Oswiecim (Auschwitz)

Thursday 26th of April, we went to Oswiecim, a little town in Poland. We went to the famous (unfortunately) camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Personally, during the visit I thought often about my grandfather because he had endured the war. He told me how it was in Belgium during world war II.
I have seen films about this war like each other I think. But you only understand all the atrocity when you visit Auschwitz. Even if you have visited it you can't imagine all the things that happened to people who got there. It's very difficult to imagine how it was with vermin, epidemics, hunger and thirst, exhaustion, unbearable cold or heat, death at every corner,... when it's peaceful and sunny and you have trees everywhere.
I understand that people who went to the camp during the war can't forget it, because we can't forget it too and we went there only one day to visit and fortunately not in the same conditions as them.
During the visit, I understood one very important thing, it's that we are very lucky. Even if we often moan because something is wrong, we have to think that we have a good situation. Never forget this sentence that's written on the entry of Auschwitz: Working sets you free. I think wherever you are you may be free in your mind. The song "Ma liberté de penser" from Florent Pagny says it too.

Julie B