The quote that opens my post today is from that of Robert Han Van Pelt who is Professor at the University of Toronto and the lecturer for our second Webinar. He sat down and spoke to us last night about his research on Auschwitz and what we can expect when we go to this place in May. He travels to the site at least twice a year to study the architecture and conduct his research of the extermination facilities at the camp. In 2000, he acknowledged as the leading world-expert on Auschwitz and has participated in a defence team for a civil suit against British Holocaust denier David Irving, as well as, publishing a book in 2002 entitled Holocaust: A History. (thecanadianencyclopedia.com)
During his lecture last night he discussed what we could expect to see when we visit Auschwitz, as well as, challenges he feels that we will face individually during our time at the camp. The problem we will face before we leave is all of the narratives that we will come across in readings/videos about the camp and how many refer to it as names such as, “hell on Earth, ass hole of the Earth, a place to kill Jews, etc.” The narratives about how to describe Auschwitz began development after the first forensic investigation of the place in 1945.
Today is can be called a beautiful place, especially in the summer time as there is nature and forests surrounding the camp. It is a little place surrounded by mountains and a densely populated area and will be very different from when we visit Treblinka later, which was known as, “the end of the road.”
He proceeded to explain to us what could be the best possible ways to reconnect to what happened during the war during the present time. The best time he feels to visit is early in the morning when the fog lingers; you can obtain the image you probably have set up about this place in your mind. We need to be prepared to be there with a large number of other tour groups, it will be busy, and he described that it will operate as ‘Auschwitz Land’ in a way. Auschwitz itself is a group of camps (up to 40), but only two of them are open to the public. Everything between Auschwitz and Bernkinau during the time of the war was camp. Today the area is an agricultural semi-urbanized area.
The Auschwitz you will see today will be the Auschwitz the people after the war intended it to be. When we enter through the front gate we may feel important, that we are experiencing what many of the Jews did arrive at this gate as they arrived outside of Bernkinau first (approximately 85%). We will not experience what the Jews did because we will be experiencing a memorial site, which is much different.
We discussed the various types of ‘conflict’ that still surround the camp today including religious disagreements and the Holocaust deniers.
Auschwitz is a major Polish historical site as many Polish people were murdered here and that is why is became a memorial. However, after 1978 the Catholic Church felt it necessary to grant Saint status to two of those who were imprisoned in Auschwitz, Maxilian Kolbe (Saint of Auschwitz) and Edith Stein (Martyr of Auschwitz). Kolbe was a Polish priest who died as prisoner number 16770 on August 14th, 1941 when a prisoner escaped form the came and the Nazis selected 10 others to be killed by starvation in punishment for the escape. When one of the individuals selected to die (Franciszek Gajowniczek) began to call out about his wife and children, Kolbe asked to die in his place and his request to the Nazis was granted. (www.auschwitz.dk) Edith Stein was born into a Jewish family and in 1922 converted to Christianity. She moved from Germany to the Netherlands to avoid Nazi prosecution, however, in 1942 she was arrested and sent to Auschwitz where she died in the gas chambers. The controversy surrounding the Saints of Auschwitz was that of tall the Christian objects and items that began to show up around the site as many Christians began to make pilgrimages to the area to be in this area where this Saints were once. With all of the crosses and Christian items present many Jews found it inappropriate, as there was a place where over a million of their people had perished. (scrapbookpages.com)
Holocaust deniers are individuals who believe that the Holocaust did not occur and try to prove to others that it did not occur. For example, Professor Han highlights that these individuals will have scientists come to the came to take samples from bricks in the gas chambers to test for a resin of the chemical used to kill the Jews. When the tests come back no resin could be detected, and this therefore, gives these people ground to say that here were no gas chambers, thus there was no Auschwitz, and therefore, there was no Holocaust. But we know that is not the case.
The key point he wanted us to take away from his lecture last night is that we need to focus on the detail. Before arriving at the camp our sense of site will have potentially been exhausted due to all of the pictures/videos we have seen in preparation for the journey and in school over the years. With that being said, many people who go just hoping to ‘see’ the camp will be disappointed and thus, we need to make use of our other sense such as touch, hear, and smell. We should touch the objects there to feel the tangibility of the place, or smell the air, or close our eyes and listen to the birds in the forest. Take someone’s hand and walk through the camp making the connection together.
He recommended that at some point during our visit we take some alone time to ourselves for 10 – 15 minutes to develop our own personal perspective of the place and what we are going to take away from this. It is more important what happens when you return home from this journey and you start to think about your experience. The story that we personally will make about this trip is ultimately what this experience is about. Don’t panic if you don’t feel anything while you are there, it’s reality.
Links of Interest
- Robert Han Van Pelt: http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0009821
- Holocaust Deniers: http://www.ihr.org/leaflets/denial.shtml
"The Nazis victimized some people for what they did, some for what they refused to do, some for what they were, and some for the fact that they were." - John Conway
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