"From 1941 to 1943, the SS shot several thousand people at the wall in this courtyard between blocks 10 and 11. Most of those executed were Polish political prisoners, above all, the leaders and members of clandestine organisations and people who helped escapees or facilitated contacts with the outside world. Poles who had been sentenced to death in nearby towns were also brought here to be shot, including men, women, and even children who had been taken hostage in revenge for operations of the Polish resitance against German occupation."

Nothing, if we have not experienced such a thing, can prepare us for when we stand and try to comprehend this scene. As the tourists mill around in their hundereds, chatting and otherwise fulfilling 'their duty' as a tourist visiting this horror, a solitary moment grabs me....do I bow my head, or do I try and convey the scene through an image.... I chose the later, but quietly slip away, still questioning my motive.