I took a tour of the concentration camp yesterday. I'm still trying to form coherant thoughts on this. I think that the crux of the problem is that even after visiting a site like this, I am still no closer in understanding how it could happen. Our guide emphasized that the vast majority of those entering the camp had no idea what awaited them. They thought they were going to work in a German factory. They brought bowls and plates and clothing with them. You see the piles of personal belongings, preserved. You learn how the prisoners were treated, see their living conditions, what the Nazis did with the bodies. You begin to picture what happened, but there is no way that the scale of such a thing can be understood.
Birkenau was striking. It is vast, I would guess 10 square miles. But you still have no way of comprehending that about 1.5 million people perished there. I can't get any further than "How did this happen?"
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