Liberation through Work
In 1999 I went to Auschwitz as part of a trip round Europe.

Following a terrifying journey by minibus, driven by a crazed Pole intent on breaking the land speed record who failed to understand the concept of slowing down when approaching a corner, we arrived at the place with one of the most evocative names in the world.

Few people can fail to have heard of Auschwitz: the legacy of an attempt by the Nazi Party to exterminate an entire race of people from our planet.

What struck me most on that clear August day was the sheer scale of the operation.

The vastness of the site , with its rows and rows of accommodation huts, and the mountains of shoes, glasses and human hair which remain as a lasting monument to those who perished in the gas chambers of Southern Poland just over sixty years ago.

It must never be allowed to happen again (although given reports from places like Rwanda and Bosnia I'm not certain that it already has been going on), and in order for that to happen everyone needs to appreciate the horror, on the largest of scales, that occurred at camps such as Auschwitz.

It certainly isn't the most cheerful museum I've ever visited, but it is certainly the one whose impact will live with me the longest. Only by remembering the past, will we ever be prevented form repeating it in the future.

- posted by Paul @ 11:07 am