Through the Barbed Wire Window of the Gas Chamber

The barbed wire window to the gas chamber at Auschwitz.

The descendants: the robust Jewish people today

We had the opportunity to walk inside the gas chamber and while I was observing the remains inside I saw people become very emotional and they leaned on their fellow family, friends, or even strangers.  As difficult as it was to go into the chamber to further comprehend what our ancestors had gone through, the community inside supporting one another and crying was in some way beautiful.  We were united as one peoplehood in a place where our ancestors had perished.  The experience of being interconnected with many generations inside the gas chamber will definitely be a feeling to remember for a lifetime. Standing beside a Holocaust survivor who survived Auschwitz definitely added to the experience as well. If our ancestors ever had any doubt during the Holocaust that the Jewish race would be annihilated, standing upright at Auschwitz and all the other camps was proof that we are a heritage alive and well to this day.

While walking out of the gas chamber, I noticed a barbed wire window.  Something intrinsically special drew me to that window but I could not make out the significance.  Suddenly, the subtle reflection I saw of myself in the window was overcome by my eyes being drawn through the barbed wire to the outside.  Outside I saw people smiling and talking to their relations.  It was then that I realized that our ancestors would be proud of the Jewish community we have created for ourselves and the traditions that we have preserved in spite of the atrocities they endured.  I at this point considered myself to be the silent victim inside the confines of the gas chamber, looking out to a hopeful recovery for the Jewish people.  I felt like a victim, but a proud victim at ease.  It was through this metaphor that I then thought and hoped that the Holocaust victims had found some eternal connection and meaning before they perished whether it was praying silently to themselves or holding onto others.

The gas chamber and crematoria from the outside at Auschwitz

In the gas chamber-- before the crematoria: fingernail scrape indentations

Memorial for all those who lost their lives in the gas chamber

The hole in the ceiling where the gas came out from

The ovens--Yes, victims were manually put in here to become cremated

What feelings build up inside of you when you see these pictures?  Out of the four concentration camps I visited, Auschwitz was the second most well-preserved aside from Majdanek.