Reply #20: I visited Auschwitz in 1979. [View All]

[DURHAM D]

Myself and my partner were the only Americans there that day. Most of the visitors appeared to be Russian.

The hand lettered signs in the visitors center were written in Polish, Russian and German (I think - fuzzy memory) - but none in English. As I was reading down the list of groups and the number that had been exterminated and got down to the Pink triangle, for the first and only time in my life I actually heard the hair raise on the back of my neck as it scrapped on my shirt collar. I ran outside, followed by my partner, as we both gasped for air and waited for our hearts to stop pounding as we realized that it could have been us wearing the pink triangles.

My point, I had visited other camps and have since visited the Holocaust museum in D.C. and nothing has ever affected me in such a profound way as that visit to Auschwitz on a beautiful summer day in 1979. I will never forget the experience. It needs to be maintained and millions more people need to visit.