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Somewhere everyone should go- Auschwitz

Discussion in 'Other Off Topic Forum' started by TimN88, Oct 11, 2004.

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  1. TimN88

    TimN88 F1 Veteran

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    #1 TimN88, Oct 11, 2004
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    While in Poland I decided to make the trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau. I think its a place that everyone should go to at some point in their lives considering it was a place where 1.5 million people were murdered during the 40's.
    The first picture is the gate to Auschwitz. This camp was not how I expected it to be (I expected it to be like Schindlers list, which was filmed at Birkenau). It was a series of three story brick buildings, several of which had been converted into museums with displays inside. In the back of the camp there was a gas chamber and a crematorium which was reconstructed with parts that were found.
    Birkenau on the other hand was exactly as i expected it to appear. There were foundations and chimenys as far as the eye could see which were the sites of former wooden barracks. I highly recommend the guided tour, which takes about 3 1/2 hours. After the tour we simply walked around for a while, which was a sombering experience because in front of several small ponds there are memorials that inform you that ashes of millions of people were dumped there. One other thing that felt strange was you would see sign with a picture of an area with attrocities going on. the sign was right infront of what you see inthe picture but now all that exists is a grassy field.
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  2. TimN88

    TimN88 F1 Veteran

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    #2 TimN88, Oct 11, 2004
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  3. Varenne

    Varenne Formula Junior

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    #3 Varenne, Oct 11, 2004
    Tim,

    Nice shots - from a photographic standpoint. You've done a good job of capturing the solemnity of this place.

    Years ago I spent some time at Dachau, so I have a point of reference to a somewhat similar place from that terrible past.

    Anyone who has ever visited any of these camps will never, ever forget.
     
  4. BWS550

    BWS550 Wants to be a mod

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    #4 BWS550, Oct 11, 2004
    NOT SPEAKING BECAUSE I AM A JEW AND KILLED 6 MILLION OF MY FELLOW TRIBESMAN...BUT IF YOU DIDNT HAVE BLOND HAIR AND BLUE EYES, OTHERS ALSO SUFFERED TOO..

    NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN...........................
     
  5. DrStranglove

    DrStranglove FChat Assassin
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    #5 DrStranglove, Oct 11, 2004
    Bruce, I did not understand that. Could you expand?
     
  6. BWS550

    BWS550 Wants to be a mod

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    #6 BWS550, Oct 11, 2004

    SURE...BLUE EYES AND BLONDE HAIR ARE A TRADEMARK OF GERMANS..

    IF YOU DIDNT LOOK LIKE THAT..YOU WERE ASSUMED NOT TO BE GERMAN, AND THEY DID WHAT THEY DID....
     
  7. matteo

    matteo F1 World Champ

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    #7 matteo, Oct 11, 2004
    Tim,

    Thank you for sharing your pictures. They serve as a strong reminder.
     
  8. AntonyR

    AntonyR F1 Veteran

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    #8 AntonyR, Oct 11, 2004
    Has anyone been to the Holocust muesem in Washington DC?

    I was facinated by the Nazi and what they did to those innocent people.
    To think some people are in denial that it ever happened. F-ing idiots

    Antony
     
  9. SrfCity

    SrfCity F1 World Champ

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    #9 SrfCity, Oct 11, 2004
    Atrocities in any era are tragic and represent the darker side of human existence. Obviously this one highlights some of the worst. Thanks for sharing the pics.
     
  10. AR!

    AR! Formula Junior

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    #10 AR!, Oct 11, 2004
    I intend to go there with my kids when they are older.

    Among others I would like to tell them three things:

    - It wasn´t just Hitler and a handful of his cronies that did all this to other humans. There where tenthousands of helpers.
    - There have been other atrocities in the history of mankind. But never before fell a country with a high rate of literacy that even was a democracy before back to such a barbaric state.
    - None of their family was involved in those crimes. In fact, even back to their great-great-grandfather noone was even involved in combat actions, but their great-grandfather died because of the Nazis. But none of those who survived where involved in the active resistance against the Nazis either.

    I will teach them to pray and cry for those who were killed.

    I will teach them to recognize the shadow of Auschwitz even in our times (and I have seen it often, lately).

    Looking back at what happened in WW II I will tell them a couple of other things, too, but being German I will refrain from bringing up those topics in this thread.
     
  11. RacerX_GTO

    RacerX_GTO F1 World Champ
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    #11 RacerX_GTO, Oct 11, 2004
    The sign at the gate : Abreit Macht Frei "Work makes one free"

    was that nazi sick humor or what?
     
  12. RacerX_GTO

    RacerX_GTO F1 World Champ
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    #12 RacerX_GTO, Oct 11, 2004
    Picture in 1941
     
  13. coolestkidever

    coolestkidever F1 Veteran

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    #13 coolestkidever, Oct 11, 2004
    Im hoping that my school takes the trip to Germany this year b/c some of the camps are part of the trip. Its one thing to read books about the attrocitites that went on there, but i think it will be better for myself to experience it first hand. Another thing on my to do list before i die. Brings the list up to 5.

    And the autobahn is in Germany as well :D.
     
  14. coolestkidever

    coolestkidever F1 Veteran

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    #14 coolestkidever, Oct 11, 2004
    the novel Night, i think gives the best description of Auschwitz. I think thats the opening line of the book as well. So sad.
     
