10th Dec '08 - Auschwitz

5am -

Yesterday took the bus to Auschwitz and took a guided tour. 330 000 Jews from England were designated to be killed by the Nazis, once they took that land. The list was on display showing where the eleven million Jews they planned to exterminate came from. It was all terrible. 400 000 official prisoners at Auschwitz and Birkenau. 200 000 died there, often recorded as from natural causes. Though many unregistered were also killed. For example, at Birkenau they were sorted straight from the train. Those who were fit to work (approx 25%) and those who went straight to the chambers of death. 1.1 million Jews and a total of 1.6 million people were killed at these camps. There was a wall at which bullets were put in the back of prisoners heads, with pistols... the wall of death. Too much to write about. Hair and teeth removed from the dead. Hair for textiles. Shoes, clothes, suit cases, utensils, piled up ready for export.

The development of it all. First the Polish elite were prisoners at Auschwitz. Remove the identity of the people. It was on 20th Jan 1942 that the "final solution" for the Jews was decided upon. 1940 they planned on shipping them to Madagascar. 1941 to Siberia. Extermination was easier. 1944 seemed to be the most efficient time of the killing, particularly of Hungarian Jews - off the train in Birkenau and sorted like cattle. Going to the gas-chambers not fearful of what awaited them. They were being given new land to live on. First they needed to be disinfected/showered etc. Naked they went into the rooms, where shower nozzles hung and motors ran outside to drown out any noise of those before being killed.

The death was an internal asphyxiation, the gas preventing the passage of oxygen (I think) from the lungs to the blood, or the blood onwards. Twenty-three minutes all in the chamber would be dead. After thirty minutes they opened the doors.

Bikenau, purpose built (Auschwitz was an old Polish army barracks), had sections for women, Jews, Gypsies etc Triangles showed your reason for condemnation. I remember pink was for homosexuals, two triangles forming the star of David for Jews, and another for those of the resistance...

One hundred and forty-four prisoners escaped in total, out of about eight hundred who attempted. Those that made it, by being out of the camp working, or stealing an SS uniform, helped get the news out about what was happening. If prisoners escaped others were punished, not just those who aided the act.

Most prisoners of war could not be taken to places like Auschwitz and Birkenau because their motherlands had signed the Geneva convention. They went to other camps. Colditz, for example. However, the Russians had not signed this convention and I believe three million of their captives were killed (or is that the total number of Russian soldiers that died during this war?). They were the only soldiers at Auschwitz and Birkenau.

Well, I cannot get emotionally involved with it all. Horrible. Shocking. But a part of what humans do... perform a task and shut out the affect on others. It goes on now in different guises. The Americans go to war in Iraq and (whether for "greater good" motives or not) the commanders shut out the killing and pain they have to cause. Oil companies side with Burmese Generals to get a contract, somewhat supporting the regime and its ruthless government. They say if they didn't less scrupulous companies would be in the country. My point is that in life many a blind-eye is turned and that these atrocities were more concentrated examples. I'm not saying oil companies shouldn't be in Burma (not for oil though!)... I'm largely ignorant...

8th Dec '08 - Catholic Kindness

740am - Wandered Krakow and got bored yesterday. But found Empik. Great bookshop with a coffee shop. Bought Haruki Murakami's After Dark, which I enjoyed reading over two large lattes... whiling the time away.

Two young women sat on the same counter, a little down and opposite me. Finally I plucked up the courage to speak a little with them. One had sensuous lips and wanted to engage with me. She spoke good English. They were, perhaps, young nineteen year olds.

Later, I went to Kitsch to look for some night-life. It was dingy, liberal, air of the night type of place. But few people. All these bars and clubs but little activity, other than I'm told at the weekend. Some lesbians fondled each other and danced, between bouts on the sofa. A couple pairs of girls danced, heterosexual looking and classy. A few guys sat or stood.

Walking back to my bed I was met by some Norwegian guys looking for somewhere to go. I took them to Carpe Diem Klub and we danced a little. Krakow has some great and confident young dancing folk. But I ended going back to bed feeling despondent.


330pm - Hitched a ride from a woman called Annetta, who I'd met at breakfast, and a guy called Paul, to the Salt mines. A nice day. Good to be in the company of wholesome people. The old time religion in me does spark a connection with "godly" people. They were devout Catholics.

At the salt mines the English speaking tour guide was incredibly adept in his role. After the tour of two and a half hours and another hour tour of the museum I sat outside and he came out to smoke and we chatted a little. Pleasant and decent chap.

Annetta and Paul dropped me off to get a minibus back to Krakow, as they were going to see a shrine.

"What more happiness can a man have than to be healthy, debt free, and with a clear conscience?" - Adam Smith

7th Dec '08 - Memories and musing

4am - Up again before the crack of dawn. The disco beats have finally stopped and the young drunks ended their shouts. In the corridor one lad is sleeping with his bottle. And I'm listening to snores of my fellow dorm occupants. It smells rough in here - all men!

The fear up on the snow yesterday made me look to "God" and wonder why I want danger. It was a glorious view and exhilarating but I thought, "I want to live". My heart went upwards. And all my foolish pretence of knowledge was insignificant.

Back in town, Damien Rice on my MP3 bringing me in the last few miles, I felt good. The happy tourists to look at. Almost all Polish. Healthy women in their shiny boots - high-heeled power symbols but practical in cold Poland. Some dancers in a shop window, advertising Puma and trying to seduce costumers. I sat in the low afternoon sun before walking up the street and settling on a bar to spend a few hours. Time to drink 19zl worth of Zywiec, yet again the foreigner without the wonderful hospitality of Asia that I've come to expect when I travel.

Many memories come to mind on this lonely holiday... of Aon, Fon, Dad and much more. My sins and failings and longings and happy times. Glorious memories, some.

Read some more of Suzuki's informal talks on Zen while I was drinking in the afternoon. Never quite seems to add-up. Sitting in the correct position is enlightenment, or Buddha mind. Well, I suppose I can kinda grasp it. The focus required means that to do it right brings you in that state - to be one-hundred percent doing something. Wonderful! To be lost in a moment, a task. I like that. Though Buddhism requires faith in it's karmic rebirths and what not. The practice of presence of mind, Buddha mind, if that's the same thing, seems blessed. I love the calm acceptance of it - the joy and resignation.


10am - On the bus, soon to depart for Krakow. The snow falling gently passed my eyes and onto the wet ground. It settles in parts. Branches, roofs, crooks and crannies, car windows. An artist walked with me from the hostel on his way to get coffee. He shook my hand heartily as I walked onto the station. Calm pleasant morning. Looking forward to the city.