Stewart Bicker
Learning about pre-war Jewish life in the orientation seminar aimed to humanise Jewish citizens and eliminate the factor of making victims numbers and statistics. It gave me just a taste of what it was like as an individual in the camp and what I was about to encounter in Oswiecim. It gave me an understanding that these were just normal people going about their daily lives and, in some cases, no different than anyone else prior to the war. It makes me, and no doubt others, wonder how this was allowed to happen. This is a question that will stay with me, truly, for the rest of my life.
During the tour of Birkenau we visited the Sauna building which included an exhibition of photographs, photographs which had been brought their by those transported to the camp. This memorial related back to the humanisation of the victims. Every single photograph had a story behind it; everyone had been a victim in the Holocaust. In most of them you could not recognise if they were Jewish, but somehow their religion was just enough to single them out for persecution.
Jennifer Lyon
Even almost 60 years after liberation the infamous concentration camp, Auschwitz still remains a devastating place to visit. Like myself, you may have read about or seen the photographs of Auschwitz, you may feel you know about the situation but until you have visited the camp and seen the remains of the 'houses' and gas chambers, you will never have the slightest idea of how horrifying Auschwitz actually was. We were told at our first seminar that 'seeing is believing' which I can now confirm is definitely the case.
Although Auschwitz 1 shocked me, I think Auschwitz-Birkenau was more devastating. From ground level the camp looked massive. However, from the watch tower it was surprising to see the enormity of the camp, which are now mainly ruins. We visited one stable, which still held the three tier bunk beds in which the prisoners slept. It was unbelievable to image how as much as 500 people could fit and live in small building which was poorly equipped. A large photograph was displayed by the ruined gas chamber, showing people awaiting their entry. The picture did not display a fear, evil or badness, simply as groups of people sitting in the forest with their families. The picture could be assumed to be from a picnic with friends as everyone looked content and relaxed. It was so difficult to comprehend that within those old, broken walls, millions of innocent people tragically drowned in a sea of deadly Zyklon B gas, I didn't and still can't understand why these people were killed or targeted, and how anyone could send people to these death traps. The people who were responsible for this were human beings, like us, yet they could take part in a plan so evil. I wonder did these people think it was right.
Perhaps after reading this brief testimony you may think twice before discriminating against another group, whether it be related to race, religion or sexuality. That was exactly how the Holocaust began. Hatred of any group for no apparent reason, only because they are not the same as yourself. Is it really worth it?