"If you forget, then the spirits of these people die again"

It was a hard trip to go on

but one I'll never forget

At the end of the last school year I was given a letter which in retrospect changed my life. It was titled 

"2011 Trip to Krakow" For those of you who don't know Krakow is the former capital of Poland and one of the closest towns to Auschwitz : The Nazi concentration and death camps. 

I left on Monday at 1:30 in the morning with a group of year 13 and 12 from my school. None of us really knew what to expect. Personally I expected tears, sorrow and most of all a very sad trip but the trip as a whole was the opposite of that, I know it may be hard to believe but visiting Krakow was great fun and full of laughter more than anything else. I should probably point out that Krakow as a town is barely associated with the camps. Yes it's the nearest place to stay but it has a history of it's own and we spent a lot of time getting to know the market square, the freezing cold and the history behind the town (along with our tour guide's nasal hair and boogers) 

The Church In Market Square

 Krakow as a town is stunning, we visited when everything was sprinkled in snow and despite the -15 temperatures snow constantly fell from the sky. Although it looked more like glitter than snow! 

On our first day our guide took us on a tour of the city, which was supposed to be a 4 hour walking tour, she told us marvelous fairytale stories of an Italian Princess who married the Prince/King in Krakow and brought with her exotic veggie-tables (that's how it was said much to our amusement) and a tale of a Dragon which was to be killed and now to remember this tale stands a proud fire breathing statue. We also encountered the very alien concept of having to pay to take photos... and the idea that 35 zloties was only about £7!!!! Bargains all around! 

That evening we stepped out of the cold and into a traditional restaurant, complete with a log fire and fur benches which advertised "Goulash" a very interesting dish made of soup, not in a bowl but in a pot made from bread!!!

Goulash!

The evening then consisted of us all getting into our "onesies" a great thing I fear I will never regret buying. Warm, comfy, made me feel like a baby again. Heaven in a sack basically! 

We gathered on the landing outside everyone's rooms where we chatted for a little while before deciding a group game was in order. Little did us unsuspecting year 12's know we would be subjected to a violent and compromising game which left us addicted. Yes for those of you who are reading this and know what i'm talking about I mean Ninja Slap. 

Ninja Slap is a great game where you stand in a tight circle placing your hands in the middle before jumping back shouting 

"OHHHHH NINJA"

Then you go around the circle making one move in which you have to slap someone's hand, if both your hands get slapped, you're out. Simple as that. Only the positions we found ourselves in weren't so simple... We had people on one leg, rolling on the floor, looking like they were about to propose and just standing casually around looking completely lost (I was probably the last one!) 

However that night wasn't all fun and games considering in a matter of hours we would be visiting Auschwitz and  Birkenau. 

That evening passed quickly and before we knew what was happening we were on the coach watching, or in some cases sleeping though, a video on what we were about to see. 

No words can describe the camps. During those few hours spent there I felt such raw and intense emotions nothing can compare, we were told taking photo's was aloud and that evening we discussed how it felt to take photos in a place where so many people had died. 

Personally I felt horrible, I had to force myself into taking the photos as I knew deep down that I would want evidence to come home and show people just how horrible it was, I knew that I wouldn't be able to find the right words as I so often can in other situations. 

We first went to Auschwitz, walking through the in-famous arch with the words "Arbeit macht Frei"

translating to "Work makes free" we all knew that hundreds had passed though these gates never to walk out of the other side. Where as we, a group of 16 - 18 year olds would be able to walk away back to our lives, back to our families and friends and if we chose we would never have to think about the camp again, none of us would choose that. 

No-one can really explain the size of the camp other than to say the large brick buildings towered above us as we walked through the cold and into the exhibitions showing us hair, shoes, glasses, things that we all know. Common objects which we all had or had seen within the last few moments before entering, only these objects weren't common. These were the items taken by the Nazi's after gassing the Jews. 

One of the girls on the trip, Georgia, later told me that the worst bit about the room filled with hair was it all looked the same except one bright blonde piece, this is an image she will never forget. 

Even on the last day of our trip people were still saying: 

"how much hair was there?" 

"Two tones" 

"how much did they say there was before?"

"seven tones" 

"how much was burnt or sold?"

"we don't know"

I heard this conversation at least five time son the trip and it goes to show that the numbers and the figures were so hard to comprihend, that we could never imagine just how many people were there. However where as we would not understand the numbers the Nazi's saw only numbers. Not humans, not people with blood and a family and a life, they saw them as either "useful "or "useless" one simple gesture send hundreds to either a quick death straight away or the long agonizing struggle in the camp. 

I guess you will have noticed I haven't put any picture's on here yet and that's because I don't know how. I don't know as of yet which of my photo's show best the horror or show you how hard it was walking through the camp. However I can tell you one thing, writing this blog is the hardest thing I've had to do, I want to tell you about it. I want to stop it happening again, to encourage you to go to the camps and see the site for yourself. To go and walk through the gate of Birkenaeu and feel the temperature drop even though you know it's impossible. To walk into the gas chamber and see the scratch marks from the nails of suffocating people.

But I can't type the words which would tell you all of this in a way you could understand. Maybe from what I've already said you'll understand. Maybe not. If you ever get the opportunity to go to Poland and visit the camps then please do, but don't go lightheartedly. Think about what you're going to see and genuinely want to see it, no not to see it, to experience it. Because the concentration and death camps are not  just a matter of seeing it's a matter of feeling and experiencing everything a little bit of what happened. 

So blog readers for now I need to leave you with what I've already said, because I don't think I can say anything more about the second camp: Birkenau, at least not yet. 

So keep safe my readers and remember that we went there out of choice, others weren't so lucky. 

xox

HarrietCorey. 

Ps. I will make another post about the rest of the trip but not yet :)