Photo By Sgt. Marcus Floyd | Soldiers with P Troop, 4th Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, visit the Auschwitz and...... read more read more
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OŚWIĘCIM, Poland — It can sometimes be difficult to fully grasp the magnitude of something solely from a history lesson.
Often times, to completely understand, people must see it for themselves.
“Being here, and being able to see first-hand everything we wrote about back in school, it's very humbling and it's moving as well,” said 1st Lt. Joshua Gonzalez, a platoon leader with P Troop, 4th Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment.
“It makes you understand a bit of history that much more and appreciate life on a whole other level.”
Walking through history, the Soldiers with P Troop, and the 173rd Airborne Brigade, explored the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps July 25, 2015.
Located in Oswiecim, Poland, Auschwitz concentration camp was a Nazi concentration camp built during World War II. It's estimated more than one million prisoners were killed until the camp was liberated Jan. 27, 1945.
“It's different from what I was expecting,” said Pfc. Michael Chavez, a gunner with P Troop. “We all read about this, the death camps in school, but to actually be here and see what happened, it's crazy.”
Touring Auschwitz, the remains of the camp gave the Soldiers a glimpse into history and reminded them of lessons from school.
However, learning about the concentration camps in school doesn't compare to seeing it, said Chavez. Seeing the mountain of hair and the stolen belongings of European Jews, Polish political prisoners, Soviet prisoners of war and other victims, creates an intense feeling.
“In school, you read about it and you're picturing it in your head, but when you're actually here, and you see what they used to kill them, you see the rooms they were in, the prison cells, they places they stayed, it makes you feel like you've never gone through anything near that tough,” said Chavez. “The people that survived, they are heroes.”
Despite the large crowds of visitors, the camps remains, for the most part, quiet. Speaking in hushed tones, the tour guides led the Soldiers throughout the camp explaining the many hardships the victims suffered in the concentration camps.
“I think it opens your eyes and makes you realize how horrible the conditions were here and how good we now have it, and it allows us to understand this bit of history as a result of going through this trip,” said Gonzalez. “The tour guide explained one of the most desirable jobs was to be a toilet cleaner because, one, you were under shelter and, two, they weren't whipping you because with all the disease and everything else the [Nazi] soldiers were scared to go in there.”
Even though these visiting American Soldiers were taking a break from training, the visit helped with leader development.
“I think it's important to take a step back from day-to-day training and focus on leader development,” said Gonzalez. “Development not always comes out of [training manuals], but going on staff rides like we did today to a historical site and becoming more cultural and knowledgeable as a whole, not just in Army terms but in real-life terms and historical terms. If we don't understand history, what's to stop it from happening again?”
| Date Taken: | 07.27.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 07.27.2015 02:04 |
| Story ID: | 171166 |
| Location: | OSWIECIM, PL |
| Web Views: | 306 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Lessons from the past: Visiting one of the largest mass-murder sites in history, by SGT Marcus Floyd, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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