Just a quick post to thank Carl & Martina for a great few days touring the Auschwitz complex of camps, not just Auschwitz I, II & III but also two smaller lesser known sub-camps and especially the even lesser known tobacco building that was used to hold prisoners at the beginning - something that no official tour will take you to.
Thanks also to the other member of the group, Rick, for making the tour a small knit but very friendly group who all seemed to get along well.
Despite the dark subject matter, the beauty of such a tour is that you get to see areas of the camps that the official tours don't go near. During our 5 or so hours in Birkenau not once did we see an officially toured group of tourists go anywhere near Crematoria IV & V. They just seemed to stay within 1-200 yards of the railway lines down to Crematoria II & III.
One highlight was that we found prisoner items still in the dirt at the Kanada complex, including spoons, a belt buckle and numerous buttons. We left them on a display that showcased other such items found by previous visitors so hopefully they were left alone by other tourists and were eventually placed within.
We also drove past the battlefield of Austerlitz on the way back to Prague and the monument there has to be seen to be believed with regards to the sheer size of the thing!
If you have yet to take Carl up on his offer to run a tour (and this was my second time) you really should consider going on one. They are just 2-3 days long and worth the time.
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