One day in Auschwitz-Birkenau

The restored 'Arbeit Macht Frei' (Work Sets You Free) sign at Auschwitz-I

THE NAZI death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated by the Soviet Red Army on this day in 1945.

Consequently, since 2001, Britain - and the wider international community - has marked 27 January as Holocaust Memorial Day.

Each year, the commemoration has a common theme - and, this year, that theme is the Power of Words.

So here then are a few words from me about Auschwitz-Birkenau following my visit there earlier this month:

THE WEIGHT of history hung heavily in the chilly winter fog which enveloped Auschwitz-Birkenau. Meanwhile, the dense, grey cloud and a biting wind contributed to an eerie atmosphere which was aptly oppressive and inescapable. It felt as if this was a place on earth which never sees the sun rise or the birds sing.

On arrival at Auschwitz, I boarded a bus for a short 10-minute ride from the main camp to Birkenau, also known as Auschwitz-II. There, I was confronted straightaway by its iconic Gatehouse which towered over the surroundings. It was not the Gatehouse, though, which was the most chilling element of Birkenau - but, instead, the sheer expanse of the camp beyond it.

The size of the preserved site, which measures 171 hectares, meant I did not have the time to walk to the end of the rail tracks. Nor did I have time to walk the whole length of the road along which victims, who were deemed unfit for manual labour, were immediately herded to the gas chambers and their deaths.

Birkenau, indeed, was where the vast majority of the victims of Auschwitz concentration camps died having been transported there on cattle trucks. But, when the Nazis heard the Soviets were closing in, they blew up nearly all of the buildings and left a vast, desolate landscape interrupted only by chimney stacks.

At Auschwitz, by contrast, the original exterior of the blocks remain standing and many of them now host museum exhibits dedicated to the victims. But, not all of them host exhibits.

Block 11 - the so-called 'death' block - has been fully reconstructed to show the various punishments which were applied to prisoners. Some of the prisoners were locked in a dark chamber for several days or were forced to stand in one of the four standing cells. Punishment in these special compartments consisted of confining four prisoners, who were forced by the lack of space to remain standing all night for up to 20 nights while still being forced to work during the day. Many died of exhaustion.

It was also in the basement of Block 11 - in cell 27 - that the first attempts to kill people with Zyklon B gas were carried out on 3-5 September 1941. In the test, 600 Soviet prisoners of war and 250 Polish patients selected from the camp hospital were murdered.

Thousands more prisoners - mainly Polish political prisoners - were lined up and shot at the now-reconstructed Death Wall in the courtyard between Blocks 10 and 11 between 1941 and 1943. There is now a candle-lit memorial at the site.

Not far from the Death Wall is a gas chamber which itself was reconstructed in 1947 by the Red Army as the Nazis had converted it into an air-raid shelter in 1944. The entrance door is completely original and the internal layout still shows there was a room for disrobing, another room in which the victims were gassed, and - adjacent to that - an oven room in which their bodies were burned.

Leaving the gas chamber was a deeply uncomfortable experience. Unlike myself, the Jews and other prisoners had not been granted the privilege of leaving that building alive, and my heart and my soul grieved for the thousands who had been consigned to their death there.

Indeed, it is impossible to leave Auschwitz completely unaffected by what you see. In an unfortunate way, the visit - at least briefly - left me disproportionately cynical about the human race as a whole. It never seems to learn. 

Even today, there are plentiful unjust deaths happening all over the world in all sorts of horrendous conditions. And, while humankind has made great strides in many aspects of its existence, people still hate - and kill - other people simply because of their beliefs.

At an extreme level, that - of course - can result in genocide - and, since the Holocaust, there have been recognised genocides in Cambodia (1975-1979), Rwanda (1994), Bosnia (1995), and Darfur (2003-present).

All of the above are commemorated by Holocaust Memorial Day - but, frankly, even a single unjust death is one too many. Will we ever learn just to get along?

AUSCHWITZ

Exterior of the reconstructed gas chamber at Auschwitz

Ovens inside the gas chamber at Auschwitz

Reconstructed Death Wall in the courtyard between Blocks 10 and 11

Barbed wire surrounds the roads at Auschwitz

A sign warned of the double electric fence which surrounded the enclosure

BIRKENAU (AUSCHWITZ-II)

The Gatehouse at Birkenau

Cattle car that brought prisoners to their deaths in Birkenau
A single red rose now adorns the latch on the door

The cattle car (left) and a watchtower (right) surrounded by the desolate landscape

The death road along which victims were herded to the gas chambers

The site at Birkenau measures 171 hectares

Auschwitz was really a factory for killing, and human beings were used as fuel. I survived and promised myself, I will tell the world what happened
Lily Ebert Holocaust survivor

England suffer another stomach-turning defeat Down Under

		THE ASHES SERIES 2017-18
23-27 Nov 17		FIRST Australia beat England by 10 wickets	Brisbane
02-06 Dec 17		SECOND Australia beat England by 120 runs	Adelaide (D/N)
14-18 Dec 17		THIRD Australia beat England by an innings and 41 runs	Perth
25-29 Dec 17		FOURTH Match drawn	Melbourne
03-07 Jan 18		FIFTH Australia beat England by an innings and 123 runs	Sydney

Australia won the series 4-0
Player of the series: Steve Smith (687 runs at 137.40)

AUSTRALIA confirmed their superiority in this Ashes series, winning the fifth and final Test in Sydney by the crushing margin of an innings and 123 runs.

