Auschwitz & Modern Poland

Krakow Jewish Quarter

This was our very last weekend for traveling in the program. Ever since I was in Texas I was confident I would go to Salzburg this weekend & was pumped to see the place where so much history occurred (featured in the famous musical "The Sound of Music"). The Sound of Music, starring Julie Andrews has been a lifetime favorite and a very influential movie. I cried when I turned 16 and the song "Sixteen Going On Seventeen" could be about me, and subsequently cried again when I turned 19 and no longer fit into the lyrics at all. Another favorite song was "Edelweiss" which my sweet mom would sing to us when we couldn't sleep, felt sick, or were scared of storms. I could not wait to go and visit this beautiful place.

I obviously did not go to Salzburg. Something in me changed as we sat through our lectures last week. The detail of the Nazi experiments- sterilization, saltwater tolerance, euthanasia, altitude in addition to the child euthanasia really gripped my heart. A couple of my friends were planning on going to Krakow & Auschwitz that last weekend and so I made a 180 decision to go to Poland. 

After our last program event on Thursday the three of us caught a long bus ride to Katowice from Vienna. I sat next to a very tall and buff Czech man on the ride there up until he got off in Brno. At first I just made small talk and asked where he was going and then I fell asleep for 15 minutes. Eventually we got to talking about how I was a student here and our program, and how he was traveling from France after working on an Electron Microscope in a lab there. What a seriously cool dude. Our conversation progressed from how the microscope helped convert me from being a musician into a scientist, popular Czech sports, Trump's "wall", good foods, and the physics behind the EM scope. We probably talked for 3 hours nonstop as the landscape took a turn from the prestige of Austria into the humble Czech border towns, into the Eastern style buildings of the Czech Republic. 

View from the Airbnb in Katowice

As we pulled into Katowice it was 1:30 am and very poorly lit. The buildings were dark, and we walked 3 minutes to our AirBnB. Our host was out of town and left instructions, and it was almost like the escape room as Emily put it. It was supposedly in this old apartment complex, but we couldn't find the door we needed to buzz into. After searching around in the dark for several minutes, feeling like we may die, we walked out to the front of the complex and finally found our door. Our instructions were to buzz the number 5 and then walk in to the mailboxes and grab the correct set of keys. Let me tell you, this place had no lights on and was very old. With our flashlights in hand we FINALLY got into our beds and slept. 

Shrouded in the rays of morning Katowice was a vibrant little town, with street performers, fresh markets, bakeries, and flower stands. The buildings were a refreshing change from the perfect little towns in Western Europe. Poland was more... Eastern? More war torn, historical, less affluent? The people carried themselves differently, and there was a change in atmosphere. It was so exciting. We spent the majority of the morning at a little cafe and Mikayla, Emily, & I had such a quality conversation. This is one thing I will carry with me forever- Europe has blessed me the love of long meals and even longer conversations- to not rush around in life but prioritize investment in other people. 

Old Town Krakow

Later we almost missed the 3rd bus on the trip, even after ensuring ahead of time we had found the place. Out of breath from sprinting halfway across town we sat on the hot flixbus to Krakow. Seeing the landscape outside has been a top favorite from all of my travels, but not even the beautiful vineyards of the Rhineland compared to the beautiful birch trees in Poland. This was the most beautiful country I have seen which I didn't expect. There were sprinkles of wildflowers everywhere in the best color combinations (as if they knew how to color coordinate), and soft grasses covering all the areas where there were no trees. I was instantly in love, and Poland is now on the top of my list up there with Norderney and Interlaken.

Guess

Our first day was relaxing and we had our first taste of polish pierogis, and went into town after dark. The buildings in the town square were lit up making them look both medieval and romantic. There were people walking around, musicians playing throughout the streets, and locals laughing and chatting at all of the street cafes and bars. Even the shops were still open. Such a charming place. My favorite moment was the cellist and composer playing cello with a loop pedal in one of the side streets in front of this building with Roman statues behind him. Even the air that night was perfect. 10/10 recommend this town for a romantic weekend get-away. Also, if you find yourself in Krakow, try the Basil mozzarella gelato. Ha, oh my it was actually good? No further comments. We spent that night in a hostel and a polish guy who worked as a manger for McDonalds slept in the bed across from me. Interesting place.

