Ordered. Structured. Codified.
Auschwitz was an experience I have not fully processed and therefore, not completely ready to write about. All I can really say at this point is that it was a place of unimaginable cruelty performed with technical precision and serves as a reminder of what we are capable of doing to each other, for each other and for the survivors, what we can overcome.
From within these walls and wires, there are the stories of the extremes of inhumanity but what people have to remember is that there were also extremes of beauty. There are stories hidden, forgotten, lost. Instances of charity and goodwill under the harshest of circumstances that were never recorded, stolen. This shouldn't be.
There is no way I am able to fully express the experience at this point, perhaps I never really will be able. It doesn't really matter what I feel about it though other than the understanding and clarity gained, the perspectives of a world I can only hope will never be repeated, and my role in ensuring it never is.
Work will set you free
It was a lie told, but not untrue.
The type of work we each do in this world matters.
As do our intentions.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
That still lokks horrific 70 years on
The fog shrouding the buildings adds to the sense of dread
How do you feel about the debate raging around the upkeep of the buildings?
Some say: because of the repairs and refurbishment it's not the same place it was, but more of a tourist attraction, and no longer authentic
Supporters say: It's important to keep it open as a reminder of the horrors - and a warning to new generations
From your account, the horror has impacted you and made the efforts to keep it open a fitting tribute to all who suffered so much and perished there
I don't know much of the debate but if it isn't maintained, it is eventually lost and lost means unremembered. I believe we have to move on from living in the past but part of that is knowing the past itself, and if people really understood the horrors of what humans have done to humans, they would adjust their behaviors now so the future would have little chance of ever seeing such atrocity again.
Amazing, stark photos! You do well to convey such a powerful experience so soon after having it. I look forward to more processed followups.
Great to meet a fellow Aussie at SteemFest.
I am looking forward to getting time to process them properly and have a good look through what was captured. It was good to meet you mate and I think we were the only two Aussies present this year. Well, and Rustle, the cockatoo. @mattclarke, I made sure that Rustle got a picture with @roelandp too but I am unsure on who's camera as it wasn't mine. keep an eye out.
"It Happened, Therefore It Can Happen Again... It Can Happen Anywhere." _ Primo Levi, Italian Jew, former prisoner of Auschwitz. ... :(((
The book and the story of Levi are really heavy, i remember when i read him at school, it was hard not to cry or to feel scared or just think " no things like these can not be true" but they are unfortunately =(
For me as well, it had been obligatory to read a lot of post-war authors, already since secondary school. And that time, sometimes I felt overwhelmed, thinking it was depressing and too tough. Now I do appreciate that experience. It shaped my consciousness, empathy and broaden my horizons. Sad but beautiful, full of passion and fight for a better life, even if tomorrow never comes.
It is up to us to ensure it won't happen again.
In our annual planning program, every year we bring a group of students to visit this extermination camp.
An experience that the students then tell and describe to their classmates.
I would like to go back with my wife and take more time to absorb it alone rather than in a larger group as I think it would give time to consider the implications more thoroughly.
Damn, what a depressing site. One would hope this would never happen again. But of course, similar things do happen :(
Unfortunately they do happen and are happening in various ways. I am unsure if we will ever truly learn but we have to try.
I think it's all depends on the current situation. And also i think we're not the right person(coz we don't know enough about this) to talk about this.
Those photograhs though kept my eyes watching. Was it snapped in the night or was it the camera background that makes it to be black
We spent the day there and the last part of the tour the sun set so it got very dark.
I was there last year and your heading is on the ball. The planning that wemt into it even from the train station. Did you notice the eeriness of the place? Chilling. But it has to be visited when in Krakow.
It was so systematic, so incredibly well thought out. So sad to understand what all of the work was geared toward.
It's on the list as I have done a few other places like Normandy and Vimy Ridge.The graveyards at Normandy were something else though. I thought Vimy was bad, but Normandy just stretches off into the distance and there are around 12 sections of those.
The map of the area was one of the most incredible things. A large and systematic approach built for efficiency. It is a peculiar feeling when attached to the purpose.
