 3nights for the 2 of us, B & B.
Krakow very cheap to eat out and drink, as not in the Euro!
Trip to Auschwitz was about £25 each I think.
Flew from Liverpool and stayed at
Hotel Senacki
ul. Grodzka 51, Krakow 31 - 001, Poland
+48124227686
which was a 5 min walk from main square.
Fabulous hotel.
Think hotel was about £200 for 3nights for the 2 of us, B & B.
Krakow very cheap to eat out and drink, as not in the Euro!
Trip to Auschwitz was about £25 each I think.
We went in 2010. It is an experience and you need to allow several hours. Groups are only allowed round with a guide but English guides are available. It's very respectful of the horrible things that happened there and prsented factually. I was completely horrorstruck at the enormity of the evil that took place there.
Krakow is a wondeful destination - the city square is one of the finest in Europe and the recently opened Schindler museum is a "must see".
We love Poland and have lots of recommendations for other places to visit if you are thinking about further afield than Krakow.
Krakow is a wondeful destination - the city square is one of the finest in Europe and the recently opened Schindler museum is a "must see".
We love Poland and have lots of recommendations for other places to visit if you are thinking about further afield than Krakow.
gibbleking
Old School Grand Master
my school was /is/ next to belsen concentration camp,,,i went in 82 and 83 as part of our history lessons....truly something that moulds the way you think about true oppressive regimes.my friend les lives near auswitz where he goes once a year or so with his wife,,,,,,,,i think once is enough and never want to see it again,,,i recall being driven past belsen everyday and never knew it was there...until you drive down a small road and come out into a big wide open plot of land with long mounds and a sign with estimated number of dead in each,,,,,,each sign was roughly 5 to ten thousand in each pit.....all the birds stayed away from there.. a deathly quiet place too..
Absolutely echo the above sentiments on Bergen Belsen.
I went there when I was about 16 - a very, very moving place.
I have never forgotten being there and the way it felt.
The burial mounds with the simple "Here are n000 dead" stone marker on the front of them.
And given that it is surrounded by woods, you're right, there was no birdsong.
If Auschwitz is anything like Belsen, it will be something you will never forget.
I went there when I was about 16 - a very, very moving place.
I have never forgotten being there and the way it felt.
The burial mounds with the simple "Here are n000 dead" stone marker on the front of them.
And given that it is surrounded by woods, you're right, there was no birdsong.
If Auschwitz is anything like Belsen, it will be something you will never forget.
grahame
Senior Retro Guru
I used to go to Krakow for a week or so every month for work. I avoided the trip to Osiciem (Auschwitz) for a couple of years 'cos I'd visited a "regular" concentration camp in Czechoslovakia (before it split) years ago and was pretty traumatized by that.
I finally plucked up the courage, thinking that it is a thing that must be done so that the horror of what was done there is not allowed to fade away. It is horrific, moving, and extremely emotional as a visit. I was brought up as a Catholic, and for me the most shocking thing was the complicity of the Catholic church (and to a lesser extent the Protestant churches) with the Nazi regime.
Go. But not on your last day in Krakow. Expect bad dreams for a few nights. Do not forget what people are capable of doing to each other in the name of nationalism and religion.
Also visit the salt mine (another coach trip), Wawel castle, the Jewish museum in Kazimierz, and the Jagelian University (all in easy walking distance from the main square).
I finally plucked up the courage, thinking that it is a thing that must be done so that the horror of what was done there is not allowed to fade away. It is horrific, moving, and extremely emotional as a visit. I was brought up as a Catholic, and for me the most shocking thing was the complicity of the Catholic church (and to a lesser extent the Protestant churches) with the Nazi regime.
Go. But not on your last day in Krakow. Expect bad dreams for a few nights. Do not forget what people are capable of doing to each other in the name of nationalism and religion.
Also visit the salt mine (another coach trip), Wawel castle, the Jewish museum in Kazimierz, and the Jagelian University (all in easy walking distance from the main square).