  15. Sfumato

    Sfumato F1 World Champ

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    #15 Sfumato, Oct 11, 2004
    Remember before you compare anything to Hitler or a Nazi, please? And Bruce is correct, it isn't just Jews that were killed. May they all rest in peace.
     
  16. TexasF355F1

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    #16 TexasF355F1, Oct 11, 2004
    How sad that something has happened like what happened during the Nazi reign. I would definately like to visit Auschwitz someday. It would have been great to visit when I was a kid.
     
  17. TimN88

    TimN88 F1 Veteran

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    #17 TimN88, Oct 11, 2004
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    Racer X- that picture is like many i have seen at the camps themselves. Its very eire to see the pictures while you are at the actual place. Its strangely calm and quiet- if it were any other field you would think it was peaceful.
    AR- Youre post rasies the question of wether those who helped (im talking about the low ranking people) were just following orders so they themselves werent killed or whether they actually believed in what they were doing. I think that some of them definately didnt believe in what they were doing, which is why gas was used. The tour guide said that many of the SS were unable to shoot pregnant women and babies- only a really evil person could. It was easier and cheaper to use gas chambers, which btw, i did not like visiting. The ones at Birkenau had been blown up but the one at Auschwitz had not. I swear i saw what must have been scratch marks from fingernails on the wall.
    Below are some other pictures from Block 11 at Auschwitz- the prison block. One of the cells is where a priest who offered himself to be sentenced to death by starvation as a result of collective responsibility for an escaped prisoner ended up. He gave himself up to save another prisoner, a sort of inspiring , however tragic, story.
    The last pciture i took was taken in a forest from behind the ruins of the gas chambers and memorial. It was too quiet. I couldnt help but wonder what it looked like in 1945 when the trees were probably half the size.
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  18. TimN88

    TimN88 F1 Veteran

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    #18 TimN88, Oct 11, 2004
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  19. TimN88

    TimN88 F1 Veteran

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    #19 TimN88, Oct 11, 2004
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    They also had prisoners who were kept healthy playing soccer and other games in a field which bordered what was called the road of death, which was the road one walked down if sent to the left during selection. Im pretty sure i have a picture of that field.
    Ok, i do have a picture of said field. Its the 2nd one. The first one is self explanitory. In the 3rd picture you can see the same tower in the first picture 60 years later (in 1944 the SS were allowed to take 200 photos)
    tomorrow i will post some other pictures of Poland that arent somber (Its 12:30am here and im going to bed). I already posted a few in the daily random pictures thread.
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  20. tbakowsky

    tbakowsky F1 World Champ
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    #20 tbakowsky, Oct 11, 2004
    I have tears...
     
  21. Z0RR0

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    #21 Z0RR0, Oct 11, 2004
    I was about to make a couple sick and twisted jokes, but will not ... I'd get banned!!
    Funny how I am not fascinated by "how and where" the nazis did their crazy and disgusting job ... but more "why, and why did millions follow that crazy bastard of Adolf".
    Still is very interesting and I think very important to understand whatever happened there ... so as not to let it happen again.
     
  22. ralfabco

    ralfabco Two Time F1 World Champ
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    #22 ralfabco, Oct 11, 2004
    I suppose there are no words to speak.


    I was at Mauthausen, Austria in 1981. (The Camp name may be spelled incorrectly). I was supposed to go with a group of Jewish teenagers, to tour Auschwitz in 1981. 1981 was the birth of Solidarity in Poland.


    However there are better Jewish Museums to visit. Try visiting the Israeli Air Force Museum in Beersheva, Israel. - That place is uplifting !!!
     
  23. sjb509

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    #23 sjb509, Oct 11, 2004
    Eisenhower upon seeing the camps called for film crews to document the bodies stacked like cord wood, the walking skeletons, the furnaces...

    That was Ohrdruf, which was examined on the day FDR died, so it was not exactly the top story that day. In a letter to George Marshall:
    "I have never felt able to describe my emotional reaction when I first came face to face with indisputable evidence of Nazi brutality and ruthless disregard of every shred of decency. I visited every nook and cranny of the camps because I felt it my duty to be in a position from then on to testify at first hand about these things in case there ever grew up at home the belief or assumption that the stories of Nazi brutality were just propaganda."
     
  24. Andreanna

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    #24 Andreanna, Oct 11, 2004
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    WHAT ABOUT YAD VISHEM (SP) ANOTHER TEAR JERKING PLACE TO VISIT IN ISRAEL..
     
  25. 134282

    134282 Four Time F1 World Champ
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    #25 134282, Oct 11, 2004
    Bruce is right, that's no stereotype; the nazis left you alone if you had blonde hair and blue eyes... That was no secret... Dr. Stranglove, it's not a jab against you or anything, but if you were alive, in Germany or in Poland or wherever else in Europe, during WWII, they would've left you alone because you have blonde hair and blue eyes and that combination was thought to be a very German trait.

    If you go to the Holocaust Memorial Museum in D.C., they ask you if you'd like to be interviewed by phone after you visit... If yes, they take your information and they call you several months later... They let several months lapse before they contact you so you've had a chance to soak everything in... Unfortunately, it seems that those doing the telephone interviews have never been to the Memorial... It's a lengthy phone conversation and the person on the other end of the phone types in your answers to each question... They ask you what you remembered, they also name specific things and ask you if you remember those...

    i've never been but i hope to one day go. The only other representation of acknowledgement and history record i've ever seen of the holocaust, was in Boston...
     
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