What to Know Before Visiting Auschwitz

Visiting Auschwitz concentration camps in Oświęcim, Poland last year was by far, the most educational experience I’ve ever encountered in my life. I do not believe I will ever manage to put into words just how much of an impact it made on me. Recalling my visit now disheartens me, and it is honestly difficult to write about. But I feel it is important for us to reflect on history, in the hopes that it will never repeat itself.

And yet, there is only so much knowledge you can absorb from an educator, textbook, or film. Placing yourself in the exact location where so many devastating events took place, brings with it an entire different level of understanding.

This will be the first of two blog posts – seeing as there are two camps in Auschwitz. To begin, let’s start with the formalities of planning a visit to Auschwitz.

Arrival

I drove from Poznan, Poland {ok, I was actually a passenger} to Oświęcim in the early hours of the morning. It took five hours, so my arrival time was close to 11 AM. I do not suggest this as your number one option. Krakow, Poland is about an hour drive away from the Auschwitz camps. I would recommend staying in a location like this, closer to the actual destination.

Tickets & Tours

Entrance to the camps is free {my favorite F word}, though it gets extremely crowded as you can imagine, and tickets are required to be purchased online before arriving to the camps. Prior to my arrival, I attempted to book a guided tour in English online, along with my ticket. The only tours available online were in Polish and German. Now, even though I am currently 11% fluent in German {ha}, it wasn’t going to cut it. I was bummed, but had heard mixed reviews online as to whether the guided tour was worth it, so overall it didn’t ruin the morning.

However, upon arrival to the camps, I was surprisingly given a variety of options for guided tours in English. Don’t be discouraged if you do not see your particular language offered online. You will probably be offered a tour in your language upon arrival, like myself, for the same price as offered online. I decided to purchase the next English tour for $30, and waited to enter. To be honest, this was a chilling experience. And yes, I’m just talking about the wait.

To see hundreds of people arriving in charter busses, crowding the entrance to the gates of Auschwitz I, gave me an unsettling feeling. I could imagine the same large groups of people huddled together years ago, the amount of chaos surrounding them similar to the energy of the tourists shoving their way to the front of the line to listen for instructions from their tour guide. Unlike the eager tourists, the prisoners of these concentration camps had no idea of what lied ahead of them. Unlike the eager tourists, the prisoners of these concentration camps had no desire to be in this remote, location in Poland. Unlike the eager tourists, the prisoners of these concentration camps would ultimately suffer the most ghastly years of their short lives, leading to their eventual death.

The guided tour takes you through both camps. You are presented with a headset to listen to your guide, though to be honest it was extremely difficult to hear her at times. Partial blame for this can be allocated to her thick German accent.

Where to eat

There is a café that serves drinks and food on location, however I had lost my appetite soon after entering the camp. I opted to eat at the end of the day and walked across the street to a local {cheaper} restaurant. It was pretty shit to be honest. But after experience I underwent that afternoon, something as trivial as a bad soup, was meaningless. I had absolutely no complaints that day.

What to bring

I brought with me extra layers, as it was freezing, wet, and dark the morning of our arrival. You cannot bring food into the camp, so avoid packing snacks. I also had with me my wallet and camera. You can take pictures throughout the entire camp, with the exception of the room filled with human hair. As much as I wanted to capture the entire essence of the experience, taking photos was not high on my list of priorities out of respect for the prisoners.

Rain or Shine

You can access both camps at any time, and return to either camp throughout the day. If the weather looks like it may be an issue you can plan your afternoon accordingly. Both camps allow for a lot of time spent outdoors, however Auschwitz I has many indoor exhibits, whereas the majority of Auschwitz II will be time spent outside.

Getting between the camps

You cannot walk between the two concentration camps, however there are free shuttles that depart every 20-30 minutes from both locations.

Is a guided tour worth it?

No. This is not to say the tour was not satisfactory, because it was. I did not have to worry about getting lost, and was given some information that I retained after the tour was over. But it wasn’t necessary. I felt very rushed throughout the entire day. I only had a limited amount of time that afternoon anyway before needing to drive five hours back to Poznan {I know}, and could re-enter either camp after the tour concluded, but the tour itself felt limiting.

With all of the painful imagines, information, and displays we were shown, the emotions I experienced were overwhelming. The speed of the tour did not allow me to fully absorb everything I was witnessing and process the things I was being told.

There were a few moments in Auschwitz I that I just stood there, unable to move. I was constantly being left behind in the tour group, and eventually I diverged from the group in Auschwitz II to explore on my own.

Reiterating all of the disturbing things I witnessed while visiting Auschwitz would not do anyone, any good. The gas chambers, the firing wall, the entire room dedicated to the human hair of prisoners, and even the entrance gate where prisoners would hear their given names for the last time in their lives before simply becoming a number.

All of these experiences were almost unbearable, as a tourist.

It is absolutely heartbreaking to imagine the reality these prisoners actually endured. It is hard to believe Auschwitz exists. But opening our eyes to the truth is the only way to educate ourselves about how to approach the future. Read a more personal account about the emotional toll this visit took on me, here.