auschwitz tour...

[wilkesneil]

hi all, i was wondering if anyone had done this tour or knows somewhere i can book the tour through from the u.k including accomodation, flight etc... just saves me going round different routes to get it all in as knowing me i'll forget to book something.

[Andyvon]

Hi wilkesneil,

My wife and I spent a day at Auschwitz during a week we spent in Krakow in 2007. We booked the tour through a day trip office in the city centre. Auschwitz is about 40 miles from Krakow and the drive takes about an hour by coach.

The tour spends the morning in Auschwitz I which was originally a Polish Army barracks. After the German and Soviet invasion the Germans converted the barracks into the first concentration camp in that area of Poland. Auschwitz I was the main reception camp and HQ for the Auschwitz complex which eventually consisted of 49 other camps. It's where all prisoners were received and processed before being allocated to otherr camps and factories. Auschwitz I contains 33 barracks, each of which has a different function such as camp hospital, prison block, museums to different groups of inmates etc. Some are museums to Jews from various parts of Europe, some contain possessions such as mountains of suitcases, tens of thousands of shoes and boots, 9 tonnes of personal brushes, tonnes of childrens' clothes, 7 tonnes of hair etc.

The tour then spends the afternoon in Auschwitz II which is also called Birkenau. That's the extermination centre where the gas chambers were. It's also where the trains entered the camp directly after 1943 and where the Selection Ramp is. The ramp is quiet now, but it's eerie to walk it's length remembering the photographs of the trains emptying and the selections being made - left to work and life, right to the gas chambers.

We had a middle-aged Polish lady as a guide and she had lost most of her family during the war. You can tour the two camps by yourself if you want. They are free to enter, but they are huge and you won't see too much unless you discover the key features. Due to the size of the two camps the guided tour is very rushed with hardly any time even to slow down for photographs. All the tour groups are marched around, but they do cover the m

[Andyvon]

That's cut off!

I finished by saying that the tour groups do cover the key features in the limited time of one day.

We booked in Krakow but I'm sure you could book on-line with the same tour offices before you go. The cost was about £15 each I think.

[AlBags]

Hi
Well worth a visit! A bit depressing, but fascinating at the same time .. and important history.
Don't leave Krakow without a visit to what I think should be regarded as one of the wonders of the world ... The Salt Mines East of Krakow (Wieliczka)
Spend afternoon there and take the FULL English tour.
http://en.wikipedia.o...i/Wieliczka_Salt_Mine

[smurfchops]

I hear it is very sad, take some hankies. And apparently there are no birds or animals there, very quiet.

[Andyvon]

I'm didn't find it sad so much as shocking smurfchops. I suppose because I didn't lose any members of my family and I've seen the stock photos and films many times over the years.

Block 11 - the camp's punishment block was a shocking place to visit. There's a series of standing cells where prisoners under punishment had to go every night after work in the camp. Each cell was about 3 feet square and 7 feet high with a small locking door at the bottom. Each cell took four prisoners who were locked in every night for a week or so, then let out each morning to work. There were suffocation cells which had airtight shutters over the windows which could be closed to varying degrees, as well as starvation cells which were only opened once a prisoner had died.

Seeing seven tonnes of hair was shocking too. Each prisoner had their head shaved upon arrival, or after gassing, and I particularly remember noticing a little girl's golden pony tails with red ribbons still attached. Nine tonnes of personal brushes (toothbrushes, clothes, shoe, hair brushes etc) makes quite a sight, as do all the spectacles. It's also shocking to see displays of how human hair was used to weave carpets, upholstery and military uniforms.

One photograph I particularly remember is a huge blown-up picture mounted outside Gas Chamber No. 3. It was taken in 1943 and shows dozens of mothers sitting in the long grass laughing and chatting on a sunny day. Dozens of their small children are playing in the sun nearby and they all think they are waiting to have showers. The picture was taken on that spot, but they were actually waiting for the gas chamber to be emptied after the previous gassing. The caption says everyone in the picture was dead within an hour.

