Oswiecim, Southern Poland, Poland
Sunday, August 24, 2008
I will be processing this day for quite some time. Between 1 and 1.5 million Jews were murdered between the Auschwitz and Birkenow camps (as well as Polish dissidents, intellectuals, Gypsies, and Soviets). Everything about the place is beyond belief, from the horrible living conditions of those who were chosen to "live" to the efficiency with which the other 80% were immediately sent to the gas chambers. I find it absolutely staggering that the fact that the actual number of lives taken is known only within plus or minus a half million. That is a margin of error the size of a city. How to possibly contemplate such a thing?
