My visit to Auschwitz had a creepier feel than most, but not for reasons you might expect. Madonna was in Poland to perform a concert, and she told the Polish press that she intended to visit Auschwitz the next day. Thanks Madge. If there's one thing Auschwitz lacked, it was fans and paparazzi waiting at the gate. Fortunately the Material Girl did not show up.
So why visit Auschwitz? For starters, if we don't remember the past, history is bound to repeat itself. In fact, this very spot represents one of the darkest blotches in world history, something that will still be discussed millennia from now. It is a somber place, no doubt, but it's a place of such historical significance that I personally could not skip a visit. As expected, my heart broke for the Jewish people and all the others who were affected by this moral black hole.
The infamous concentration camp is well outside the city of Krakow, so you have to buy a ticket ahead of time for an English-speaking tour leaving just north of the city square. There are usually two tours, one in the late morning and one in the afternoon, to take you to the camp by bus. Because there are large groups, the tour provides headsets to hear the tour guide as she calmly dictates the list of atrocities that took place in each part of the camp. Our guide seemed almost detached as if recounting these horrors twice a day had worn on her.
The most shocking aspect of Auschwitz is the sheer size. It's simply enormous, and the tour guide informs us that even a complex this large wasn't big enough to house all the people taken here. While they showed the cramped quarter and torture rooms, you also see how difficult it must have been day by day just dealing with horrible smells, disease and insects. It's hard to imagine such a place ever existed, which is why it's important that Auschwitz offers these tours to make sure such a place never exists again.
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