Krakow, Poland

Thursday evening Sarah and I boarded what we didn't know would be one of the worst flights ever. Not from a turbulence standpoint, not from the lack of bad airplane food, but because there were 3 stag (bachelor) parties on our flight. Yes, you read that right, 3. So about half of our flight was full of loud, not sober, dressed up grown men. Anyone who has flown with me knows that I usually sleep from the moment we takeoff to the moment we touch down. That was not the case on this flight as it was loud and smelled like sweaty men who had been drinking. I moved seats 3 times and ended up sitting beside Sarah, and our descent was delayed by 10 minutes because a group of them refused to get out of the line for the toilet and sit down when the pilot switched on the fasten seatbelt sign.

After our terrible flight had ended and we got through passport control we took an Uber to our Airbnb and crashed. Friday morning we woke up pretty early and made our way to a supermarket where we grabbed breakfast and some food for lunch. We walked from there to the pickup point of our tour, and then drove a little over an hour to Auschwitz.

When our group arrived we were directed through security and given a headset which connected to our guide's microphone. The emotions I experienced while there are indescribable and cannot be replicated. We began at the entrance gate with the sign "Arbeit Macht Frei," or, "Work sets you free." Our guide told us that this was often times the first thing those arriving here saw. They knew their lives were changing, and they figured it was essentially going to be enslavement, but they had no clue just how awful the conditions would be. We also learned that Auschwitz actually existed before Nazi rule, and it was not just built to be a concentration camp. The camp consisted of 22 prewar brick barrack buildings and was originally used to hold the imprisoned teachers, civil servants, artists, priests, politicians, representatives of the intellectual elite, and members of the numerous resistance organizations arrested by the German police. The number of people being sent here soon increased exponentially and included Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, and the mentally and physically handicapped.

We walked amongst the barracks and learned which ones held females, males, those that were isolation barracks, which ones were used for experiments on human twins and attempts at the sterilization of women, and many, many more horrific events. We learned that days often began at 4am and didn't end until 9pm. That "camp coffee" was just warm brown liquid and many people starved to death while others were ill from lack of nutrition. There were a few barracks we were even allowed to walk through containing piles of human hair, shoes, eyeglasses, suitcases, and other belongings stolen from the people who were murdered here. Our guide made several good points, but one of the ones that stuck out to me most was that people brought everyday items with them. Not just clothes and shoes. Not just an extra cup. Things like a potato peeler. What other function does a potato peeler have than peeling potatoes? Why would anyone bring this item with them if they didn't think that some sense of normalcy would continue? They thought they were just continuing their lives in a new place. The people that were forced here had no idea what was happening inside the barbed wire fences. When they arrived at Auschwitz I they saw lush green grass and fountains and were told they were going to go see a doctor. They were told that life would continue pretty normally if they were good workers. They were lied to about everything.

After our tour of Auschwitz I was complete, we drove to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the second of the 40 camps that together made up what is considered an international symbol of genocide and the Holocaust. Birkenau was the largest of these camps, and is approximately 20-30 times the size of Auschwitz I. The majority of those in the Auschwitz Concentration Camp (about 90%, or 1 million people) were murdered in Birkenau. When it was constructed in October 1941 the function of this camp was supposed to be to hold 125,000 prisoners of war. By March of 1942 it became a branch of Auschwitz and served as the center for the extermination of the Jews. At the end of the Holocaust (late 1944- early 1945) Himmler ordered the SS to destroy as much of the camp as possible, but specifically the gas chambers and crematoriums, to get rid of the evidence of the events that had been going on.

"Arbeit macht frei" gate

I debated adding photos to this blog post, but I thought others could benefit from seeing what the camps looked like on a normal day, not just in a history book or online somewhere.

Photo 1: The "Arbeit Macht Frei" gate

Photo 2: Looking between barracks at Auschwitz I

Photo 3: A pile of suitcases (note the names and details on them) at Auschwitz I

Photo 4: Train tracks which lead in Birkenau

Photo 5: The view of where some destroyed bunkers used to stand

Photo 6: A gas chamber and crematorium which was destroyed by the SS

Saturday was a much lighter day as we started out by looking at art from locals on the street, went to Costa for breakfast, and then took a walking tour of the Old Town. It was sunny and 63 degrees, which was a nice change from the cold and rain we've been dealing with in Edinburgh for the last two weeks. Our tour started at St. Mary's Basilica and lasted about 2.5 hours. We learned all about the history of Krakow as the center of trade, the different conquerers of the area, how the city has transformed throughout centuries, and how the people live now. It's a student-filled city (over 200,000 students attend school there), which means the food is pretty good and it's overall a very cheap place to visit. Krakow is definitely a city I didn't plan to visit while here, but I'm sure glad I did.

After a good lunch and some ice cream, Sarah and I wandered the street markets where we saw live music, whole chocolate-dipped pears, and lots and lots of handmade items. At around 3:30pm we started on a walking tour of the Jewish Quarter, or as it's known in the city, Kazimierz. I'll be the first to admit that our guide wasn't the best, but he did provide good information. We learned the story of Irena Senler, the woman featured in the mural below, who was a social worker in the Krakow Ghetto. Irena would bring in vaccines, food, and clothing in her case every day, and every evening would place a child in and help them into a safe hiding place in the Aryan side. It is estimated that she saved over 2,500 children by doing this before getting caught. We saw a communist relic (a milk bar), one of the filming locations used in Schindler's List, and learned about the memorial made up of large chairs in the square of what used to be the ghetto. The reason chairs were chosen for this memorial was because when all of the remaining Jews living here were rounded up and sent to Auschwitz they were told they could bring a case of their belongings and one additional item. Many people chose to bring a chair from their home as they thought they were simply being relocated. When they were forced on the train, the square remained full of empty chairs.

After the tour concluded, Sarah and I got dinner in the Jewish Quarter and headed for the airport. Our flight home was much more calm and quiet, and we made good time. We were through passport check and on the bus home within 20 minutes of touchdown, which meant I was home and in bed much earlier than expected.

Before I wrap this post up I'd like to leave you with some things to think on.

We like to say that the people in the Holocaust were killed, not murdered. We like to think that the Nazis doing these killings were monsters, not people just like you and me. We like to think that this will never happen again, even though it's possible and it is happening. So, let me challenge you. Use the word "murder" when talking about Holocaust victims, because that's what happened to them. Places throughout Europe have memorials to specific peoples murdered in the Holocaust (Example: Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Poland), while many others around the world simply have generalized Holocaust memorials. Realize that hatred of other humans is what allowed this to happen to the capacity that it did. These were normal people with normal jobs who united over a common hatred and committed these acts. And please, think about the fact that 80 years from now, just as I visited Auschwitz and asked "Why didn't others do more in that time period?" others will be visiting somewhere else in the world and asking "Why didn't the people in 2019 do more? Why didn't they help?"

This next weekend we are staying in Edinburgh for the rugby quarter-finals game! I'm looking forward to it, especially since I'll get to learn a new sport from our Scottish friends while there. We'll probably also explore the nearby beach and may even visit a coo (Highland cow) farm! The possibilities in this city are endless! My parents will be here in less than a month and I cannot wait to see them and give them both a huge hug (and for them to take some of my stuff home so my suitcase isn't overweight). Keep a look out for my next update, and until then I hope you all do some good in the world.