Gateway to hell - May 2014
Outside the formidable Birkenhau entrance
Misleading words at the Auschwitz entrance
During the day of the Zabrze show, Jo and I visited a place where some of the most evil events ever took place - in the death camps of Auschwitz-Birkenhau.
We wanted to pay our respects. It was a sobering and emotional experience but I feel it's vital for everyone to remember to stop horrors like this being repeated.
At Auschwitz you see photos of innocent men, women and children and their personal effects, gallows for public hangings, the wall of death where many met the firing squads... Monstrously chilling was a gas chamber disguised as a shower room positioned directly beside the room containing at least two ovens beneath the huge chimney. It's the stuff of your worst nightmares imaginable. Then at Birkenhau was the railway heading straight into the gateway of no return... Here the genocide was stepped up even further in the attempt to complete Hitler's "final solution".
Mankind has the capacity for great good and fantastic creativity, yet also horrific cruelty. Prejudice, jealousy and racism of any kind lead to wars and the darkest deeds. Every one of us is related... We're all a big family. As I travel to many different countries, everywhere I feel that strong connection with everyone. It's like a huge circle of love, brought together through music. The night of the show in Poland was powerful, affirming all those feelings.
Let's all keep striving towards that better world...
One of the transportation carriages
Remembering the suffering and deaths of families
