A question for anyone who’s been to Auschwitz

[AI41]

Are you pleased you went, or do you regret going?

We’re going to Krakow on Boxing Day for a few days, and inevitably will need to discuss whether to visit Auschwitz. I’m going with two friends and obviously they can make their own decision. One of my friends is very interested in the war so I suspect he will want to go.

I was once told by someone who visited in the 80s that he regretted going because the horror has never left him. I am erring towards not going. But other people who’ve visited said to go and they don’t regret it at all.

I think lots of people believe that the UK entered WWII due to the Holocaust, and often don’t realise that people were protesting Jewish people finding refuge here.

Thank you. My friends won’t care though, there’s no pressure. If they go to Auschwitz I think I’ll try and visit Schindler’s factory or another museum.

There is or was an art exhibition (of the art created by the prisoners at Auschwitz as well. Some of it was “official” and documented life in the camps, other pieces were contraband and hidden. I saw it in 2017. Very moving, but very sad. Not sure if it’s open to the public though.

I've been twice. Definitely don't regret going and I never found it horrifying. I'm really stoic though.

I went about 15 years ago as part of a group tour to Poland with a survivor. For me personally, I knew the facts of what happened there before going but going and hearing about it there brought me a far deeper sense of the magnitude that I would never have gained through books, talks, films etc.

That doesn't mean that I would say anyone else should do it - I think that is personal choice, perhaps, if the opportunity to do the trip with a survivor hadn't arisen I may not have gone. It felt really important for me to go on that particular trip and I am really glad that I did. I didn't experience any disrespectful behaviour or people acting like tourists,

Birkenau was somber, bleak and vast but also more familiar from films and documentaries

I had nightmares every now and again for several months afterwards about Auschwitz 1 and block 11 in particular - the standing cells. I wouldn't say I was traumatised - it was the processing that went on after being confronted so directly.

I would say that Schindler's enamel factory is along the same lines of being a question of whether you go to it or not - I did and am glad I did but there were a couple of things on exhibition there that I cannot now 'unsee'.

If you are going to Krakow to enjoy the city and actually want to be on holiday in a beautiful place then I don't think you should feel obliged to visit. I went there in order to visit - as an educational trip I suppose you could say.

@BIWI "I haven't been to Auschwitz, but I have been to Dachau. I would have been about 11. It made a huge impression on me, and really brought home what it must have been like for prisoners of war."

They were not prisoners of war. It was a concentration camp to hold Jews, Roma, gay people, clergy and those with religious conviction and anyone who opposed Hitler in any form. It was built in 1933, seven years before the war. At least 40,000 people died there of disease, starvation, brutality and murder.

Yes @ginasevern if you'd read the whole thread you'd see that I've already been corrected for that mistake.

Ah, didn't see your comment! I also thought it was very worth pointing out. Great minds obviously think alike.

If you do or don't go to Auschwitz, do go to the Salt Mines. My son wouldn't go to either and then regretted not going to the Mine.

Definitely going to the mines and to the pools and for plenty of food and drink.

I went last year. I think it’s important to be a witness. Our guide shared facts I hadn’t really considered before, like the way the Nazis took care to destroy Polands people in a very systematic way. And one which has meant Poland has never recovered from WW2, and never will.
Seeing the proximity of the rail platforms to the gas chamber complex was something that has not left me either.
its a personal choice, but Aushwitz Birkenau was a visit I am glad I made. I have visited Yad Vashem but there is a difference between a museum and seeing a place in situ.

Completely agree.

I imagine that would be incredibly moving

We had a similar experience. We went in winter and it was a good 5 degrees colder there than everywhere else we went. It was bone chillingly cold even with full winter clothing.

All I could think about was how awful it would be in those conditions for those who suffered there.

It's really sad and not a pleasant experience but I really think it's important to see places like this to make us think before going down the same path again in future.

I see. I was a bit confused because I hadn't heard it was especially expensive and also it's open to everyone. I definitely think that people whose mental health can take it are fortunate, absolutely.

I was just about to say "don't miss the salt mine" !

Yad Vashem broke me more...the room where there is always a volunteer reading the holocaust victims names cut me deeply. It personalised the horror and left me with tears streaming down my face.

I haven't visited any of the camps and have had reservations about tourism there.
However, given the persistence of Holocaust denial, then their existence and the need for continued re-inforcement of the facts and reality is vitally important, even if some utter gits don't know how to behave.

Op I went to the Russian occupation museum in Talin on a fun holiday and it totally killed the mood. When we went to krakow for a similar holiday I expressed my opinion not to go and it was the right decision.

I would like to visit Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam. Who here has been to that? Is it worth it?

Speaking of Anne and the things we are discussing here, I'd highly recommend the book My Friend Anne Frank by Hannah Pick-Goslar, a close childhood friend of Anne's. It's not a great title; I was expecting it to be a puff piece in book length. But it's quite the opposite: the author is highly intelligent and does a great job of reporting the social history of Anne Frank's time. She gives a lot of context. Great read.

Luckily, Holocaust deniers are pretty fringe, I think. I hope. It probably seems more because they're reported on.

I wonder how it works if they are taken somewhere like Auschwitz. Do they think that the authorities built this enormous place to fool people, or something??

My adopted DD1 (17) has wanted to go for some time and we have agreed and said we would take her when she was 18, which will happen in March next year. I’ve had reservations about it, so this is a helpful thread for me, reading posts from people who have actually been there.

DD1 has autism and FASD, so she is vulnerable, but she’s also very matter of fact and doesn’t show much empathy. But she also very young for her age, emotionally.

Ive been to Krakow three times now and I will never go to Auschwitz/ Birkenau

Im old so its too close for me.

However we did walk around the Krakow camp - the one that is shown in Schindlers List. . It's a memoral site now, no tours. find your own way, read the boards , read the land. For me it was enough I paid my respects . I thought on and cried over the horrors

Dont go if its a tick on a tic tok list Poland and Krakow is so much more

TBH, I learned so much more then I already knew by going tp Schindlers Factory > Nothing to do with Schindler , but the history or the war in Poland

It’s nothing to do with TikTok. I’m not on TikTok. Strange comment.

She's saying it's a thing