My experiences in Poland included hopping between Shot Bars, tasting the walls of salt mines, and walking through the barracks of Auschwitz. The emotional weight on me was immense and I was mentally and physically exhausted by the time I left. Nevertheless, Auschwitz was one of the most impactful experiences in my life and that if you can, you really must go there. Learning about history from a distance is nothing compared to the emotions you feel when walking through the site.
KRAKOW
Did you know that Krakow, Poland, was the first city on UNESCO's World Heritage List? It also has the largest medieval market place in the world.
With a population of 800,000, a quarter of whom are students, Krakow is a lively town with a rich history.
As per usual, the first thing I did, was attend the Free Walking Tour. Here's what I learnt:
Poland was invaded by Mongolia in the 13th century; all of Krakow was destroyed except for the castle.
After the Polish Golden Age, Russia, Prussia, and Austria partitioned the country from 1772-1918.
During WWI, the partitioned Poles were forcibly conscripted and made to fight against each other.
During WWII, Poland was invaded by the Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
After the War, Poland was under Soviet rule.
In 1978, Polish-born 'Pope St. John Paul II, the Great' called all Poles around the world to unite, fight, and win against the Communists.
Poland became a democracy in 1989.
On the tour, we listened to the trumpet player at the top of the church in the main square play the traditional tune which gets played 5 times a day.
We also walked around the eclectic Wawel Cathedral which is made up of a bunch of styles including Roman, Medieval, and the Polish Golden Age, from the extensions made by each of the Polish kings. Outside the entrance, you will see some bones...Legend has it that they're dragon bones, however, Science tells us they belong to a whale, a mammoth, and a rhino.
Make sure you visit a Polish Shot Bar where you can choose from a large list of shots for 40c each. And eat some bagels which are also sold on every street corner.
KAZIMIERZ
I walked down to Kazimierz, the Jewish quarter, where I learned about the tragic history of Jewish inhabitants during WWII.
In 1941, the Nazis drove 16,000 Jews out of Kazimierz and into the Ghetto. The Ghetto was built to hold only 3000 people, so most of them died. The ones who survived, were eventually sent to concentration camps.
There is a memorial to the Jews of Kazimierz with metal chairs. Each chair represents 1000 Jews and faces the direction of the crematorium to which they were sent.
Today, Kazimierz is a residential area with a great nightlife, however, I felt uneasy having a good time in a place that had seen so much suffering. On my way home, I walked past a part of the wall which used to surround the Ghetto not that long ago.
SCHINDLER’S FACTORY
There is a fantastic museum in the enamel factory which was once operated by the German industrialist, Oskar Schindler.
From 1939-45, Schindler employed many Jews due to the factory's proximity to the Kazimierz. There are many amazing stories of Schindler looking after his Jewish workers and providing them with the necessities that the Nazi Regime had taken away.
AUSCHWITZ
I went on a tour of Auschwitz - something which is mandatory for all Polish students from the age of 15.
Auschwitz is the largest Nazi German concentration camp and was established in 1914. Here, political prisoners (polish leaders, clergymen, and intellectuals) were forced to work 11 hour days.
From 1916-1945, it became a mass extermination site comprised of people from 20 different countries: 50% European Jews, 30% Poles, as well as Soviets and Gypsies.
Between 1940 and 1945, the Nazis deported 1,300,000 people to Auschwitz and 1,100,000 of them never left. Only 126 people escaped Auschwitz successfully, however, some were recaptured much later or their relatives were captured instead.
When the prisoners arrived at the camp, the Nazis split the men from the women and children, and the Protection Squad then decided who was fit for work and was to be murdered. In the photo, you can see the commander deciding the fate of the prisoner: lazily, he uses his finger to point right to work, or left to the gas chamber. He doesn't even use the effort to lift his full arm; those who can't work, are not worth keeping.
Those who were about to die were lied to again, and told they needed to be disinfected after the train ride. Mistaken for showers, the gas chambers had the ability to kill 2000 people every 20 minutes.
The Sonderkomano were a 95% Jewish group whose job it was to clean up the dead bodies. Their role was to repurpose anything that was considered valuable which included: cutting off hair, removing glasses, taking off prosthetics, and extracting gold teeth. The hair was used for fabric. I saw a pile that weighed 2 tonnes and was made from the hair of 40,000 Jewish women. It felt like I was looking at their dead bodies.
There was another pile with 40,000 pairs of shoes. And another pile with 2000 children's shoes representing less than 1% of the 230,000 children in Auschwitz.
The hardest part for me was seeing the pile of suitcases on which people had written their names, birthdays, and addresses. All the different handwriting and details of their previous lives was extremely moving. The sheer evilness of the genocide can be seen in the piles of belongings as the prisoners had been told that they were simply being resettled in the East.
Lining the walls of the barracks are also framed photos of the prisoners in their striped pyjamas with their shaved heads. You can read their names, numbers, birth dates, occupations, deportation dates, and death dates. Some of them only survived for a couple of months in Auschwitz.
In 1947, the Commander, Rudolf Höss, who lived with his family 250m away from the gas chambers, was executed right in between his house and the chambers.
BIRKENAU
After our tour of Auschwitz, we went to Birkenau, another mass-extermination camp, with a capacity of 90,000 people, that commenced operation in 1941.
Cruelly, the gas chambers were fitted with fake shower heads so that prisoners would go in excited to shower after their long train ride.
The furnaces could burn 4400 people a day.
In the Frauenlager section, one third of the prisoners were women. They had no toilets or running water, and they were forced to wear the same clothes the whole time. In Winter, the temperature could drop to -20°C.
When Germany heard that the Soviets were coming to liberate Poland, the Nazis only had a few months to evacuate. During that time, they managed to destroy 90% of their documents and records, and made the inmates walk on the so-called Death March to Germany. Many people died along the way, and that route is still lined with multiple mass graves. The ones who were too weak to march were rescued, however, 700 of them died within weeks.
It is interesting that in 1947 Auschwitz became a museum - only two years after it had been closed down.
SALT MINE
I travelled south of Krakow to visit the Wieliczka Salt Mine. This mine is humongous and has a long history having been excavated in the 13th century. It was in operation until 2007, but is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The mine is 135m deep, and until 2002, had working horses, some of which spent their whole lives underground.
I saw a couple of fully-saturated brine lakes...tasted saltier than you can imagine. Divers occasionally clean the bottom of the lake, but due to the buoyancy force, they have to add an additional 60kg to their body weight.
The mine also boasts a number of intricately-carved churches, complete with salt crystal chandeliers, and a function space which can be used for meetings and concerts.
The Wieliczka Salt Mine holds two 50m underground World Records: a bungee jump, and a hot air balloon ride.
Overall, the mine was super interesting and worth a visit if you're in Krakow.
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