Day 3 - Auschwitz I & Birkenau: Tali Kadish and Aidan Francis

Tali Kadish

A survivor from Auschwitz once stated "Those who were in will never go out and those who were not in Auschwitz will never go in". But here we all were standing at the gate leading into this very place that we are told we will never actually go inside to. Yes we were about to walk into a place where people once suffered, a concentration camp and eventually a death camp but the truth is we never walked into a concentration camp we rather walked into a museum of a camp where we are able to learn about our past and the hardships the generations before us faced. We attempted to absorb the atrocities that were performed in this place and we witnessed their suffering. With tear-filled eyes but passion in our hearts and souls we finally found our connection to our past and tried to breach the gap between us as free people  standing in Auschwitz today and the world that used to exist at this very place 70 years ago. ​

---

With Concentration Comes Revelation - Aidan Francis

​I realised how often it is that one launches themselves into a jeremiad of how miserable something is. Even today, whilst standing inside Auschwitz, I complain about being tired; others complain about tuna. There we are, in the middle of a place where thousands died, and we complain about things that would seem euphoric to the victims. How detached can one become from being in the moment so as to complain about such inane things in a place such as this. This is the way of man I suppose, in the moment nothing is more vital than our trivial discomforts. They say this trip shall change me, perhaps this is what will change in me.