I've seen many of the photos and films over the years but it's sobering to stand in those very locations in the barrack blocks with their 3-tier bunks which are empty now and recall seeing the pictu

[slinkycat]

Hi, there is really no need to book a tour. We stayed in Krakow for a week last November and wanted to visit Auschwitz. There are loads of touts at the train station selling tours, but their prices are very high compared to doing it yourself.
We got on a train in Krakow ( Polish public transport is very cheap and reliable, though the trains can be very slow) which takes you to the town of Oswiecem, the main camp is about a 15 minute walk from there.
Be warned it is very busy, with lots of tour groups being led round, and I'm sure they are very informative, but I personally felt that going at your own pace, with time to reflect, was better.
We took a taxi from there to Birkenau, again very reasonable, that place is eerie, there was a group of Israeli schoolkids there which made it even more poignant.
Its something that I will never forget.
On a lighter note, agree with Albags about the saltmines, the ride back up to the surface in a miners cage was an experience!
Also try to visit Zakopane, couple of hours by coach from Krakow, again don't book a tour, just go to the coach station, its about a quarter of the price.

[slinkycat]

andy, that hair haunted my thoughts for weeks afterwards:-(

[Andyvon]

It's haunted me ever since then Slinkycat! I keep thinking "What was that girl's name?" It's likely her name's lost forever. What I realised whenever I was looking at a toothbrush or a pair of glasses was that that particular item was probably the only tangible proof the anonymous owner ever existed. That disturbed me (if that's the correct term - I think you know what I mean).

[slinkycat]

The glasses got to me too, such personal items, made strangely impersonal by the sheer amount of them, but at the same time I wondered about each person who once wore them, imagined them cleaning them and putting them back on....waffling now, but I'm sure anyone who's been knows what I mean.

[wilkesneil]

cheers guys, so i'll just book a weekend to krakow and sort it from there.
i just like the war for some reason, and due to the history behind this place i see it as a must visit. i also know there are no flowers growing as there is too much bone in the ground.
i think my girlfriend is a bit weary of going, she doesn't even know what auschwitz is...lol.

A1 - i was thinking of doing the saltmines too as i'm told its the only 2 places worth seeing.

thanks guys

[dawndevil]

Hi I visited Krakow for 1 week in september this year, i stayed at the Hotel Atrium, i booked our airport transfers and trip to auschwitz with krakowshuttle http://www.krakowshuttle.com/ for auschwitz they pick you up from your hotel, you get to watch a video on the bus about Auschwitz, they also do the trips to the salt mine, although i found it cheaper to book this when i got to krakow at a tourist place
visit Wawel castle on a monday and it is free! You might like to visit oscar schindlers enamel factory although make sure you check the opening times, near by is ghetto heroes square you find tips on www.tripadvisor.co.uk and www.virtualtourist.com Plenty to see and do Enjoy!

[wilkesneil]

thank you dawn.
i can't wait to go and see it in person, don't think tv documentaries will do it justice.

[AlBags]

Nice restaurants in Cracow main square .. Nice Mexican there somewhere.
Nice Kebab quarter too .. proper .. real kebabs .. just along side streets near the Square.

[Raleigh]

Andyvon : It is very sad that so many were killed there and their names vanished like they did. There is a Jewish organisation that is trying to collect and record the names of all the six million Jews who were murdered in such camps. Then they ask for another Jewish person to 'adopt' and remember one person and say a prayer on memorial days. In this way they are remembered as a human being - not a number.

[dawndevil]

Seeing all the prisoners photos on the walls and the dates they were born, arrived in the camp and died was very sad. Hard to take in all the rooms with lots of belongings in them, it is the rooms with the human hair that will no doubt stick in your mind. The stones on the memorial at Birkenau are instead of flowers polish people believe in leaving them on gravestones instead of flowers because they last longer
let us know what you thought when you get back our tour guide was very good he is a very tall man who walks about with an umbrella, he old us he was a teacher but became a tour guide as it was much better paid. Wear comfy shoes lots of walking