Last night, I spent many hours watching the BBC documentary series on Auschwitz-Birkenau, which both felt important and was difficult.

Today, I came across this article about the experience of a Jewish journalism student at Sydney's University of Technology (technology!). The article has me swirling with the combination of the topics we are discussing -- technology, thoughtlessness, consumption.

The consumption of Auschwitz? The unthinking, casual question of "Have you 'done' Auschwitz to a visitor to Krakow? 

"Have I 'done' Auschwitz?... She knows this pitch well – it’s become second nature to her, the words don’t really mean anything, almost as though she’s asking if I’d like fries with my meal."

"There were 1.33 million visitors to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp last year. ‘‘You have to be honest about it – there are tourist dollars to be made,’’ Alba says. ‘‘We have to deal with the crassness of modern tourism, the flippancy of people’s remarks’."

http://m.smh.com.au/travel/travel-planning/travel-news/auschwitz-tourism-not-for-the-fainthearted-20140711-zt2rr.html

-- Suzie