LOCATION:
Krakow, Poland
Another bucket list item, and the primary reason for the stop in Krakow, was to visit the grounds of the Auschwitz concentration camp. I knew it was going to be an intense experience, but also moving and memorable. I didn't want to take many photos out of respect, but did capture a few images. The entrance gate to the first camp, Auschwitz I, had the words above it (translated from German) "Work Makes You Free" and was an attempt by the Germans to calm fears of arriving prisoners. Over and over we saw examples of how the Germans manipulated prisoners into thinking they were headed for a better life in order to encourage calm rather than chaos - from making prisoners buy rail tickets for transport to the camps, to telling them gas chambers were showers where they could get clean after their long train journeys. Our guide told us a story of one prisoner who arrived at night and could not see most of the camp except for smoke coming from the crematorium and - not knowing what it really was - said to his son "see, we are at a factory, we are here to work."
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| The gate, which translates to "Work Makes You Free" |
Walking around the camp it was honestly hard to imagine the atrocities that happened there almost seventy years ago. It wasn't until we went into some of the buildings that the reality of what millions of innocent people were subjected to started to sink in. We saw living quarters where people often had to sleep two, three, or more in one bed, primitive bathroom facilities that offered no privacy and prisoners were allowed to use just once per day for a few seconds, and cells where prisoners were tortured for any number of reasons. I was especially impacted by seeing the collections of items recovered from the camps once they were liberated. Rooms full of shoes, combs, eyeglasses, and jewelry - all of which was typically sorted and then given to German citizens, or used for bribing camp officers. Another startling image was the room full of hair. After prisoners were murdered in the gas chambers, their hair was cut before moving the bodies to the crematorium. The human hair was then used for cloth making; the room we saw had nearly 40 tons of hair waiting for such use. Another moving part of the camp was a photo wall. Prisoner after prisoner was pictured, along with the dates they arrived and were killed at the camp - for some it was a few months, but for many just a few days. After a few years of identifying prisoners by photo, the process changed to simply tattooing a number on each persons arm. The thought that people could reduce other people to nothing more than a number makes me sick, and I can't imagine what survivors must think when they have to constantly be reminded by looking down to their forearms. One of the more horrifying sights was the camp hospital. Virtually no medicine was available at the camps, and if you were sick it essentially meant you couldn't work any more so you were executed. Rather than a place of healing, the hospital was a place where the doctor carried out experiments - often on children - to see, for example, how long children could survive without food, to see if it was possible to change brown eyes to blue by rubbing chemicals in them, and to see if it was possible to create twins to repopulate the Aryan race even faster. The main doctor behind this horror was Josef Mengele, who fled to South America after the war and - despite a worldwide manhunt - evaded capture and punishment for 34 years before dying.
After seeing Auschwitz I we went to the nearby camp, Auschwitz Birkenau. The second camp was much larger and was built because the original one didn't have enough capacity, particularly in the gas chambers or crematoriums. Birkenau had four gas chambers and four crematoriums, and the entire camp was built by prison laborers. Much of this camp was destroyed by the Germans a few days before the camp was liberated, or had fallen down over time. We did see the main railway where prisoners arrived from all over Europe, often having spent weeks crammed in tiny train cars with little water or food, and no restrooms. Once prisoners were unloaded, the sorting began. Women with children were lead straight to the gas chambers - separating even the strong looking ones from their babies would cause too much panic, so they were immediately murdered. Everyone else was sorted based on the look of health - if they looked strong enough to be slaves at the camp, they were spared from immediate death. The flick of a thumb - right or left - indicated life (though often only for a few weeks or days) or death. Families were separated and - with no way of knowing what was about to happen - were never given the chance to say goodbye.
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| At the end of the railroad - where families were separated, often forever. |
It is easy to describe - like a history book would - what happened at these camps, and it is easy to put into words the things we saw during our visit. It is not quite as easy for me to find words to express how it made me feel. Sadness for all the innocent who were killed, who lost members of their families, and even for those who survived but have to live with the memories of what happened. Anger at those who were responsible for carrying out the terror, and that so many went unpunished. Guilt because - even though I was not alive at the time - America maybe could have done more to help. Scared because even though the world is a different place now than it was in the 1940s, this kind of injustice does still occur, and I wonder if we learned anything from the Holocaust. Overall, I am so glad I went to Auschwitz. I hope that it always reminds me to treat all people equally, and with respect and kindness.
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| The memorial, very powerful. |
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| This memorial is in front of the remains of a gas chamber - the Nazis destroyed it when they knew the war was over. |
In addition to the Auschwitz camps, I was excited to learn that the remains of Oskar Schindler's enamel factory is in Krakow. I just watched Schindler's list a few weeks ago and learned how he saved about a thousand Jews by first employing them in his factory and then - once they were finally sent to camps regardless of their employment at the factory - bought their freedom from camp controllers with his own money. Alas, tour tickets were sold out for the day we went. We were able to see pictures on the wall though of those he saved - everyone was smiling.
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| I still got a sense for what he was able to accomplish. |
We also went to an old synagogue and cemetery in the Jewish quarter of Krakow, where Erin explained a lot of the customs and traditions of the Jewish faith. The synagogue and cemetery surprisingly remained mostly in tact during both world wars, but the headstones from those tombs that had been destroyed were used to build a lamentation wall. I noticed stones placed on many of the tombs, which Erin said is customary to show remembrance, rather than flowers that wither and die.
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| Visiting the Jewish cemetery - surprisingly untouched from WWII. |
We also explored the city of Krakow, it was very manageable to do in a day. There was, of course, a quaint town square, central cathedral, and clock tower - though I do remember reading that Krakow's central square is one of the largest in all of Europe! I think I enjoyed it more than Prague, though, because the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day to wander, or sit in a cafe and people watch.
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| The town square was lovely and bright, |
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| Interesting statue, never could figure out its significance though. Oh well. |
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| The vendors had all closed up shop, but Erin was ready to launch a great new Polish venture. |
After the main square, we went to the Wawel Castle which had (in addition to some royal apartments and another beautiful cathedral) the tomb to Poland's only Lady King! She was born to a king who had only daughters, and assumed the throne when she was just 10. When I was 10 I was too busy playing with Barbie dolls and riding my bike around the neighborhood - I wonder how she managed to rule a country! My favorite part of the castle was a dragon sculpture, which would spit fire every five minutes. We had fun sitting near it, watching people either ooh and ahh over it, or get scared and jump back in surprise.
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| Three cheers for lady kings! |
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| Every castle needs a fire breathing dragon! |
I haven't seen much good street art in the last few weeks, but Krakow delivered. We enjoyed wandering around trying to spot it - here are some of my favorites.
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| Look closely, can you see it? |
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| Whales need groceries too, right? |
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| And my fave - maybe of all time - green bunny. |
Krakow was the first time in Poland for either of us, and we both had a good time getting to know it. We didn't really indulge in Polish food, but did have what we think is a pretty standard breakfast item - a salty pretzel-type ring sold on just about every street corner. We also both got a kick out of the language, and trying to decipher familiar looking words. It seemed that there were a lot of Z's and K's, and everything ended in a Y! Komputery, Toilety, Alkoholy, Lody (ice cream!). Poland success-y!
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| Polish brew-sky! |
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