The Aussie victory at the SCG made it 4-0 overall with England only having avoided another whitewash by securing a draw in the fourth Test on a lifeless pitch in Melbourne.

Nevertheless, England have now failed to win any of their last 10 Tests Down Under.

Indeed, it seemed inevitable that the tourists were heading for their third whitewash in 11 years when the urn was lost in Perth before Christmas.

Senior players - namely Stuart Broad and former captain Alastair Cook - had been rightly criticised for their lack of contribution.

But, in fairness, both bit back in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. Broad took 4-51, his best figures all year, to help reduce the Aussies from 260-3 to 327 all out.

Cook then carried his bat to score an unbeaten 244, the highest of any opener remaining unbeaten in Test history. It was his best performances for years.

Notably, he also became the first England opener to carry his bat since Michael Atherton in Christchurch against New Zealand in 1997, and the first English opener to achieve the feat against Australia since Geoffrey Boycott in Perth in 1979.

Sadly, England - despite posting a competitive 491 - came no closer to a consolation victory, as a third Steve Smith century guided Australia to the safety of 263-4.

England actually also started the fifth Test pretty well and were at one stage 228-3 - but the late wickets of Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow took the shine off their opening day.

From that point onwards, though, it was all depressingly one-way traffic. First, England were bundled out for 346 despite some rare resistance from the tail.

Then, the Aussies truly put their visitors under the pump, declaring on 649-7 following centuries from Usman Khawaja (171), and both of the Marsh brothers Shaun (156) and Mitch (101).

Inevitably, England failed to make Australia bat again, not helped by Root being unable to continue his second innings beyond lunch on the final day.

Skipper Root was suffering from severe dehydration caused by gastroenteritis - and surely the extreme Sydney heat could only have made his condition worse.

It has indeed been stomach-turning stuff from England over much of the past two months - and, while this was not another whitewash, it was still a complete hammering.

Indeed, the cumulative aggregates for the batting and bowling of both sides neatly demonstrate the gulf between them.

Australia scored 2,982 runs in total and took 89 wickets. England, by contrast, scored 2,595 runs and took only 58 wickets, their lowest amount in an Ashes series since 1958-59.

Undoubtedly, the English bowlers have struggled, especially in comparison to their Aussie counterparts.

All of the top four wicket takers in the series were Australian - and they did not need anyone other than their main quartet of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon.

Of the England bowlers, only James Anderson - with 17 wickets at 27.82 apiece - could be said to have justified his place.

Overall, England were regularly too short and lacking in the requisite pace. Lyon, meanwhile, totally outclassed Moeen Ali in the spin department.

For sure, it came as no surprise that a player in the class of Aussie skipper Smith therefore flourished.

But it was pretty galling to see the mediocre Marsh brothers were swatting away the England attack just as easily by the end.

Of course, from an England perspective, this series will be just as well remembered for events off the field.

The tourists were without the services of their best all-round player, Ben Stokes, following his arrest on suspicion of assault after an incident near a night club in Bristol in the early hours of 25 September.

Bizarrely, more than three months later, Stokes has still not yet been charged with any offence, a somewhat damning indictment of the efficiency of the British justice system.

However, there were also other incidents once England had reached Australia. Bairstow was said to have headbutted new Aussie opener Cameron Bancroft in a Perth bar before the first Test.

Then, following the second Test, Ben Duckett was ejected from a tour match and left facing disciplinary action for pouring a drink over team-mate Anderson in the same bar.

Undoubtedly, the perception painted by large parts of the English media was that of a squad totally out of control. With a reactionary curfew imposed on the players, the Aussie press gleefully lapped it up.

The reality, however, was more prosaic. It quickly became evident that the Bairstow-Bancroft incident could be described, to the obvious amusement of the latter, as playful - or, at very worst, an odd example of social awkwardness.

And so, Duckett's behaviour was therefore pretty much an isolated act - and, in itself, hardly a hanging offence.

Certainly, Anderson has no problem with alcohol being poured over him when England actually manage to win a Test.

But, if it feels a long time since that was happening consistently, that's because it is. In 38 Tests since Trevor Bayliss took charge of the team in 2015, England have won 15 and lost 18.

Progress made in limited overs cricket appears to have come at the expense of performances with the red ball, and England are now correctly perceived as home-track bullies.

That should be no surprise, really. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has clearly marginalised development of the Test team in favour of their new money-spinning city-based T20 competition.

