This path is the final Part I

Republic of Poland (RzeczposPolita Polska) a beautiful country located in the eastern portion of Central Europe, now a member of the European Union. It borders the north with the Baltic Sea and the Kalinningrad Oblast, (which belongs to Russia although without connection with it), northeast with Lithuania, to the East with Belarus, to the southeast with Ukraine, to the south with the Czech Republic and Slovakia and to the West with Germany. With a population of more than 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34 most populous country in the world, and the sixth most populated in the European Union. Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions. Warsaw is the largest city in Poland, and its capital since 1596, when King Segismundo III Vasa transferred it from Krakow. It is also the headquarters of the President of the Republic, of Parliament and the rest of the central authorities. 

Warsaw is known internationally for having given its name to the Warsaw Pact, to the Warsaw Convention, the Warsaw Treaty and the Warsaw uprising.

The Historic Center of the city, completely destroyed following the updating of Warsaw in 1944, during World War II and was meticulously rebuilt after the war, in 1980 he was declared a World Heritage for UNESCO as "highlighted example of almost total reconstruction of a historical sequence that extends from the thirteenth century to the 20th century." It is one of the main economic-financial and cultural centers of Central Europe.

Warsaw was the European capital that was more occupied during World War II, but it was also the one that offered the most resistance to the Nazi regime. Between 1944 and 1945 there were uprisings that failed and caused the dire loss of 100,000 civilians. With the German occupation the Polish territory became an existential chaos for its inhabitants, especially for the Jews who were forced to suffer the most horrific crimes in history. The quality of life of the population deteriorated quickly. On the Soviet side, the Polish people were also dehumanized and killed, but not for its race or creed, but for its political affiliation, as is the case of the Katyn massacre.

The Polyoneous Jews suffered the same demands as the German Jews, and that the Jews of the territories that were conquered, all were governed by the laws of Nuremberg. On December 1, 1939, the bracelet was imposed with the star of David in Azul, they had to walk down the street, they could not use public transport, they could not attend hospitals, parks, cinemas, restaurants or other community sites. They were also prohibited from changing residence, all their rights were denied, they suffered from balls and humiliation on public roads. All conditions were created for a mass massacre that would take place by the third Reich for six years. 

The German government gave the guidance to take measures to divide the population and isolate the Jews at once. The initiative to create in the center of Warsaw El Gueto would be a provisional option. This fact seemed to be one of the many lies of the Germans, but curiously they were telling the truth. Its construction was interrupted in the summer of 1940 by the German general governor in Poland Han Frank, when the idea of ​​deporting the Jews to Madagascar and closing the ghetto, but finally his works were finished and was officially established on October 16, 1940, since it had a population of 3800 people, almost two thirds of the population of Warsaw. In May 1941 the Gueto reached a maximum of 445000 people. 

Will continue ...

Extracted from the book The Silence of Walter Alan Nief

Judenrampe

 

        One of the worst moments that Auschwitz lived, was in the spring of 1942, when after the final solution ”(Endlösung), the extermination fields were established and the gas chamber was active. As the train tracks, they still did not reach the establishment of Birkenau, the“ not suitable ”were forced to work as slaves to walk three kilometers, from Judenram gas.
     The process was always simple, very well registered and tidy. They got off the train, they were asked to leave their luggage aside, (they were promised that they would not lose, but would recover it soon, after the showers), as well as their belongings and value objects, a German doctor apologized for the conditions of the trip and gave them a small speech of encouragement, and even the prisoners applauded, then they were told that before the work they had to give a shower for reasons. It is said that even caramels were given to children and postal adults to sign to send their relatives and acquaintances. These postcards already contained a message: I write from the picturesque Auschwitz, they treat us very well. I wish you were here! The naive prisoners should only sign and write the recipient who wanted to send them. This is another characteristic of the Nazis, their unbridled cynicism, one more sample of the impudence and the lack of scruples. Those people did not know that they would be gassed. Clearly, the place was designed in such a way that no one would suspect what their true end was. The prisoners are already naked, after leaving their well -off clothes, they crossed a corridor called by the Germans the road to heaven. The gas chamber engines were operated, after two or three minutes there were some shouts, which slowly were turning off. It is said that then the screams lasted approximately fifteen minutes, and then a sound compared to a swarm of bees was heard and finally a deep silence.
       Today, nail brands on the walls can be seen on the walls of one of the gas chambers. A desperate action of the human mind when he is perishing, which tries to bend with his own hands his prison. There is no way of expressing suffering, those brands on the walls say everything.
      1,000,000 dead are registered in the extermination fields only in Auschwitz. For a total of deaths in these fields during the third Reich, it is estimated between 2 857 000 3 139 000 people. It is a curious fact over the years, when calculations are performed, as people stop having proper names, to become parts of a statistic. 
    When talking about Auschwitz, you can't ignore the work that the Sonderkommando (special commands). They were work units formed by Jewish prisoners, and not Jewish. They were selected to work in the gas chambers and in the crematoriums of the Nazi concentration fields, even Einsatzgrupen herself had their own sonderkommando battalions for what they called "special assignments."
         They worked under orders and supervision of the Nazis. Naturally, the work assigned to him could not be denied, the punishment was death, burning them living in the crematoriums. We can suspect that they worked under deep psychological pressure, as they were in charge of bringing prisoners to gas chambers, remove the bodies, examine natural holes such as anus and vagina, in search of hidden pieces of value, they also removed the gold teeth from the bodies, and incinerate them in the crematorium ovens or in crematorium graves.  
      The Sonderkommando lived in stables isolated from the rest of prisoners without the minimum contact so that they would not talk about their work. Apparently they enjoyed better conditions, but they had a work period of approximately 3-4 months, since, not to leave witnesses of the industrial level that was being carried out, all the members of the unit were killed and replaced by a new group of Sonderkommando that would carry out the work. 
     On October 7, 1944, given the indications that the SS intended to kill a large number of members of the Sonderkomando himself, who were working on the IV Crematorium (product to the murder of a large number of Hungarian Jews), they mutinied and began the only large -scale rebellion that takes place in Auschwitz.
They armed themselves with improvised tools, stones, and had managed to obtain explosives, with which the crematorium flew. Some prisoners were able to escape during struggle and confusion, although most were captured and killed. Two hundred and fifty died, along with three members of the SS and two hundred people were killed after the riot as a lesson and message for all who thought they would perform a similar feat.

      Interestingly there is evidence of another act of resistance, when they managed to photograph the human piras that were performed outdoors. The objective was to exhibit to the world what was carried out in the extermination fields, a brave action to raise the voice, detach from the Nazi gag, which could not be tolerated anymore.   

From the book The Silbid of the Silence of Walter Alan Nief