@auschwitzmuseum I visited the camps a decade or so ago and it was one of the most profound experiences in my life.

@aaron What do you remember as the most meaningful part of the visit?

@auschwitzmuseum @aaron
I went in 2017. So many things stood out, seared into my memory. When I watch things about it now there’s an entirely different sense of scale. Hearing numbers can be hard to process. Seeing the physical space, and knowing (somewhat) how crowded it was is different. The piles of gas canisters haunt me, as do the heaps of personal belongings. What was maybe most strange to me tho, or jarring I suppose, was that the area surrounding it was beautiful. I was there around dusk and the trees in the distance were so pretty, and that felt so wrong. I was surrounded by the remnants of one of the most depraved sites in human history, and there was still beauty in nature. To go from the basement in Auschwitz where unspeakable things happened, where I was afraid to be even when I knew I was perfectly safe, to seeing the sun starting to set at Birkenau just an hour or so later left me with a feeling I don’t know I’ll ever actually find words for. It somehow reminded me of the resistance and resilience of the people who ended up there. There were obviously more horrifying things, moments that made my stomach churn, but that feeling of watching the sunset has stuck with me in an uncanny way.

@abolitionbb @auschwitzmuseum @aaron I went as a teenager, as most young people in southern Poland, on a school trip. I remember some of my schoolmates acting silly, completely inappropriate. I was appalled then. Now I think it was a coping mechanism. How can a 13-year old truly comprehend it all without being changed forever? I was always a quiet introvert and it hit me hard. The worst were the piles of glasses, shoes, suitcases. And hair.

@amythewicked @abolitionbb @auschwitzmuseum @aaron
I have never been there. But have always studied that time with a fascination because of the truly monumental nature of it all. Those piles of items kill me when I see them. And, I agree about kids acting weird as a coping mechanism. To witness even the artifacts of that level of indescribable evil and horror should straing any normal mind beyond comfort.

@Bullix @abolitionbb @auschwitzmuseum @aaron yeah... I can assure you that seeing it in reality, through just a thin layer of glass between you and the only thing that were left frok countless victims, kills you even more than seeing them on photos. I still shiver at the memory and it's been 20 years.