alone in kyoto
it's been a strange day.
going to a concentration camp is never easy. today it was auschwitz / birkenau around the polish town of Oswiecim - 70km west of krakow. Birkenau (auschwitz II) is worse. Possibly because it is mostly gone - a desert of barbed wire and fences, but few buildings. And a pond that is reputedly cloudy only because of the human ashes that still pollute it.
As last time (Dachau), the experience is distressing. In a quiet part of the destitute birkenau landscape, walking back towards the bus up a very long path (one of the things that really hits home is the size of the birkenau camp, compared to both dachau and the first auschwitz camp) I had a lot of thoughts. All of them depressing
History Repeating
First I was glad that I heard several american voices that day. Yeah, of course they're as whiny and annoying as normal :) But they had come to see. And that can only be good; Mr Bush, come and see. Any camp where citizens are held without charge is a step on the Auschwitz ladder. Come and see - and destroy Guatanemo forever.
Alone in Kyoto
The other thought was more circumstantial; I read the other day that airline fuel is a very major contributor to greenhouse gases and global warming. I felt a little guilty, for being a tourist and making it a little worse. At the death camp, I was reflecting on why I was there. Why anyone was. You don't want to feel like a tourist of death, so you need a reason to be there. All I could come up with was that I wanted to see for myself the depths of the horror. This seemed quite selfish to me. If everyone did so, the amount of jet fuel expended would be massive. In years to come (it's already happening...) the oil prices will rise, as less and less is available. Cheap flights will be gone. Such a trip will be a luxury. So I pledge to give back a little of what I can in exchange for the privilege. To always make sure that the people around me are aware... educated of this. It must never happen again.
apologies for the bleak nature of this post
going to a concentration camp is never easy. today it was auschwitz / birkenau around the polish town of Oswiecim - 70km west of krakow. Birkenau (auschwitz II) is worse. Possibly because it is mostly gone - a desert of barbed wire and fences, but few buildings. And a pond that is reputedly cloudy only because of the human ashes that still pollute it.
As last time (Dachau), the experience is distressing. In a quiet part of the destitute birkenau landscape, walking back towards the bus up a very long path (one of the things that really hits home is the size of the birkenau camp, compared to both dachau and the first auschwitz camp) I had a lot of thoughts. All of them depressing
History Repeating
First I was glad that I heard several american voices that day. Yeah, of course they're as whiny and annoying as normal :) But they had come to see. And that can only be good; Mr Bush, come and see. Any camp where citizens are held without charge is a step on the Auschwitz ladder. Come and see - and destroy Guatanemo forever.
Alone in Kyoto
The other thought was more circumstantial; I read the other day that airline fuel is a very major contributor to greenhouse gases and global warming. I felt a little guilty, for being a tourist and making it a little worse. At the death camp, I was reflecting on why I was there. Why anyone was. You don't want to feel like a tourist of death, so you need a reason to be there. All I could come up with was that I wanted to see for myself the depths of the horror. This seemed quite selfish to me. If everyone did so, the amount of jet fuel expended would be massive. In years to come (it's already happening...) the oil prices will rise, as less and less is available. Cheap flights will be gone. Such a trip will be a luxury. So I pledge to give back a little of what I can in exchange for the privilege. To always make sure that the people around me are aware... educated of this. It must never happen again.
apologies for the bleak nature of this post
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