360 Degrees Longitude by John Higham Page B

focus on Jordan before he passed out. “Jordan,” I asked, “what did you see?”
    â€œWe found a go-kart track and Mom said we could go!”
    Go-karts weren’t exactly what we came to experience in Krakow, but I agreed with Jordan; the brochure he had with him looked fun. It also provided a cultural counter to where we were headed the following day.
    As part of the kids’ education we had been studying World War II ever since we arrived in Europe, as it arguably had the biggest influence on world affairs for the last fifty years and likely will continue for the next fifty years. We tried to present a balanced view of the war by having the kids read accounts written from the perspective of both the Allies and the Axis powers. We talked about both viewpoints, that people on both sides did some really horrible things, and as in any war, it is the civilians who suffer. September and I both believe that most people the world over are innately good, but we aren’t so naïve as to believe evil doesn’t exist. We wanted to show the kids what can happen if evil goes unanswered. So, in our World War II discussions there was no denying or sugarcoating the atrocities of the Nazis. We were going to see those atrocities firsthand. I wanted the kids to be horrified.
    The day after we went to Jordan’s go-kart track, the Auschwitz tour company we’d arranged for came to pick us up at our hostel. It was a hot August morning. When the van arrived we stuffed Katrina’s wheelchair, which we had rented from a hospital, into the back and settled in for the ninety-minute drive.
    â€œAuschwitz” is the German pronunciation of the Polish town of Oświęcim, about 40 miles west of Krakow. The extermination camp was established by the Nazis in 1940 in what was then Nazi-occupied Poland. The exact number of people murdered there, mostly Jews, is not known, but most experts agree the number is between 1.1 and 1.5 million people.
    Arriving at the site of the former camp, our van maneuvered into the parking lot. We set Katrina in her wheelchair and made our way through the infamous gates that read ARBEIT MACHT FREI which translates to “Work makes one free.” The morning sun was scorching and we waited for our tour to begin along with the other tourists.
    Our group of fifty was eventually led through the camp by a guide. We scurried from display to display. As there was no handicapped access and plenty of stairs, we eventually abandoned Katrina’s wheelchair, but even with me carrying her it was difficult for us to keep up with our group. The rooms throughout Auschwitz were so crowded there was little chance to see the displays or to hear what was being said, even though our tour guide did her best to accommodate the large crowd.
    Much of the extermination camp of Auschwitz is still intact, from the gas chambers used for the mass murders to the ovens used to cremate the remains. Some of the most grisly reminders of what occurred at Auschwitz are the things the Nazis kept in storage and historians preserved. As all entered the gas chambers shaven, the resulting hair was baled and over two tons of it is prominently on display in sacks that are splayed open. Room after room of personal effects are also displayed. There is the shoe room and the handbag room and the eyeglasses room. These items were taken from the prisoners after their arrival. Decades later they are on display behind glass, an echoing reminder that their owners never saw them again.
    After visiting the various rooms of personal effects we walked across the compound to the ovens that were used for cremation. “I want to sit in my wheelchair in the shade,” Katrina said. Similarly, Jordan had grown weary of being herded along and was on the verge of a meltdown—and not from the heat.
    â€œI’m sorry, guys,” I said. “This is a tremendously important part of history. Think of the millions who died