Still haven't been there, but whenever I see photos from friends and other people some dreary feeling kicks in. Your black and white style add weight on the photos as well. And the hair room cracks everybody up and I realize why, but still can't talk about it without prior experience.
Let's just hope, eve if it is a really small chance for this, that humanity learned its lesson, and we will not repeat anything like this, ever.
There are some confronting scenes there. For me, I spent my time trying to picture the stories from the past in a vain attempt to better understand. Some people never learn which is why remembering what has passed is so important in making sure we don't follow one of them into repetition.
It will change the way you see mankind
A good man will never understand or process it. Only make sure it never happens again and never forget .
On one hand I would like everyone to see the horrors, on the other to shelter them from it. I don’t know which is worse. Ain’t that the shit.
I would err on the side of understanding rather than shelter. If one can understand the capabilities for human horror, they will not want to ever play even the slightest role in it.
They do play all the time. I have seen it over and over.
That is why we have to stand up to it always and not look the other way.
Nice selection of photos...
What really got me, which I think was lost with the reverse tour was the sense of scaling up from Auschwitz to Birkenau. Very orderly as you say.
Good choice of quote to end on!
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It was the map of the area that really hit this home. The structure and scale. Humans are animals with great capabilities and sometimes we use them to prove we are just animals.
I think that in moments like those (visiting a site with so much historical and emotional weight) is when we realize the great limitations of language.
Wise words. Every person's role, thoughts and actions matter.
There will not be cruelty of this magnitude committed is there are not people willing to follow immoral orders.
Words are never enough and with these kinds of things, almost irrelevant.
It doesn't happen over night, it is a slow systematic process that if one isn't paying attention, feels natural.
See the photos and read your comment, reminded me of my great-grandfather, the achievement of fleeing Germany and I renounce his nationality. It was terrible what he lived but here in Venezuela he was free.
Now we 5 generation. We are living grotesque things because of the type of government that we currently have.
Many of us are free voices but they (the government) are looking for a way to silence us.
And the countries that could help are sold to these, for one barrels of oil, gold, coltan, aluminum and iron.
Although there is no Auschwitz here, there is something called the catacombs. That is where, they are locking up, those of us who are opposed to this government of Venezuela.
I mst visit Austwitz one day also if i will suffer a lot, it's important do not forget the dark chapters of our not to far History, i resteem this post as a memory we must not forget. Wonderful post also if it's not about an happy subject.
It is not something that should be forgotten, happy or not. Thank you for the resteem.
I'm really struggling to write about the experience myself so I'll most probably skip it altogether. You've captured the mood of the place so well - especially with the first 2 shots there.
It isn't an easy thing to write about which is why the pictures are a decent filler. I have more I will go through and process as these are essentially straight out of the camera.
Several years ago I got to visit this place. The Pictures and this great article do not give it justice. I would highly recommend anyone and everyone to go and visit this place. But when you go, be for warned that you will leave this place with a heavy heart and with many tears coming from your eyes. The horrible acts that these humans did against other humans is beyond horrible. When I was their we got to visit the gas chambers. This was a horrible walk to death that some knew and others did not know. The story goes that after they opened the doors the pile of people was piled in the middle and piled up. Cause every time the people inside thought there way to escape and to get what little fresh air that they could was to get to the opening which was located at the very top.
And then you guys should visit, the rooms where the shoes of all the people were located in. And the next room, has all of the luggages in it. On those Luggages was written the ages and sex of the people going their. I will stop cause this is bringing back many memories. I might come back and add more later on.
It is an experience that can't really be described well.
Your black and white photos of Auschwitz are amazing, @tarazkp. Somehow they express in pictures what is very difficult to express in words. I was so deeply saddened by the experience of visiting, and yet those words don’t capture my reaction to the profound human tragedy of that time, and the cruelty that human beings can perpetrate upon one another.
I’m glad I had an opportunity to meet you at Vincent’s cafe.
I don't think words or even pictures can ever capture what was experienced there. It is impossible to imagine the truth of it all.
Me too.
Oops, I am deleting this comment as I somehow posted it twice.
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