A Cry of Despair

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This morning we went to the Gallery of 19th Century Polish Art, which houses the most famous museum collections in Poland. These paintings reflect the aspirations of Poland. As compared to the art I saw in Rome, these paintings were very recent, more 1890s rather than late 1500s.

Then we headed to The Princes Czartoryski Museum. Only one room was open for visitors, so it was kind of disappointing because the items on display were not labeled very well.

For lunch, we went to U Babei Maliny ("Granny Raspberry") and, of course, I ordered pierogies. To my surprise, the cheese pierogies were sweet and garnished with powdered sugar. I have never tasted sweet pierogies, but it was very delicious.

For the second half of the day, we toured Auschwitz and Birkenau Concentration Camps. It was about an hour and a half drive from Kraków. The first tour was Auschwitz where an estimated 1.1 million people were murdered. On display was possessions, hairbrushes and shoes, stolen from the prisoners. There were also rooms showing the living quarters and bathrooms. We also went inside one of the gas chambers and crematorium, which was very chilling and unsettling.

We headed to Birkenau for the second half of the tour, which was about a 5 minute drive from Auschwitz. Birkenau is a much larger camp, mainly for extermination. We were able to see the last remaining train car that brought people into Birkenau through the main gate. Also, there was a memorial built toward the back of region 1. It is amazing how we could only see about 65% of Birkenau, and the rest of the camp was beyond the trees.

There was also remains of a underground gas chamber, which again was disturbing to observe. We headed to a living quarter that was open to the public, which was a lot smaller and worse conditions as compared to Auschwitz. In one living quarter, about 400 people would be housed and 4-6 people per bed. These museums were very moving and really makes you think. At times, it was very difficult and numbing, and I would distract myself, but I am very glad that I was able to experience this piece of history.

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