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Published: September 11th 2007
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A Rich and Shattered Heritage
As you travel through Europe there is a remarkable and unfortunate reoccurring theme: Jews have a lot to offer a culture/government but will almost always end up persecuted or, worse yet, massacred. Poland is, no doubt, one of the more shocking examples of Jewish heritage destroyed in the name of prejudice.
As I’m sure most of you know, Poland was quickly taken hostage by the Nazis in WWII. Prior to that unfortunate incident around 65,000 Jews lived in the Kazimierz neighborhood of Krakow. This huge population of Jews made up about a quarter of the city’s population and were a vital part of the Polish economy. Over the nearly 500 years since the founding of Kazimierz, supposedly by a king who wanted a nice place for his Jewish girlfriend, the population had swelled and become a thriving part of Krakow.
Kazimierz On our second full day in Krakow we had originally planned to head to Auschwitz (see below) but had a change of plan at the last minute. Due to an ever growing laundry issue we decided to spend our day in search of a solution for said
problem. Sadly it turns out, that unlike most other cities of its size, Krakow has a drought of easily accessible laundromats. After serious hemming and hawing we eventually gave in and took our clothes to a nearby “Betty Clean” which is basically a dry cleaners. While ridiculously expensive in terms of what we normally spend to do our laundry, it was far cheaper than having the hotel do our laundry (hotels generally have horrible laundry services and expect ridiculous amounts of money to do even one pair of pants).
While it seems ridiculous to have spent almost half a day in search of laundry, that is what we did. Traveling like this is not always fun and games!! Finally, with our laundry at “Betty Clean”, we were free to spend our afternoon doing whatever we wanted.
Kel opted to finish some travel planning. We had been fully booked through the first week in September which was quickly approaching. Due to the shrinking timeline for making plans, and the free internet access in our comfy room, Kel opted to spend the next few hours getting a few weeks of planning done.
As often occurs in these situations where
Kel has something she wants (or has) to do that doesn’t really involve me, I decided to explore more of Krakow. I figured with Krakow’s impressive, if sad, Jewish history that a trip to Kazimierz, the Jewish quarter would be interesting. Much like the Czech Republic’s crown jewel, Prague, Krakow has a couple of important and poignant Jewish sights, all within a short walk of the main tourist sights in the old town.
After the twenty minute walk I found myself in the heart of Kazimierez, on the Ulica Szeroka. My first stop was at the Old Cemetery which was used up until 1800. Sadly, much of the Old Cemetery, as well as much of the New Cemetery, were destroyed by the Nazis. Grave markers were used to pave roads and as building materials. Thankfully the Old Cemetery has been painstakingly restored and many of the grave stones replaced. Those pieces that could not be rebuilt into full grave markers were taken and made into a wall which stretches down the length of one side of the cemetery. Due to the orderliness and restoration efforts the Old Cemetery feels much younger than its newer compatriot. The New Cemetery, which
has been in use since 1800, is much more similar to the Jewish Cemetery in Prague. While the Old Cemetery has orderly lines of similar grave stones, the New Cemetery is a hodgepodge of different sizes, styles, and shapes of grave markers. The almost chaotic space is nearly impossible to walk through because even the paths have been usurped as a space for the dead. I found that being alone walking through the New Cemetery, in particular, to be a very moving experience. As you steer yourself between the stones that are placed in every available space you discover whole families that died between 1940-1945 and know that those people must have suffered at the hands of their Nazi occupiers.
As a precursor for our next day’s trip out to Auschwitz, I found a trip into Kazimierz to be both dramatic and joyful at the same time. While under Nazi rule, and later Soviet rule, the Jews of this area were mistreated and oppressed. Today the area is on a come-back. Kazimierz is a hotbed of night life and is being slowly restored into a top tourist attraction. It is good to see the once great Jewish quarter making
strides towards a rebirth.
Auschwitz and Birkenau On our final day in Krakow we finally got all our stuff together enough to catch an early bus out to Auschwitz. Fifty miles outside of Krakow the infamous death camp sits just outside the town of Osweicim. As you pass through the countryside on the small, crowded local buses, you don’t feel as if you are heading to a site of death and destruction. There is a certain vitality to life outside of Krakow as if maybe the area is doing its best to remain above the horrors that once affected everyone who lived there.
The bus lets you off about a five minute walk from Auschwitz I, the first of the camps set up mainly for Polish political prisoners. The camp was once a military base but was converted to a detention camp soon after the arrival of the Nazis. It wasn’t until 1942 that Auschwitz started its infamous existence as an extermination camp for mostly Jews. By time Auschwitz and its bigger brother Birkenau were liberated in 1945, 1.1 million people were killed in this part of Poland’s countryside.
As you enter the camp
you immediately realize that, despite the crowd, the place is nearly silent. While silence is required as a respect for those that died here, it seems everyone stays quiet due to the feeling of eeriness and almost palpable evil. Having visited Dachau earlier on this trip you could really tell the difference in how the camps felt. While Dachau was mostly a work camp, Auschwitz had only one true purpose - death.
Having been through many museums and other WWII sights over the last 10 months, much of the information imparted in the museums was redundant. It wasn’t until we reached the Evidence rooms in about the fifth building. This building contains whole rooms of things that were found at the camps when they were liberated. The Nazis collected and saved all the stuff the prisoners brought with them for their “resettlement” - only to be met with the gas chamber or worked to death instead. From rooms of shoes, glasses, cookware, suitcases and children’s clothes the amount of items is nearly staggering and is only more impactful when you realize that it is merely a small portion of the stuff that was left behind by people who died
there. The room that is the most disgusting and heart chilling is the room full of human female hair. The hair was used to create textiles in German factories and was shipped by the ton. The room had about half a ton of human hair which had grayed with age but was still obviously taken from people. Everyone who enters the room is struck dumb with emotion.
About a ten minute bus ride away from Auschwitz I is Birkenau (Auschwitz II). This, bigger brother of Auschwitz I held up to 100,000 people at a time. Many of the buildings that were once here have fallen down or had their raw materials stolen for the after-war rebuilding effort. The only thing that remains of much of the camp are hundreds of smoke stacks that stretch as far as the eye can see. These chimneys are the remains of the one fireplace that existed in each building. Like a graveyard, these chimneys stands as markers for those that passed through Birkenau and didn’t survive.
The whole experience at Auschwitz/Birkenau was deeply moving and sad. Many people wonder why we take our time to visit these places and I often have
to remind people of the saying, “Those who don’t learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.” While a painful experience and one that probably won’t be repeated, visiting these camps gives a more solid impression of the horrors that happened, an indelible mark that we both will not forget.
Well, hope everything back home is going well. Kel and I miss you all and thank you for reading the blog!
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Beth Shadur
non-member comment
death camps
Thanks for your blog. I myself couldn't even go to visit, it would be too devastating for me, so I especially appreciate your photos and descriptions. It is especially a time to contemplate, given it being Rosh Hashana, and the beginning of the High Holidays,and a time when Jews all over the world give over their time for contemplation.