“But there was no need to be ashamed of tears, for tears bore witness that a man had the greatest of courage, the courage to suffer.”
Viktor E. Frankl
Wednesday
Today we leave Šumperk.
Breakfast and I am a little tired. My skin is blotchy from drinking and a bad diet. My body has started to lose its muscle and I am gaining weight.
I am not concerned. There is a 15 week term coming up and that will be plenty of time to get back into decent condition.
There is no rush to leave. It is a short drive to Auschwitz. We lay about reading.
Auschwitz is by tour only these days. Our appointment is at 3.15 pm.
We have enough time to stop for a quick bite before we start. Pierogarnia Rodzinna u Mamusi has the best kluska z kaczki I have ever tasted.
“Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions.”
Primo Levi
I have been to my fair share of places that are testament to the human capacity for atrocity. The Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh. The Sarajevo Museum of the Crimes Against Humanity.
I don’t particularly enjoy these places. If I am honest, they fill me with a sense of horror and revulsion that I could easily do without.
These places are important. And they are important to visit. A reminder of the cruelty human beings are capable of. A reminder that it could all happen again if there is enough tinder to spark the fire.
The numbers are staggering to the point you are numb.
Almost three million killed.
Over 1.1 million Jews. Of these, around 800 000 were gassed and burned within hours or days of arrival. If you could not do forced labour or were a woman with children, you and the children were trained a few kilometers away and reduced to dust.
The rest starved to death or were tortured and shot.
Dr Carl Clauberg developed a method of mass sterilisation by experimenting on Jewish women.
Dr Josef Mengele performed his experiments on children. Of particular interest were twins.
There is nothing really to say. There are books, I am not an expert on this stuff.
The last injustice lies with Rudolf Höss who oversaw the millions of death, the countless rapes, and tortures. Having lost his faith, despite the Vatican’s support for Hitler, after the Nazis were defeated our man Höss went into hiding and rediscovered God. When he was captured and sentenced to be hung at Auschwitz, he took the holy sacrament, repented his sins, and was welcomed by God into heaven.
Quite the loophole. Torture, rape, and murder millions, accept Jesus, all is forgiven.
Off to Poprad.