Our trip to Poland included a day trip and tour of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration camps located about an hour and a half from Krakow, Poland. We rented a car on this trip so we drove ourselves to the camp. We were shuttled between the two camps as part of the tour.
It'll be hard to put into words the feelings I had while touring Auschwitz. The horrors that people endured is incomprehensible. As much as I didn't want to be there, I did want to be there. I've tried to explain it to a few people who have said to me that they didn't think they could do it...go to a place of such tragedy. And, yes, there were moments when emotions were overwhelming and tears came to my eyes, but as I stood there taking it all in, I knew I had to be there. It was a way to show respect to all those who lost so much...generations of families that would never exist because of the atrocities of evil men and women. We saw so much, the places they lived and slept and ate, the bombed out buildings of where the exterminations occurred, the roads they walked everyday trying to work in order to survive. May we never forget.
All the photos from this trip are available here at http://aimeecunninghamphotography.zenfolio.com/auschwitz
Auschwitz Entrance...original gate.
Personal items that were taken from prisoners.
The loss of so many children...breaks my heart.
Father and son both died...whole families lost.
Crematorium
At this point we were shuttled to the Birkenau camp.
Here you can see the railway they were brought in on.
Wildflowers now grow in the fields, betting the people kept here didn't get such a treasure to view.
The world and all people need to remember this and never forget because it can happen again.
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