Auschwitz concentration camp, Poland

      After Prague we headed to Poland to see Auschwitz concentration camp and to get some polish pottery. Auschwitz is really big and we only made it through the first part of the camp. It is not really a place for kids so we traded off with my mom and dad. It was so crazy to think of the millions of people that went through there and the torture they went through. One of the first plaques we read just outside of a building talked about how they would put people outside with not much on and then throw water on them, then they would freeze to death. We were at the camp the same time of year that they ran the camp. Bret and I were so cold standing there reading the plaque even with our coats and warm gear on. I could not imagine being naked and then someone throwing water on me. That is just one of the many tortures they were put through.  It was a quiet and humbling place to walk around. 

We had dinner at this place. The waitress was so nice and the food was pretty good.

The camp entrance (work sets you free)

This is the plaque and spot for the water being thrown on them.

Some of the "nice" barracks. There are a lot more that are not as nice at the second half of the camp but we did not make it there.

They had so many pictures of people along the walls of the barracks. Most of them got to the camp and then were killed shortly after. Bret saw this one and said he has family down the line that are Nowak's. 

More barracks.

The death wall. Through the opening here and inside is where a lot were killed.

Bret's family is from Holland. Part of a building was dedicated to the Dutch people that came through the camp. All the gray on this wall are dutch names.

Close up of one of the walls.

They recreated kids drawings they found. 

Names of people who died at Auschwitz. 

A crematory 

The bread pan and the butter dish in the back there are polish pottery. I bought a few other things also. I wish I would have taken a picture with my mom at the pottery store.