Traveling Poland in depth is a study of resistance and resilience. After almost a month in Poland, we say a fond farewell tomorrow. We have enjoyed Poland a lot and may return sometime. Gdansk, Torun, Warsaw and lastly Krakow. Each of those towns had its own uprising: either a Jewish Ghetto one, underground resistance one, or after the war, an uprising against communism. Most had all three. World War II is still a great part of everyone’s life. It does not seem 80 years ago in their hearts. Since they have really only been free since 1989, they are still getting it out of their systems verbally.
Modern Warsaw
In Warsaw we had a very large brand new apartment. It was in a new complex in a gentrifying area. All around the super complex was construction or dilapidated buildings that will be construction zones later. It reminded me of Downtown San Diego when it started to become a cool place to live/work. The complex had several good restaurants, 2 markets, and big gym and a really nice dog park. Surrounded by at least 20 cranes. I really don’t like walking under cranes, but I am going to have to get used to it. They are everywhere!
In this part of Warsaw there was still a lot of world war II damage on some of the buildings. 40 years of communism has slowed the renovation. Communists were resistant to repairing/rebuilding churches. They also did not like to celebrate heroes, risk takers, or people who thought for themselves, so monuments were not erected. That is a good thing in a way, because the churches that did get rebuilt, were built in a utilitarian manner, nothing like what was original. After communism fell, the country could raise money and build monuments, and restore palaces and churches.
A Special Stumble for the Bold
For a couple nights as we walked home from the public transport stop we kept seeing many people walk down a dirt path between dilapidated vacant buildings. We were curious what they were walking to. It was near where we were staying and seemed to be surrounded by chain link fence on 3 sides and encroached by weeds. So finally we got brave and followed the path. It came to an abandoned train stop on abandoned track. The “V” shaped overhangs, like covers at an old drive-in were still there. In the middle of this someone had installed a lot of neon, and there were at least 20 stalls where every kind of food was being sold, at least 3 microbreweries were present in food trucks, a band, and a barber. It was a great local party. I had some Hungarian street food called langoush (I am sure that is not even close to how it is spelled, or even how it is pronounced).
By the way, Polish is a very difficult language. They pronounce letters completely differently than anybody else, and there seem to be extra ones in every word too.
Krakow
So Krakow. Pronounced Crack-off. Not Crack-cow. Crack-cow is how Germans pronounced it, so it probably grates on locals when all of us mispronounce it. We’ve been here a week. Another nice apartment hotel. This one a traditional building, and nice traditional inside. Another Polish town, another WWII and communism lesson. Krakow is home to Auschwitz, a really neat salt mine that is a total tourist draw, and Schindler’s factory so it gets its share of tourists.
Polish Food
Polish food is really good comfort food. Pierogis are a main staple and I love them. They are dumplings stuffed with all types of things. Meats vegetables, fruits, sweet cheeses. Pierogis can be boiled, baked or fried. Another dish is a potato pancake that looks and tastes like crepes; also sweet or savory. I love them too. And duck. There is a lot of duck in Poland, Czech Republic and Germany. I am surprised every time I see a live one with as many as are eaten here. And pork, and even venison are common meats. Sausage (kielbasa) is made out of all three. Ice cream is everywhere, a main pastime. I’m talking about food because I want to delay taking about Auschwitz.
Schindler
He was really not the greatest guy. A major Nazi spy and was very helpful in the Nazi takeover of first Czechoslovakia (his country) and later Poland. He was a gambler, drinker, philanderer and swindler, He took possession of 2 factories and one store taken from Jews. He made a ton of money. Then he got a conscious and saved 1200 Jews. It cost him his future since he was either wanted as a war criminal for his actions on behalf of the Nazis, or against. He fled to Argentina like so many Nazis.
Auschwitz
I don’t want to say too much about it. It is a deeply personal journey to experience the site of evil to this degree. Everyone knows all about it and has heard about what we’ve now seen. A pile of human hair that would overfill a semi truck trailer, shoes, pots and pans, and more shoes. Rows and rows of barracks, with rows and rows of bunks. The bunks are larger than a sheet of plywood with about 30 inches in between levels, 5-6 people sept on each bunk. Very crowded, unsanitary, earth floor, horrid conditions intentionally inflicted in order to cause death. We San Diegans cannot fathom the effects of Polish weather, let alone without real shelter or clothes.
Surprises: Auschwitz now has many trees. It is peaceful. Auschwitz was a work camp mainly. Birkenau is more barren, and much bigger. Birkenau is where the most mass murdering occurred. I was amazed at the size, I can’t even compare it to anything. If you walked straight and rapidly, it would still take over 20 minutes to go from one end to the other. But even with the great, flat distance, I don’t think there would be room for all 1.3 million people killed there to be able to stand there at the same time.
What you can’t ignore: The amount of forethought. The level of project management. The efficiency. All grounded in a foundation of complete, collective, evil.
It’s haunting; it should be.