Auschwitz

Today was the heaviest emotional and psychologically taxing day on the tour. Today we visited one of the most infamous places in the world, Auschwitz. I have already visited this place before but the gravity of the situation and place never lessens. Once you walk under the ominous black gate that reads work will make you free, the seriousness of the situation hits you like a ton of bricks. Visiting each of the barracks and seeing the evolution of the Nazi's final solution made me sick to my stomach the entire time. Each barracks got progressively more depressing and finally we reached the rooms full of hair, prosthetic legs, and shoes that was sickening how much there was in each room and how the Nazis would take these things from the Jews they were killing and then re purposed it and or handed it off to ethnic Germans during the wartime shortages. Our tour guide pointed out that the German Jews with prosthetic limbs that were the first people the Nazis killed were often former German soldiers that lost limbs fighting for Germany in World War I. There is no logic discrimination and racism. Finally, the last barracks that we visited at the A site was a new exhibit that I had not seen the last time I was there that showed the evolution of the Nazi's ideology and execution. The first room was a room that played home movies of Jewish communities through out Europe and the Mediterranean before the war. This was the most moving room because these people were just living their lives and being happy and celebrating weddings and holidays and they had no idea of what was to come. This room and the room with drawings inspired by Jewish children that were imprisoned at Auschwitz really related to everyone in the room and deeply moved me. These children were drawing executions and the selections process when children should be drawing knights and dragons and other fantasy things, generally innocent things. It just made me feel like they had their childhood robbed from them by the Nazis. I had never seen this exhibit and I dont think that I will ever be able to forget it.

Reflective Post 5

Krakow, City of Kings

Today we toured the city of Krakow, which was the first capital of Poland all the way back in the 13th century. We started the day at my favorite place in Poland, the Wawel Castle. The large and beautiful castle sits up on the hill and looks down on the rest of the city. as we walked through the large gates we looked down on the Vistula River and beheld the beautiful view of the city. as we looked over the city we saw the infamous wawel dragon statue that stands guard in front of the cave underneath the castle. We heard the story of the dragon that terrorized the city until the King had the dragon poisoned and he exploded from the amount of water he drank. Then as we approached the entrance to the beautiful church at the center of the castle our tour guide pointed to the "dragon bones" that hung from the door that, as legend has it, if those bones fell then the castle will fall too. This church and the church of the Virgin Mary that dominates the city square were some of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen. The ornate gold statues and detailed paintings were incredible. These churches are awe inspiring and i fully believe that everyone should go see them.

Reflective Post 4

Today was a tour of the Krakow Jewish sector. The weather was not terribly accommodating but I believe the miserable weather added to the gravity of the location. We arrived in the Jewish quarter and stood in the old town square, where our guide told us how this part of the city was historically its own city because according to Polish law, Jews were not allowed to settle within city limits. We visited three different synagogues and learned that these were three of seven within the city. As we left the oldest synagogue we walked through the old Jewish cemetery where important Jews had been buried. The ornate and beautiful tombstones were impressive but I was appalled when our tour guide told us that the cemetery had been used as a trash dump during the Nazi occupation. I just could not believe that the Nazis dehumanized people even though they were dead. After this we went to the center of the Jewish ghetto and walked to Oscar Schindler's factory. The history of Schindler's factory was interesting to me however I wish i had seen the movie before we went.

Reflective Post 3

Today we traveled from Warsaw to Krakow by train. As we traveled, the soviet legacy that pervades this country was ever more present to me. Once we left the city, there were no suburbs just rural areas looking incredibly depressed. As we traveled I realized that I had not seen a church, hospital, or school in over an hour. There happened to be at least one school, we could tell from the playground equipment, but no obvious school buildings like one would see in the states or even the ones we saw in Warsaw. The largest buildings that we saw were abandoned factories. The entire area just looked depressed. When we arrived in Krakow, I remembered how amazing it was from my previous visit. This city had not been devastated by the Nazis during World War II and its beautiful historical buildings still remained intact. Taylor and I took the afternoon to explore the old town and taste some of the wonderful Polish cuisine. The history and beauty of this city is apparent to anyone that steps foot here.

Reflective Post 2

I was incredibly excited for today. Today we explored the old Jewish areas of Warsaw and I was incredibly excited to see this section because I had not seen any of these things on my previous visit to Warsaw. We started the day in the center of the old Jewish ghetto, so called "Mushroom Square." We got off our bus and the first thing I noticed was the enormous and beautiful catholic church that dominated the square with the statue of John Paul II in front. As our tour guide regaled us with a story of a priest that saved Jewish children from the Nazis, I stood at the base and marveled at the church and the beautiful stone work on the facade. I stood there and couldn't help but find the irony that the Nazis allowed this church to be located there. If the Nazis truly wanted the jews to be isolated and dehumanized, why would they allow another faith to be located there? We then went to a synagogue, the first synagogue I had ever been in and I was taken aback at how gorgeous the inside was and how ornate everything was and how the Jewish community had rallied together to restore this synagogue after Warsaw had been leveled by the Nazis. Then, the most interesting part of the day, we visited the Jewish cemetery. As an american I expect a cemetery to be neat and pristine, however this cemetery had been allowed to fall into disrepair and there were trees overgrowing the entire area.

Reflective Post on Day 1

Today was my first day back in Poland for the first time in over 5 years. I did not quite know what to expect because I have been there before but at the same time I know that no place in the world stands still in time. This is true and not true of Warsaw. I saw a lot of things like the palace in old town and the statue in the main square that I remembered from my previous visit. However, there were things like the Marie Curie museum and some of the brand new memorials that I don't remember ever seeing. As soon as we landed though I couldn't help but marvel at how the soviet legacy still haunts this wonderful city. As we were driving down the street we saw the old soviet style apartment blocks that didn't have a rounded edge and how the city still look depressed. I know that the polish economy is one of the shining examples from the European Union countries but the facades of the building looked dirty and dilapidated.