Day 145: Rest Day in Oświęcim

September 26, 2025

Day 145: Rest Day in Oświęcim

Yesterday, I went to the Auschwitz Museum. There were no free tickets left for the day since you need to book it at least a week in advance, so I paid for a guided tour. The admission fee was about US$34 and in the end it was worth it.

The tour lasted for about three hours. We went inside several buildings to see some artifacts, including the collection of the shoes that the victims wore. There was also a collection of suitcases. Some of them even had the owner’s names written on them. Another building had a collection of human hair. No photography was allowed there. The Nazis sold hair to various companies so they can make rugs out of them. We also went inside a gas chamber crematorium where the Nazis dropped Cyclone B chemicals from the ceiling to kill their victims.

After a short break, we took a bus to Auschwitz II, a bigger concentration camp nearby that the Nazis made their victims built. There I saw the famous railroad tracks and the watchtower that’s featured in many photos. This was where the victims were received upon arrival.

Throughout the whole tour, the mood of the place was very somber. Together with the cloudy sky and the cold weather, I felt sad the entire time. I kept on thinking about Americans and the Nazis, and how Hitler tricked an entire nation to hate and kill. To me, the minds of the people were like boiling frogs. First, the leader of the government says something slightly hateful, then their loyalists would convince themselves that it was not as bad as it sounded, so it became the new normal. The leader then says something else more hateful, raising the temperature of the pot that the frog is in, the frog, in this case the people, still convinced themselves that this wasn’t so bad, then it became the next new normal. And it goes on like this until people are accustomed to the fact that killing innocent people is normal. There’s something so familiar between the Nazis and the Trumpers. I think Trump is the one controlling the switch for the pot and the Americans are the frogs inside. Soon, Americans will be the new Nazis. Maybe history will repeat itself in about 100 years after the rise of Nazi Germany. I sure hope not, but it won’t surprise me.

I saw Rebecca and Lena at the museum taking a tour too. They were heading out of town after the museum and continuing their way toward Germany. I wished them good luck.

As the final stop after the guided tour, I cycled to the Memoriale Auschwitz III (Monowitz) on the eastern side of the town. There’s only a memorial there and not much else. When I came back to the hostel I was a bit tired. It also started to rain so I stayed inside most of the time.

I was messaging someone from the dating app Bumble. I rarely get matches and we hit it off well. This woman lives in Wrocław, which is about 150 miles northwest of me. After a late night phone conversation with her, I’m thinking of taking the train to Wrocław and meet her. This means that I’ll be making a detour and will be even more time constrained to go south to the Balkan countries. I don’t really know what to do right now, but I remember a quote that said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” So maybe I should be open-minded and see where this date can lead to.

At any rate, I need to decide soon because I need to leave the hostel today. Either I’m cycling to my next Warmshowers host’s place in Pawłowice or taking the train toward Wrocław. I feel like I’m at a fork on the road, literally and figuratively.