
British HET tour at Auschwitz-Birkenau
The title of this blog post comes from a British news article which you can read in full at http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/14454508.Time_will_not_allow_us_to_forget/
The following quote is from the news article:
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By 1941 the Nazi genocide had stepped up and [the] Auschwitz [main camp] became too small due to the sheer number of prisoners arriving from across occupied countries.
Two miles away is the site of Auschwitz-Birkenau – a camp with an area covering an area the size of 250 football pitches [425 acres].
The scale of Birkenau is overwhelming, and harrowingly it was built for the sole purpose of murdering Jews.
The iconic railway tracks and entrance dominate the bleak and desolate camp. It is difficult not to see the brick watch tower from any part of the site.
Rabbi Barry Marcus of London’s Central Synagogue revealed that only around 25 per cent of prisoners were taken to the camps to work, while 75 per cent were sent straight to the gas chambers.
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So the stupid Nazis built a camp that was the size of 250 football fields, just for the purpose of gassing Jews.
The news article continues with this quote:
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The first camp we visited was Auschwitz [main camp], one hour from Krakow airport.

Sign in main Auschwitz camp warns against touching the electrified fence
Originally the [Auschwitz main camp] site was used as a barracks [for German soldiers] but when the Nazis invaded Poland the empty buildings became the first concentration camp in that area.

Barracks for German soldiers with Appell Platz at Auschwitz main camp

Barrack building in the Auschwitz main camp was for German soldiers

Auschwitz barracks in winter 2006
Photo Credit: José Ángel López
As we made our way under the ”Arbeit Macht Frei” sign at the gates [into the main camp], the persecution was revealed in greater detail.
The sign translates as ‘work makes you free’ – a sick joke by the Nazis, as nobody was supposed to leave the [main Auschwitz] camp alive.
More likely than not you have heard horrifying stories from survivors or other Holocaust educators but the true extent cannot be described without seeing it for yourself.
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What do British students learn from their HET tours? They learn to worship Jews and to hate Germans. “that’s all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” [Ode to a Grecian urn]