Dobry
Den! This week, my blog will be about our class field trip to Krakow, Poland.
On
Saturday, May 5, 2018, our class hopped on a bus to go to Poland. Our first
stop was the Wieliczka Salt Mines. The mines are located just a little bit
outside of Krakow. The mines opened and began working in the 13th
century. Today, the salt mines are a national historic monument, and they are
visited by more than one million people every year. The salt mines has also
been visited by quite a few celebrities throughout its history. Some of the
most notable visitors have been Nicolaus Copernicus, the famous astronomer, and
also Pope Saint John Paul II. The salt mines reach a depth of more than 300
meters, however we only got as deep as about 130 meters. Some of the most
beautiful sights in these mines, in my opinion, were the chapels, especially
the chapel of St. Kinga, and the underground lakes.
After
we got our fill of salt, we left the mines to go into the town of Krakow. After
we got into town we had the day to ourselves. We all split up to find something
to eat. After lunch a small group of us wandered around the old Jewish Quarter
for a while and then a lot of us spent the rest of the night socializing and
having a couple drinks at a nearby beer garden. After the beer garden I went
back to the hostel to get some rest for the next day.
My
Sunday started with going to mass in the beautiful Basilica of St. Mary. After
this our group got together and started walking to the famous Schindler
Factory. The factory is famous because when Poland was occupied by the Nazis,
Oskar Schindler had Jews working in his factory making pots and pans. Originally
he used the factory to get rich by having cheap labor leading to large profits.
After seeing how the Jews were treated by the Nazis in the nearby ghetto, he
used it as a place where Jews could work and not be harmed. He then dedicated
all of his efforts to trying to save as many Jews as he could. Oskar Schindler
was even jailed a couple of times for black market deals he had carried out to
improve conditions for his workers. In the end he saved 1,200 Jews from being
killed in Nazi concentration or death camps. This factory has since turned into
a World War II museum and now has exhibits about Nazi occupied Poland as well
as an exhibit about Schindler and the Jews he saved.
Photo of Oskar Schindler in the Schindler Factory
This
tour took up our entire morning so we were free to spend the rest of the day
how we wanted. Quite a few of us walked over to the Wawel Castle which
surrounds the Krakow Cathedral. This Cathedral used to be where Karol Wajtyla
was auxiliary bishop before he later became Pope John Paul II. After this quick
adventure, I spent the rest of my day souvenir shopping and then later I got
something to eat with a small group of people. While we sat to eat we started
talking to these two students studying in Germany. One was from Vancouver,
Canada, and the other was from Kansas. It was nice to talk to a Midwesterner after
so long. After a long conversation with these two, we went back to the hostel
early because we had to get up really early the next day for something that was
not going to be easy.
The
next day we got on a bus at six in the morning. The bus was taking us to tour
the deadliest concentration and death camp of the Nazis. Auschwitz. We were
going to what is now the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum. Walking up to
Auschwitz I to start the tour felt unreal. It was a sunny day and our bus
parked in a regular parking lot with a shop and a café. We then got in line and
it just didn’t seem like a concentration camp. It just wasn’t as heavy as I had
expected. We then walked to the front gates, and that was when I realized it
was real. We walked up and there was a gate which above read “Arbeit macht frei”("Work
brings freedom"). This is when our group stopped talking and not another
word was spoken by anyone but our tour guide until we were out of the camp.
While we were there we toured the museum exhibitions which were held in the old
prisoner barracks. We also walked through the infamous block 11 which was used
for the torture of prisoners. Inside is a memorial dedicated to St. Maximilian
Kolbe in his death cell. Right after that, we walked outside and took a moment
of silence next to the death wall which was used for execution by firing squad.
After this, we walked through the first gas chamber of the camp. This was also
next to the first crematorium which once held three furnaces and a chimney
stack. Today, there are two furnaces and the chimney stack which were made from
original pieces.
Gate to Auschwitz I
We
then hopped back on the bus to head over to Birkenau which was just a quick
drive away. Here we entered the death camp next to where the trains used to
bring cattle cars full of Jews, Roma people, and other prisoners into the camp.
We walked next the unloading ramp where families were separated by those
physically capable for work and those headed to the gas chambers. This was the
spot where millions of people saw their families for the last time and that is
something that really struck me the most. After this, we walked to where the
gas chambers and crematoriums 2 and 3 used to be. They were destroyed by Nazis
at the end of the war in an attempt to cover up what was going on at the camp.
Today stands a memorial with plaques for every language. Each one read “For
ever let this be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity where the Nazis
murdered about one and a half million men, women, and children, mainly Jews
from various countries of Europe.” After the memorial we walked to the barracks
where the children stayed. We knew it was for children because there were
paintings of children playing on the walls. After this we left the camp.
Gate to Birkenau
It is
hard to put into words the emotions that are felt while touring such places
like Schindler’s factory or Auschwitz-Birkenau. It’s not sadness but it’s not
anger. It is very hard for me to describe how I felt personally. The most
important thing that I took away from this was a quote from Primo Levi. “It
happened, it can happen again…it can happen anywhere.”
After
we left the camp we came back to Olomouc and things went back to the way they
were. Krakow and the rest of Poland was a very eye opening and unforgettable
experience that I am grateful for. I only have a few more weeks left in Europe
and I plan to keep making the most of it. Na Shledanou!
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