Poland Day 1: Czestochowa and Auschwitz

Praised be Jesus Christ!

So, now that I survived my midterms, I can finally blog about all my adventures in Poland!!

February 28, 2011

We left at 8:30 pm for Poland and arrived in Czestochowa at 5:30 am. On the 9 hour bus ride, we watched Karol Wojtyla, which is an excellent movie about John Paul II’s life from the time of the invasions of Poland at the beginning of World War II, up to his election to the Papacy. However, it was a long ride, so we tried to do some homework as well. And we got very little sleep, but the Lord most certainly granted us the grace to get through the day.

When we arrived in Czestochowa, we dashed off for the Shrine of Our Lady of Czeshtochowa in the frigid pre-dawn air to see the unveiling of the icon. It was such a beautiful ceremony. At 6 am, trumpets and timpani began to play a fanfare as the beautiful icon of the Queen of Poland was unveiled. It was such a moving experience.

Hitler tried to have this basilica destroyed several times, but each time, something happened so that it stayed intact. God is so mighty!

After a brief tour, walking around the altar on our knees (as the pilgrims do—and we got to see JPII’s stole which he wore during the assassination attempt), and Mass (which I was fortunate enough to play for) we made our way to Auschwitz.

One’s life is never the same after visiting a concentration—I can’t even image what it must have been like to have survived being an inmate and adjusting back to what you could maybe call ‘normal’ afterwards. It is a place of degradation and despair and evil.

We were first greeted with the infamous gate which says “work makes you free” (which is of course truly wrong) and then went into some of the bunkhouses which now have displays: the collected belongs of the inmates, their hair, pictures of them and their life. Then we got to see what the rooms looked like, the place between two buildings where many were tortured and shot, St. Maximilian Kolbe’s cell where he died, the gas chambers and the crematorium. Then we went to Berkenau where they would arrive by train through the gate of death to the unloading platform where their fate was determined. Many were sent immediately to the crematorium (which is now demolished). Surrounded by barbed wire, the bunkhouses, no bigger than a very small house, held 400 people.

It was a dismal day when we went which matched the mood of the camp. Before we left, I had some time to reflect on what we experienced: the hatred which the Nazis had and the truth, beauty, and goodness which they did not know. We also prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet by the memorial on the grounds.