A month later I did want to understand even more of WW2, so I went to the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam. She was a Jewish girl hiding from the Nazis in a secretive ‘backhouse’ and wrote in her diary about her experience, which was published as a book later.
She was also deported to Auschwitz (and later to Bergen Belsen, Germany). Now I had a much better understanding of how her journey must have been.
I have seen the train where she could have been in and how suffocating that must have been, there was barely any room to breathe. The Second World War is not just a story for me anymore, but something I can imagine very vividly of how it must have been for the Jews and other groups that were murdered in this place. I think this is the most important realization and lesson for me and very valuable for the rest of my life.
The next place I want to go is to Camp Westerbork, which is only 15 minutes from my hometown. I have been there once as a child but never returned. Now both Auschwitz and the Anne Frank House have mentioned this camp, I need to go there again.
Auschwitz was so impressive for me that I am not sure I would want to visit it again in the future. I don’t think I will ever forget everything I have seen here, so a one-time visit was enough for me.
Let’s finish with the words on one of the monuments: