Kevin's Watch

A collegue of mine returned to work yesterday having spent three or four days in Krakow. During her stay she visited the above museum dedicated to the horrendous activities of the Nazi's in the pursuit of their 'Final Solution' to the 'Jewish Problem'.

I had warned Debbie that, although I had not visited the museum myself, I had heard that it could be a very traumatic experience for some people and that there was no telling how a given individual might react to it. Debbie is a sensitive girl, not by any means lacking in intelligence, and thus I was somewhat suprised by her lack of (how can I put this).....passion in response to her visit. She had found it grim, she conceded, but not upsetting in the manner she had expected. "Seeing the piles of hair and glasses - and where people were killed" she said was difficult, but not shattering.

I wonder - did I with my warning cause her to throw up a 'defensive shield' to block at least some of the horror of that place. Is that the natural response of the human mind when faced with atrocity of that scale. I have personally avoided going to Auschwitz because I'm not at all sure that my response would be as limited (that might not be afair description but I don't mean it in a bad way) I suspect I would be damaged by a visit (which seems a trite thing to say given the place and it's history) and would carry away resposes that might cause me problems for all my time to come. I don't know.

Anyway, I'd be intersted to hear responses from any of you guys who may have made the visit, and the observations of those of you who haven't.

I went to Auschwitz and Birkenau last year. It definately was chilling seeing the artifacts on display, but I don't think I had an especially strong emotional response, nor did the people I was there with. There were others we were in Krakow with who refused to go because they thought it might be too much, and I know some there do break down. I think it just depends on the person, really, and perhaps how close they feel to it.

I was in Berlin a couple of years ago and chose not to visit Sachsenhausen when a group of friends (all writers and poets) went. They found it an oppressive and draining experience. I don't think any of them felt overwhelmed by it (as I feared I would) and I don't think any of them feel haunted by it or still experience negative after-effects from it. (None of them have, as yet, written about the experience. In fact, so far, I am the only one who has written about my experiences in Berlin (as I had some strong responses and reactions to the city and its history).)

I intend to visit one of the camps someday, maybe Auschwitz, but at the moment I still feel that I am not ready for the experience.

u.

Never visited any of the camps, but I visited Yad Vashem during the summer I spent in Israel in 1974. Very powerful experience, but paled by going to the Netiv Meir Elementary School in Ma'alot about a month after the massacre...and by certain events that occurred way too close to me during my months in-country.

I went to a concentration camp as part of my Contiki tour. We went into the chambers where people were gassed and up to a clifftop where prisoners were held at gunpoint and told to either push the prisoner next to them or be pushed themselves. We watched a documentary that showed piles of bodies in places we had already walked past.

It was all just...too big. I could feel a kind of chill at the horror of it all, especially on that clifftop, but I couldn't really feel it to the full extent. I just don't have a frame of reference for that level of cruelty and suffering.

have been to the Holocaust Museum in Houston. very moving experience. they do tours for the schools, I am hoping every parent let's their children go.

I have been to Mauthausen in Linz. I went with my wife and two others.


It was somber and a great reverence was respected by all who went there.

I can only speak for myself; my wife had a different response to it. The most disconcerting thing about it was the lack of resident evil. There was no malignant presence as one would suppose had a piece of the illearth stone been there. No palpable malice coming from the walls.

The most horrible thing about it was its normalcy. That any one of us could be found drinking the koolaid and doing something so horrific. I don't say that as an excuse for the atrocities that happened; more that we must be guarded to examine everything we are told, follow the conclusions to their logical end, and understand that our actions have consequences.

I agree that one of the problems of the whole business was it's very banality. A guard could pick up and pet a little girl who had fallen and scraped her knee before ushering her into the gas chamber. Debbie my collegue made a comment that made me realise how little (even after her Auschwitz visit) she understood of what had happened. We were discussing the problem of fixing a death-toll for the camp and I said that the destuction of records by the soon to be defeated Nazi's in a weak attempt to cover their crimes, was a significant factor. She said "I don't understand - If he (she meant Hitler) was so evil, wouldn't he have *wanted* everyone to know what he had done". This level of nievity is hard to deal with. To Debbie (and I love her to bits) Hitler was a sort of comic-book villain; a 'Dr Evil' style mastermind bent on world domination. I tried to explain that 'the final solution was a sort of beurocratized mechanisation for the destruction of a people. Cold and chillingly without feeling - not driven by hatred and passion at any level other than Hitler's himself and perhaps at the base of society in the propoganda soaked masses. I have looked at pictures of the Museum and think I should go to pay respect to those whose lives were taken and mourn this lowest point in humanities 200,000 year history ( that it should be so close to us!) but like u. I question whether I'm ready or indeed ever will be. In truth I guess I'm afraid.

Never visited a camp museum, but I did have a very creepy and moving experience in a holocaust installation at the '97 Biennale. I don't remember the artist's name, but I'll never forget the exhibit itself.

--A

I visited a museum and monument in Amsterdam that I remember rather got to me - I believe the piece de resistance (sp?) was sort of like a tall pillar/smokestack in a courtyard. I guess maybe I was just a bit at peace to go out from the busy hubbub of the city and the museum to enter a sort of quiet area.

I also visited the Anne Frank house, but putting the story aside I'm afraid I don't remember being particularly affected.

And I've also visited the Hiroshima museum. I found it interesting that they noted on the museum placards/billboards/info signs (IIRC) that troops shipped out of Hiroshima participated in the rape of Nanking.