I understand what you mean about Krakow and have struggled to explain how I felt about the place.
Regarding Auschwitz, I felt going there changed me as a person and my outlook on life. In the processing room, one of the students asked why they brought photos with them and I explained that many people carried photos of their loved ones. I went into my wallet to show her that I still carried photos of my wife, sons and the two foster children we had, then it hit me and I had to fight to hold back my tears.
It was 95 when I was there and I was 40 at the time so obviously knew about Auschwitz but nothing could have prepared me for what I was witnessing.
At the time the old man was probably in his 70s or 80s and it was only when I found out about the bastardisation of Oswiecim ( pronounced ozvichim ) that
it dawned on me the atrocities that the old man must have witnessed and fully accepted and understood the old mans rage.
We were travelling around Europe and SE Asia for the entire year and within a couple of months we were in Greece where we visited another place where another
atrocity had taken place but this one I was totally unprepared for.
We had been lazing around on a beach for a few days when my wife handed me the "Lonely Planet " and asked if we should do this tomorrow.
It was a rack and pinion train trip through a gorge to a village named Kalavytra which was to be spectacular and scenic.
When we got off the train we were walking past a church and we noticed that all the clocks on the two spires were stopped at the exact same time and as we passed, an old
lady dressed totally in black gave us a wave and a hello. We walked a little further and the aroma of lamb cooking on a spit drew me towards the village square.
My wife grabbed my arm and pointed to a sign that pointed to "the site of the massacre.
In retaliation to the killing of German soldiers by the Greek resistance, the Germans rounded up the population of the town and took the women and girls to a school
and the men and boys to a field. The Germans set fire to the school with all the females inside and made the men watch on. They then machine gunned down the men
and boys.
Before leaving they destroyed the town and burnt to the ground the local monastery. There was over a thousand women and girls murdered and seven hundred men and boys.
We learnt that the clocks were stopped at the exact time of the massacre in remembrance and haven't moved since.
It's hard to put into words or to explain the anger, sadness and emotions that ran through me whilst standing there reading the large marble commemorative stones with the
names of the slaughtered Greek locals on them whilst being in such a stunningly beautiful place. A place that I will never forget alongside Oswiecim.