And that is a position with which the board appears pretty comfortable.

Speaking in the wake of the third Test defeat which lost the Ashes, ECB chief executive James Harrison said: "The health of the game is more than just Ashes series overseas.

"We've had record-breaking attendances in domestic and international cricket, changed our governance structure, hosted two global events, won the women's World Cup, and launched a participation initiative for kids.

"We've had a successful entry into the broadcast rights market out of which we have secured the financial future of the game until 2024."

All of which will surely come to the great comfort of the Barmy Army fans and their own individual bank balances after this winter.

Incredibly, the stench of denial became greater again at the conclusion of the campaign when Anderson - in a post-series interview - claimed England had "not been blown away".

But Anderson himself cannot be blamed for this debacle.

The biggest culprits occupy far more senior positions - they are the decision-makers who put money over all other considerations and who have turned England's senior four-day competition into a non-event.

Without games scheduled at the height of the summer, the English system will never produce a conveyor belt of top-class, genuinely quick bowlers - or, for that matter, a world-class spinner.

Where exactly is the motivation for the counties to field these players when they can get on by just fine with a trundling medium-pacer on an April green-top?

Thankfully, though, there appears to be a realisation that some fundamental change will be required in order to improve the fortunes of the England Test team on overseas tours.

Bayliss himself has stated that England may have to risk losing at home in order to improve away.

Meanwhile, former captain Michael Vaughan has made the eminently sensible suggestion of staging a selection of County Championship matches abroad.

The ECB, no doubt, will act far more slowly in addressing any issues. After all, under its watch, the game in England already has excellent corporate governance.

Of course, Australia - with the still significant advantage of being at home - may well have been triumphant regardless.

Frankly, though, this Ashes series was again far, far too easy for the Aussies. Far too easy.

ASHES SERIES 2017-18 STATISTICS

CENTURIES
Australia 9-3 England 
244* Alastair Cook (England), fourth Test
239 Steve Smith (Australia), third Test
181 Mitchell Marsh (Australia), third Test
171 Usman Khawaja (Australia), fifth Test
156 Shaun Marsh (Australia), fifth Test
141* Steve Smith (Australia), first Test
140 Dawid Malan (England), third Test
126* Shaun Marsh (Australia), second Test
119 Jonny Bairstow (England), third Test
103 David Warner (Australia), fourth Test
102* Steve Smith (Australia), fourth Test
101 Mitchell Marsh (Australia), fifth Test

LEADING RUN SCORERS - TOP TEN
687 Steve Smith (Australia)
445 Shaun Marsh (Australia)
441 David Warner (Australia)
383 Dawid Malan (England)
378 Joe Root (England)
376 Alastair Cook (England)
333 Usman Khawaja (Australia)
320 Mitchell Marsh (Australia)
306 Jonny Bairstow (England)
242 James Vince (England)

BATTING AVERAGES - TOP TEN
137.40 Steve Smith (Australia)
106.66 Mitchell Marsh (Australia)
74.16 Shaun Marsh (Australia)
63.00 David Warner (Australia)
48.00 Tim Paine (Australia)
47.57 Usman Khawaja (Australia)
47.25 Joe Root (England)
47.00 Alastair Cook (England)
42.55 Dawid Malan (England)
41.50 Pat Cummins (Australia)

FIVE-FORS
Australia 2-1 England
5-43 James Anderson (England), second Test
5-48 Josh Hazlewood (Australia), third Test 
5-88 Mitchell Starc (Australia), second Test

LEADING WICKET TAKERS - min 10 wickets
23 Pat Cummins (Australia)
22 Mitchell Starc (Australia)
21 Josh Hazlewood (Australia)
21 Nathan Lyon (Australia)
17 James Anderson (England)
11 Stuart Broad (England)
10 Chris Woakes (England)

BOWLING AVERAGES - min five wickets
23.54 Mitchell Starc (Australia)
24.65 Pat Cummins (Australia)
25.90 Josh Hazlewood (Australia)
27.82 James Anderson (England)
29.23 Nathan Lyon (Australia)
37.66 Craig Overton (England)
47.72 Stuart Broad (England)
49.50 Chris Woakes (England)
115.00 Moeen Ali (England)

TEAM SCORES
662-9d Australia in the third Test, Perth
649-7d Australia in the fifth Test, Sydney
491 England in the fourth Test, Melbourne
442-8d Australia in the second Test, Adelaide (D/N)
403 England in the third Test, Perth
346 England in the fifth Test, Sydney
328 Australia in the first Test, Brisbane
327 Australia in the fourth Test, Melbourne
302 England in the first Test, Brisbane
263-4d Australia in the fourth Test, Melbourne
233 England in the second Test, Adelaide (D/N)
227 England in the second Test, Adelaide (D/N)
218 England in the third Test, Perth
195 England in the first Test, Brisbane
180 England in the fifth Test, Sydney
173-0 Australia in the first Test, Brisbane
138 Australia in the second Test, Adelaide (D/N)