A black page in history (Auschwitz)

The hell pit of mankind's history. It's not the sights of Auschwitz that are truly horrifying, it's more of the thought of, how can so many people can do so many evil
atrocities to so many other? Selecting a whole group, for segregation, extermination and torcher. The sights I was prepared for and I do not have a weak stomach either;
it was not staring at the piles of matted hair, of thousands shaved for felt production; it was not the thousands of possessions stacked up for sorting and redistribution
It was staring into the eyes of the photographs of the people, under harsh labour to death, gassed and killed, torched, poisoned, and used in twisted science experiments,
to amongst other abominable things, create infertility. The footage of a soviet soldier says so much of the deplorable conditions, people emaciated; there skin as if draped straight over there bones, heaped on top of each other in the sleeping bunks. Eyes gaunt and sunk, past the point of fear, no disappear, just nothing.
At a point it stops becoming disgusting, it stops being gruesome, it becomes numbing and the coping mechanism come in as cold numbers. How can you comprehend 1.1 millions people being told that these are the showers undress and stepped into this building, cyclone 2 filling the room of 800 Jews or other sub humans in Nazi eyes? How can you comprehend the inhumanity of those how took pleasure in directing these actions? Blackest pages of human existence animate in flashes; the fact of being there trying to fill the gaps, grappling for comprehension of something so hateful and immense. People taken from all part of Europe that could be touched, from Romania to the Netherlands carted as animals to Poland, and other similar camps across Europe.


It is a strange thing and unpleasant think to look in to the eyes of so many innocents, that have been killed and think, who was that? What kink of life did they lead?


I chose no to write this as a journal entry at first. What I wanted was a drink, and distractions. For the first time since arriving I had a hangover in the morning. Not from an excess of alcohol, but from the weight of the day before, still lingering in the thoughts of yesterday. I chose not to take any photo's, I will openly talk about my impressions of that place, but how do I say 'oh this is Auschwitz, over a million people were senselessly killed here?' I guess like that, but it's not something that can be, put into through away comments. It's a discussion or not really something that I would comment on. Through the many evils of history, this is the first I have recognised in a way that sank in so hard, though not a big part in Australian history, it is a big part of human history, what ever you beliefs, skin colour or background. You cannot look apon that place without sorrow, and think how we all feel, bleed and are similar in so many ways. How can this be done over our differences? And it's just one example.



I have seen the best in people, but this day was one that made me hand my head in shame of the some of history of the human race.