Advertisement
Published: March 7th 2014
Edit Blog Post
What a whirlwind two days! We knew when we decided to go to Krakow that it was going to be tiring and quick but I felt that we needed to visit Auschwitz Birkenau given we were so close. I've always felt that the atrocities of the past should be known and acknowledged by all generations and as such, Auschwitz Birkenau was very important to me. So important that we got a 10 hour sleeper train from Hungary to Poland, and then another one from Poland to the Czech Republic.
Firstly, I have to say I didn't expect to like Krakow in Poland all that much, didn't know anything about it but it was the closest major city to Auschwitz so that's how we ended up there. It was a pleasant surprise, a lovely city with rich history and fortunately mostly maintained after all the perils of war. I believe it is the best maintained city in Poland, having not suffered the bombings of most of the other areas. The nice thing was that on the whole the people were extremely friendly (which we've found is not that common in some areas of Europe), the city was easy to navigate with
the old town close by, and generally the city had a lovely feel to it.
We started off well by arriving at 6:30am and trudging through the park to our hotel. We had had very little sleep, feeling like we were on the inside of a very noisy and active washing machine the whole night. The sleeper train cabin was very small, as you would expect but it was the lack of sleep that was difficult as we are already tired from our travels. When we arrived at the hotel the man at the desk said they'd had an early checkout so if we gave them about half an hour, we could check in. This was most welcome, as we didn't have to meet our tour until 9:05. We went to Coffee Heaven (literally the name of the place) and had a really good coffee (turns out it's just Italy that's the problem for coffee) and then came back, had a shower and a quick lie down. Believe me, this was so welcome after such a rough night!
We had booked a tour to Auschwitz through our hotel which only ended up costing about $40 each including transport
Carriage
This is an actual carriage that brought prisoners to Birkenau and is the spot where they went left or right on a cute little mini bus and an English guide. The camp is about an hour outside of Krakow in the suburb if Oswiecim. Auschwitz is the German name for Oswiecim. We started of by visiting Auschwitz 2 which is a small camp with those iron gates you might have seen. It also houses what one might call the museum, with lots of detailed stories and pieces of history. It wasn't as confronting as I had thought it might be, perhaps as I had studied a lot about it previously so knew a lot of the horror stories. However seeing 40,000 shoes left behind in glass displays, along with other "artefacts" such as bags, shoe polish, combs etc was extraordinary. It's insane to think these prisoners were stripped of everything, including their hair to add to the humiliation and torture. There was also a huge cabinet full of hair, which was used to make things like pillows that were sold. Can you imagine? It was said that the prisoners heads were shaved to ensure they were recognisable should they somehow escape from the camp. the nazis not only tortured these people, but profited off their belongings and even their hair
long after they were gone.
At Auschwitz 2 we had our first and only experience in a gas chamber. The chamber used to gas prisoners to murder them is still intact. That was a very humbling place to visit.
We went over to Birkenau which is much much bigger and not all intact as the Nazis destroyed the gas chambers a few days before the liberation to destroy the evidence. So at Birkenau there is not that much to see, however it contains what has left most of a mark on me. When you see old videos and photos of people arriving at Auschwitz Birkenau you often see them being herded left or right after a quick once over to determine whether they would be any use. If you were determined viable (eg able to work, or useful for medical experimentation, in particular twin children) you would be sent right. If not, you would be sent left, straight to a gas chamber. Once you see the conditions they lived in, you start to think that those killed immediately upon arrival may have been more lucky. A lot of people, even strong people our age, only lasted two weeks
before dying of starvation, exhaustion or frostbite.
Anyway, the point to all this, is that I was standing on that spot, where people went left or right. Matt was walking off with the tour group to the left and I couldn't help but think, what if that was the last ever saw of him. This particular spot that I am standing has seen more individual devastation than probably anywhere else in the world. It was profound, and has certainly left its mark on me. I am still thinking about that spot and of all the terror felt there. And that was before many of them even understood what the left or right meant. To them it probably was terrifying just being separated from their loved ones.
To all those who said to me "oh I couldn't visit Auschwitz" I say that there is a good reason for all of us to be very aware of what went on in such recent history. it is not as confronting as I would have thought, and I would recommend everyone visits such a site at least once in their lifetime.
Our second day in Krakow was spent on another tour,
to the Wieliczka Salt Mine, in Krakow itself. We did this tour based on advice from the hotel and because it ranked so highly on trip advisor. We really had no idea what to expect, nor what we were really going to either. It started with over 300 steps down into the mine and then a tour downstairs. Essentially it is a salt mine but it had underground chapels, a ballroom and lots of statues and depictions of early mining life. You can even have a wedding reception there! It's quite incredible to see chandeliers made out of rock salt. Certainly not something I'd ever seen before!
When it was time to return to the surface (we were 135m underground) we were told there would be a lift. It was seriously traumatic! It was a miners cage, three on top of each other! Not really my idea of a good lift! But we made it to the top.
We spent the afternoon at the Basilica in the old town and went into the worlds first shopping mall, which now holds tourist type market shops. We had another coffee at coffee heaven and then dinner at a place called
Yummies in the old town and then went to get our sleeper train, which didn't leave until 10:03pm. The station is adjoined to a brand new shopping centre, both of which only opened two weeks ago. We waited for our train in the shopping mall, having gelato with our remaining zlotny. This sleeper train was much older than the previous one but slightly more roomy. The only downside was the heater didn't work so it was absolutely freezing all night! We slept a little better but the cold really hindered us.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.152s; Tpl: 0.06s; cc: 9; qc: 40; dbt: 0.0434s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
David
non-member comment
From Grandma
Grandma has read all the pages and it sounds wonderful. (Read it aloud)