"each rock represents one person that died"

Only when we remember
Do we learn something new

Afternoon blog readers! I'm sorry I couldn't finish the earlier post with as much gusto and enthusiasm as it needs, but I was in desperate need of a dog walk and an awful lot of tea and reflection before coming back to the computer and trying to find words. 

After visiting Auschwitz we sat in a cafe outside of the camp and drank hot chocolate (as we did every other time we came in from the cold) However our break wasn't a long one as once we had finished our lunches in a box (this consisted of a cheese and lettuce sandwich, a bar of chocolate and two very hard oranges) we got back in our coach and traveled the short distance to Birkenau (otherwise known as Auschwitz 2) the second camp which was built entirely by prisoners of the camp. Why did they build a new camp? Because Auschwitz wasn't big enough for them. It took 45 hours to burn all the bodies of just one group sent to the gas chambers in Auschwitz and so the Nazi's decided they needed somewhere bigger and "better". 

And so Birkenau was created. 30 times bigger. hundreds more killed. ten times worse to visit. 

When I thought of the camps before I signed on for the trip all I knew was about Auschwitz, I hadn't heard of Birkenau, which scares me slightly because it was so much worse to think about. We thought that Auschwitz was big but it was nothing compared to Birkenau. For a start there was nothing left. 

A handful of building and miles of fencing was all you could see. Actually that isn't right, what was the scariest thing was the "forest of chimneys" all of which were once attached to a wooden bunker which housed Jewish people in tight, filthy conditions. 

Many of you will have seen the iconic image of the railway tracks running through the stone entrance and some of you may have thought how pretty something so horrible could be. I did at one point. I'm an A-Level art student and I have moments where I forget about what something is and just look at the artistic value of it. I am ashamed to admit I did this in Birkenau. However this showed me that we can go on these trips to such places, we can walk along the same path hundreds walked to their death and still we can think of trivial and human things like "I'm hungry" and "how that would make a good photo or final piece for my art" it's a shocking realization that no-matter what we do we cannot change who we are, and although I've learnt a lot from the trip and although I have a better understanding of what happened in the camps I will still always be Harriet Corey, the school girl who loves Disney and who can go home and live her life how she wants it to be. 

You may have noticed that through all of this I have not mentioned crying at any point, that is simply because I didn't cry, not until the end. 

Right at the back of Birkenau is a stone monument made up of little stones "why?" because it is Jewish tradition that when someone dies a rock is placed on their graves to show that someone has remembered and that the deceased will never be forgotten, each indervidual stone represents one of the million who died in the death camp. However on this monument are plaques in every language you could think of which translate to: 

"Forever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity, 

where the Nazi's murdered about one and a half million

men, women, and children, mainly Jews from various countries of Europe.

Auschwitz-Birkenau 

1940 - 1945"

Our guide around the camps told us before taking us down the row of plagues all in different languages that the English translation was only put there so that we could remember and understand and that all of the other languages were spoken by people who died in the camps at the hands of the Nazi's and how English speaking people were not subjected to the gassing or hard labor in the camps. 

It was only when I stood before the plague that I felt something inside of me break and my eyes started to water. The whole time i'd spent in the camps I had started to understand, just a little, about how the millions must have felt and suddenly I realised I still had no idea, I'm English and I've always been proud of my heritage and it was only then that I realized we hadn't any idea what was happening and for a moment I felt like I shouldn't be there, stood on a stone monument dedicated to all the men, women and children. 

So I looked around at my friends, my teachers and my tour guide and I saw that I had as much right as anyone else, I don't want the holocaust to happen again, I cannot imagine anyone being bullied to the extreme like that. I cannot let it happen again and even if England wasn't subjected to the heartless cruelty we still have the right to be allowed to stand in the camps and feel sorrow for all the lives lost, related or not we are all connected and we are all part of this world and no man, woman or child should be victimized in that way. 

So readers you may ask, "what did you learn from the trip?"

My honest answer? more than I can possibly fit into words, I learnt about a time of suffering, I learnt the stories of people who lived and loved not long ago and who died because they weren't seen as "normal" by one person. More than anything I've been given a renewed sense of the value of life and I swear that I will live each of my days here on earth to the best I can and never let an opportunity pass me by, because you never know what will happen next.

Well readers there is so so much more that I could say, but for now I will leave you in peace for I have said all I can say for today but I learnt so many other things on my trip which I will surely share with you at one point or another!

Only one last thing remains for tonight and that is to say :

Thank you to everyone who went on the trip and both wonderful teachers who organised the trip. I have learnt so much and it wouldn't have been the same without any of you. 

Also blog readers a final little note, our tour guide said something which I feel I have to repeat:

"If we forget what happened to these people then each one of their spirits dies all over again" 

xox

HarrietCorey

p.s I'm copying both posts about the trip into a "page" as well as leaving them on the main blog, so that they will always be easily accessed because I really think it's important to remember.