First thing Wednesday morning after arriving in Krakow, we decided to go visit Auschwitz-Birkenau.  It took about 90 minutes by local bus and once there we walked around for about 5hrs.  The temperature was approximately 91 degrees with no breeze.  This site was probably the most disturbing place I've ever been.  It bothered me even more than Hiroshima!  For those of you that don't know, Auschwitx-Birkenau was a network of concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II. It was the largest of the German concentration camps, consisting of Auschwitz I (the Stammlager or base camp); Auschwitz II–Birkenau (the Vernichtungslager or extermination camp); Auschwitz III–Monowitz, also known as Buna–Monowitz (a labor camp); and 45 satellite camps.  About 1.3 million people were murdered here between 1942 - 1944.  That breaks down to roughly 1200 human lives taken per day...

Arbeit macht frei - "Work brings freedom"