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Hi, everyone,
Sunday, June 18th
Auschwitz, Wadowice, Kalvaria Zebrydowska

What a day, sad and tearful, seeing how the Jews suffered at the hands of the Nazis. Entire displays (rooms) of combs and hairbrushes, shoes of all kinds, blouses, baby clothes, children's shoes, prostheses, etc. that we saw! What a sad remembrance of the huge numbers that died here. Knowing that I will get an artificial hip this fall or winter brought my emotions to the surface and all I could do was stand and cry in the room with the discarded prostheses.

We also sea St. Maximllian Kolbe's cell -- so moving. Another site was the standing cell. Prisoners had to enter like a dog by crawling in a hole at the bottom. Then they had to stand all night (four of them) in and 2' x2' space and then in the morning go out and work. What cruelty.

For meals the prisoners had tea in the morning, soup for lunch and bread for dinner. Anyone who disobeyed by trying to keep some of the bread for the next day was killed at the "killing wall" -- within hearing of all.

Some of the people did not want to continue after walking through the main concentration camp at Auschwitz. But Father Gary challenged them by asking how they could come to Auschwitz and not go the additional two miles to Birkeneau. BTW, everything is as it was during World War II; nothing has been altered in the buildings. Just cleaned up -- I can't even begin to imagine the stench of death that must have lingered there for many years.

At Birkeneau (about two miles away--we went on the bus.) prisoners lived in a horse barn sleeping in bunks, 3 high. Most of the children as well as the pregnant women were shot. Medical experiments with different kinds of drugs were performed on the children and some of the adults. All the handicapped people were also killed because without their prostheses they were useless. At the barn-like structure there was a concrete latrine with at least 12 holes on each side -- maybe more. This was all out in front of everyone -- no privacy at all.

The guide pointed toward the green grassy area -- probably the size of 20 city blocks and said something about the biggest graveyard in Europe. Of course, nothing is marked; only a plaque.

Everyone who came in the gate at Birkeneau knew they would never come out and so they called the entrance gate "The Death Gate."

Many of our pilgrims kept asking how God could permit such atrocities. How could we know what good is today if we were not aware of the evil??

I would strongly recommend that anyone who visits Europe make this stop at Auschwitz with its barbed wire and watchtowers a MUST SEE!

We had Mass later in Wadowice, the birthplace of Pope John Paul II. I didn't realize until after Mass when I was signing and dating a huge concrete book out in front of the church that his was my birthday. They sang "Happy Birthday" to me on the bus and again at dinner when we had cake for dessert. Unfortunately we did not get to see Pope John Paul II's home next to the church, but his baptismal certificate was open for viewing. A long line!

We traveled on to Our Lady of Calvary Church high on a hill at Kalvaria Zebrydowska. There are 42 churches in a circle there. I was able to climb to the highest one, but did not go on, just sat and enjoyed the serenity of the setting at the end of the day..

Glad that the day ended on a happier note.