Oświęcim... Most people know of this place in Poland, but just are not aware of it. To many people, they are unaware that the city of Oświęcim is also known as Auschwitz (The German name for Oświęcim). Although most people think of the camp of Auschwitz, it really is the German name of the City of Oświęcim.I know this very well, because my father was born in Oświęcim in 1942. Thankfully, it was not within the camp of Auschwitz, otherwise I may not be here. When he was 6 months old, my grandparents managed to get out of Poland and made their way to the American held section of southern Germany by way of the Tatry Mountains.
I have had the opportunity to visit the ancestral home of my father a couple of times and was impressed by the city of Oświęcim. I was able to touch the page of the church book that held his baptismal record. It is interesting to note that I also saw the marriage information for my parents. Apparently my grandmother had the foresight to make sure that that information was recorded there and had sent them the information for the marriage.
I was visiting my cousin Adam in Wroclaw at the end of August during my stay in Poland this summer. Adam took me to the Wroclaw Community Cemetery to show me graves of some family members. Adam prepared ahead of time by calling the cemetery office and found out the location of the graves we were interested in. A smart move!
I was looking for a new digital camera to take with me on my upcoming research / vacation trip to Poland for 2 months. I will be at repositories and churches and graveyards, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to get a digital camera that has a Geo-tagging function. After shopping around I purchased the 16.2 MP Sony DSC-HX7V. 
