Froghurt

I went to Auschwitz with my dad when we were visiting Poland when I was 16. We both figured "well, if we're here, we might as well go see Auschwitz".

It was without a doubt the most horrendeous experience of my life. Imagine riding for an hour through absolutely nothing, then getting to to an incredibly small village (Oswiecim). With a massive railroad station. Then you get to the camps.

We went to Auschwitz I first, which was the "labor" camp. It was a bit like a museum. Pretty bad, but not gut-wrenchingly bad. Massive piles of shoes/glasses from the prisoners were awful to look at though.

Then you get to Birkenau, the actual extermination camp. It's absolutely gigantic. You stop there with a car, and right in front of your eyes you see two things: the well-known gate, and then just massive plains of snow. In the distance, some houses.

At the time you couldn't hear a single sound. Not a single bird, not even leafs blowing in the wind, absolutely nothing. It seemed like time has stopped there. Then you enter the camp. To your left, one small room where this "guard" is selling souvenirs (small cards) for absolutely nothing. You look around, and the only thing you can see are barracks. Barracks, and more barracks. Other than that, just snow. And the freezing cold. And suddenly, you realise it.

"65 years ago, more than 1 million people died here. In this spot."

Continue into the camp then. you're already both silent at this point. Not out of respect, but out of pure shock. You enter a barracks. Only thing there are some "beds". Squared. About the size of common beds, but just wooden. And they slept with 4-5 people in there. Again, a realisation: 65 years ago, people here were suffering. Waiting for their death, seeing their family members die, losing everything they had. Just for how they were born.

And just continue the journey. Walk about 3 miles further down the camp, while almost hearing the desperation from 65 years back in your head. Not a single sound around you. Just you, your dad, and the cold. You're both quiet. Even though you're wearing 5 layers, you think how those prisoners had to walk around in their pyjamas.

You pass the "showers". Destroyed now, but you can still see their purpose. Relatively small rooms, but the exact spot where hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children lost their lives. Pass the end station of the railroad. Where families got split apart into two groups. Those who would remain in the camp for some time, and those who were killed immediatly. You almost hear echoes from the past again. A small girl crying in despair when she's seperated from her parents. Not realising what's going to happen to her.

At that point we continued briefly towards the "desinfection barracks" and then we just walked silently to the car again. All the way through the camp, not a single sound, and almost freezing to death. Might've been only half an hour, but definitely was the longest walk I've ever taken.

We got back to the car. We didn't say a word to eachother for the next three hours. Those concentration camps already seem terrifying on images, but when you actually visit them... Don't think I'll ever forget how we both felt on that day.

EDIT: there are some pictures from that trip on the family PC. I'll upload them when I wake up tomorrow and edit this post.

EDIT 2 : found the pictures and uploaded them: http://imgur.com/a/biq9j

Entertainment industry was completely right about this one. Before the VMA's Miley was fading into obscurity, now everyone is talking about her and her new single got 200 million views in 4 weeks on youtube.

And no one was talking about Lady Gaga's performance.

I have a couple of questions for you Mr. Freeman:

1. You started acting in the 60's. As an African-American man, did you need to deal with a lot of racist remarks from other actors/directors?

2. Who's the best director you've ever worked with, in your opinion?

3. Which current actor/actress do you see becoming a superstar in the next decade?

Thank you

I'm not. Some women in abusive marriages protect their husband no matter what. Consider a doctor who alerts child protective services when he/she finds bruises on a girls body. If they ask permission from the mother first to talk to her child, that mother might decide to refuse cause she wants to cover for her husband. That wasn't the case here, but I understand them not taking any chances.

Ugh fuck my impulsivity.

Thanks