Thursday, May 6, 2010

VISIT TO DEATH CAMP

A cold damp day, even colded in the wind. Grey skies, dull lighting.

If you are going to visit a World War 2 Concentration Camp, then this is the
sort of weather you really want. I remember my guide at a camp visit a couple
years age, that in a sunny summers day it can look too pretty. That the horror
is less obvious.


So I was pleased that my visit to Majdanek, on the outskirts of Lubin, was
today. Yes I did feel the cold wind cut through me and I shivered, but I had a
layer of merino and a fleece jacket, plus a rain coat some of the time. But I
still felt cold. What must it have been like for the thousands of Jews, Poles
Russians and others condemmed to be held prisioners here. Clad in just thin
striped pajamas the cold must have been punishing – and this is Spring. IN
Winter they had snow and there are photos on display to prove it.


To get there was just a $1.20 (NZ equivilent) bus ride, just around 4km from the
city centre or Centrum. In fact the city housing comes right to the boundary on
one side these days and a busy main road runs along one side. There is a
university or some sort across the road.


At first the place just looked like a large well kept farm. But as I walked
along the road from the bus stop I began to spot the rows of prison buildings a
long way across the field, further back a tall chimney. Then ahead near the road
was an immense monument raised up high.

I first went to the visitors' centre – a rather lonely and except for three
staff, empty. I asked for the camp film to be shown and after paying $7.50 NZ
had my private 20 minute screening. There was no one else around to join me. It
was not the most appealing film partly because of the subject matter but also
because it had been made over 20 years ago in a style which is now dated.

Then off on the long walk around the camp. One guide book, Lonely Planet I
think, says that the trial around the camp is 5kms. It certainly felt that
long.

The trail takes you into typical huts, the first one a small gas chamber set up.
Then a series of huts with photographic displays on the camp. Moving on past the
regular watch towers and through a get I came into Field 3 and more huts. Here
were a couple with the three high bunks which housed up to 500 inmates.

A further walk took me to the Mausoleum. This was a great rounded top building
on a low hill. It did remind me of a landed flying saucer, or a bit like the
Close Encounters space craft. As I arrived several coach loads of Jewish
visitors were leaving. They had obviously had a ceremony at the Mausoleum, as
there were wreaths and burning candles.

It was just a short walk to the ovens of the crematorium. This was not as large
as I had expected, but there were about 8 ovens which could all cremate at the
same time. Behind the Mausoleum was a large area now a grassed field. This had
been the area of execution ditches and the slight rises and depressions can
still be seen. However, I only viewed these from a distance.

At one point in the huts there was a display of the poison used. It was small
white lumps and powder which apparently produced the gas by chemical reaction.

Now it was a long walk back to the gate and then along the road to the bus stop.
I wondered what the people of 2010 think as they speed past in their cars and
buses. Has it become just a common place part of the landscape for them?

Certainly, there are many opportunities to recall the war and its effect on
Lublin. There was a outdoor photo exhibition by the New Town Hall and the
Historic Museum had some photos on the top floor.

But for most of modern Lublin, they live in the present and do not dwell on the
past.

I got off the bus in the Centrum and watched the crowds rush by. It was after
5pm. The young women in particular are fashionably dressed and even some of the
young men. There is one university I noticed where all the young males were
wearing smart dark suits and the young women in a matching professional attire.
All very impressive.

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