My trip to Poland and Germany

On the 12th of September 2003 our class started the trip in Ørsta. I, Torstein, Andreas and Monica went to Kjøs to jump on the bus there.
Early the day after we were in Oslo. There we were to pick up some pupils from Tangenåsen School. They were 20 students and some parents.
On Saturday we drove all the way from Oslo to Karlskrona in Sweden. This night we slept on the boat Stena Baltic. The boat took us safely over to Gdynia in Poland.
Next day was Sunday and we drove all the way down to Jaworznow.

15. September:

We drove to Cracow and stopped in Auschwitz, the biggest concentration camp in Nazi-Germany. When we stopped it seemed to be a nice place, the weather was good and it was a nice temperature. The houses lay nicely in pairs along a road and there were many trees.
First we saw pictures and examples on how the Jews were killed and treated, it was terrible.
The Germans punished the Jews as often as they could. They had prison-cells inside the camp, and an execution wall beside the crematorium and gas chambers.

We also went inside the prison, where there was a little room with two framed holes. Three, four or five Jews were to stand there as a punishment for something "wrong" they had done.
The Germans picked up the Jews by train and led them straight to Auschwitz. When they came out of the train tired and hungry, they were picked out to go to the left or to the right. The persons who came to the left side had to go straight to the gas chambers. Those persons who were sent to the right side had to work very hard without any food or water. In winters the Jews didn't get enough wood to heat up their barracks.
After the visit in the camp, we had many thoughts about the Nazi-regime. How terrible can people treat other humans?

16. September: In Cracow

Today we visited Cracow, we split up in groups of three.I, Kristoffer and Håvard walked around in Cracow looking for Manchester United shirts, shoes and other souvenirs.
We hired special cars which guided us around, that was funny.
I bought some nice things in Cracow:
A Man.Utd. Shirt, a scarf and a cap.
I also bought a carved box to put cards in.
In every street we walked, there were people who begged for money. It was very sad to see such a poverty.

17. September:

We drove from the hotel and straight to the Salt Mines.
First we had to go down 380 steps. Oh, that was a long walk. Down in the corridor I put my finger on to the wall, and it tasted salt.
I was very impressed of all the statues and carvings made of salt.
When we had walked around for two hours, we went up again. But this time we took the elevator. The elevator went very fast, and we were up again in less than 30 seconds. Impressive!

18. September:

I woke up very early and reminded myself that we were going to Berlin today.
We waited for an hour before we could cross the border and drive on to Berlin. In Berlin, we went straight to the Hard Rock Café. There we had a good dinner with chips and hamburger.
After dinner we walked around in the city and went shopping. I bought a footfall in the biggest sport store I've ever seen. You could buy everything there.
All the groups came back to the bus on time, so we could drive on to the Mauermuseum and Checkpoint Charlie.
At the museum there was much to look at, and here is one of the successful escape attempts from east to vest.

"Renate Hagen was a girl living in East Berlin. She had been Thodorus Kerk's girlfriend. Now they had split up, but they were still friends. Thodorus Kerk was a famous singer who had a great career. One day they tried to get Renate over from East- to Vest -Berlin, Thodorus had two big speakers in the back seat of his car, and Renate Hagen was hidden in one of them.
When they came to Checkpoint Charlie there was a security man who talked with Thodorus. Of course he knew who Thodorus was, so he just said: -You have some nice speakers back there. Luckily for both of them they could drive on"

19. September:

Today we were to visit Sachsenhausen, another concentration camp.
Here we learnt many nasty things the Nazis did against the prisoners.
I will give you two examples: The Nazis set the feet of the prisoner down in a box of wood where he couldn't get free. Then they tied his hands up in a crossbeam, and started to tighten up. They tightened so hard that his back went in two parts.

The other example was: A beam with a bolt . There they tightened the prisoner's hands on the back and hang them up . Usually they hung so long that they died of this torture.

After visiting Sachsenhausen we drove on to Ravensbrück which was a women's camp during the war time.
They had one nasty thing there too. They had a fifteen metres long corridor, there the prisoners were to run forwards and backwards until they were shot. When they ran they had to be naked and all the time they were shot after.

20. September:

Today our homeward journey started, we drove from Germany to Poland and took the boat to Sweden. From Ystad we drove to Oslo and said good bye to our new friends from Tangenåsen.
That night I slept at the night express all the way to Kjøs where Per Skylstad came and took us home.
At home I slept for four hours.

At the Execution Wall in Auschwitz, Torstein and Karoline read a poem.

Ruins of crematorium in Birkenau

Birkenau was gigantic.

Ready for sightseeingstrip in Cracow.

Statue in the Salt Mines made by rock salt.

This is the car which Renate Hagen escaped in.

Poles used for torturing the prisoners in Sachsenhausen