Krakow

One of the most humbling experiences I've had on this trip came a couple of weeks back when Bree, Chase, Bailey and I decided to spend our free weekend in Krakow visiting a couple of very historical places: Auschwitz and Schindler's Factory.

Learning about the Holocaust and World War II in the place where so many horrible things occurred was striking to the core. On our tour of Auschwitz, we saw the camp so many Jews, gypsies, and "outcasts" were tortured, made to be slaves in a society that simply didn't accept them for one thing or another. The glass cases that stood in rooms that had, at one time, been used for accommodations held vast quantities of the belongings of those who never made it out alive. We stood inside a gas chamber where thousands too many had been murdered for no more than being themselves. It was an impossibly difficult experience, and to put into words what standing in the footsteps of so many before me who had marched unknowingly to their deaths was heartbreaking. Even now as I'm writing this trying to wrap my head around how anyone could have let this happen is absolutely shocking. At the end of the tour, the guide shared something with us that she said her mother had told her since she was young: never forget what happened to these people or we risk repeating the past. I think that statement is very important to remember, and my visit to Auschwitz is certainly one I will never forget.

The next morning, we made our way over to Schindler's Factory, which I can now safely say was one of the most incredible museums I have ever encountered. Upon entering, we had the ability to watch a film about some of the people who had worked for Schindler and their experiences in the factory. When the video concluded, we began our trek back in time. The path the museum took us through was a walk through history of sorts, from before the Holocaust and World War II and through til the end. I read letters, journal entries, all sorts of information regarding fear as human beings were ripped from their homes, gazed in horror at photographs where Nazi men stood smiling as men and women were killed in the background. These inhumane acts, captured in words and in images, have stuck with me, and I can't say would be easy to forget, but just as before, I think it pays to remember. No man, woman, or child should ever have to go through what these people experienced, and it's shocking to believe that humanity can fall so far to it's knees to have behaved as the Nazis did. There truly are no words.

I had purchased a book at Auschwitz that I had intended on reading to further my knowledge on this topic, but unfortunately must have left it at our Airbnb. As soon as I return home, I intend on purchasing the same book, and possibly others, to further my knowledge and further deepen my understanding of this infamous period in history. Hopefully nothing like this will ever happen again.