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Day two we got up early to catch our bud to take us to Auschwitz. Once we got there the air was still, and I got the chills. It is hard to describe the place. It was real. We walked into the smaller, older part of the camp first. After the "Work will make you free" gate we walked through a building that contained thousands of pounds of hair that was cut from the women prisoners, and mounds of shoes of the children that were not even given a chance at life. 

Four feelings:

Disbelief.
Fury.
Sorrow.
Nausea. 

There are no words that can do justice to walking through the camp yourself. There is nothing that can fix it or make what happened better.

We walked past the building where the "doctors" performed and killed many young women about my age in the sterilization experiments. 

We walked through one of the smaller crematoriums and "showers" aka gas chambers.

We walked into the death block where they contained "prisoners". We walked where they performed the gas experiments to see that it would be an effective method of murder. In that building was a starvation cell where St. Maximilian Kolbe actively gave his life in order for a father to live and raise his children. 

Remember earlier when I was gushing over the landscape in Poland as we traveled from Katowice to Krakow- well hey guess what, Auschwitz is in that area. Walking around the camp- if I had no clue about what happened there- I would have thought "wow look how beautiful the trees and soft the grasses are and how cool the buildings looked (on the exterior)." All of us girls agreed.

It made me sick. 

We were told that there was no grass inside the camp at the time because the amount of prisoners trampling it every day made it impossible for life. My stomach twisted. 

We then took the bus to the 3km way second part of the camp called Birkenau. I could not comprehend how large this place was in comparison. Not even the sheer number of buildings, but how packed they were on top of how awful the weather gets when it wasn't the chilly summer time. 

My soul ached, and I just wanted to sit in the middle of the camp and bawl my eyes out.

Of all of the horrors of the place, as we left we noticed that the fields outside of the fence were filled to capacity with the most beautiful wildflowers I have ever seen. The flowers were consoling. There is only grass inside the fence, but outside it was as if God left his own memorial for those who suffered here. 

It blew my mind that people could be so dehumanized and treated in such a way because of what? How could such a large part of society turn against these people in such a cruel way? What did the Jews and Polish people ever do to deserve this? 

The three of us discussed how it was unbelievable how people could be so horrible, but then we got to talking about the crusades, slavery, internment camps, Rwanda, and even now with the mindset we have about immigration. People are capable of horrible things, and always have been. However, look at the example of St. Maximillian Kolbe, the sonderkommando workers who rebelled by blowing up one of  the crematoriums, and other heroic and compassionate people during the war. We as humans have an enormous capacity. Capacity for whatever things we chose. I have faith in humanity and hope in the beauty of life, and that we are capable of learning from the past especially when it comes down to how we treat others. 

On Sunday we visited Schindler's Factory. It wasn't what I expected it to be, but it was very cool. Background- Schindler was a Nazi who owned an enamelware factory and employed many Polish and Jewish workers, and saved their lives by hiding them and bribing the SS workers. He is a prime example of how even a Nazi can be bold enough to see humanity for what it really is. 

The factory was curated well, it walked you through the progression of antisemitism in Krakow, the Nazi takeover of the city, the persecution of the professors and students, the new German population of the town, the work camps, the smuggling, daily life, poor conditions, and the forming of the Jewish ghetto. The place did a very good job conveying how not only were the concentration camps a disgrace to humanity, but also the conditions in which the Jewish and Polish people lived in outside of those places were just awful. Words cannot convey the feeling that the country has left on my heart.

One of the buildings in the previous Jewish Ghetto

We decided to visit the Jewish Square and the area that used to be the Jewish Ghetto that afternoon, and I'm very glad we did.

Modern Poland has a deeply rooted Catholic culture that remains vibrant and devout. Any store you walk into you walk out of with an extra prayer card in your pocket. The food is spectacular, and reminds me of home. I have eaten my weight in the delicious pierogis, seen so much beauty and liveliness in the nature people and city.

All the cafes had magnificent flowers

It has been a blessing to get to witness and live in another culture as opposed to just reading about it. Poland you are beautiful to your very core.