I'm melting in Krakow. The first morning when I stepped off the train was perfect...even a little nippy, but it turned into a sweltering inferno in a matter of hours. It's nothing compared to Florida summer, but enough to zap your energy, especially when you're outside for most of the day.
Yesterday, I took a day trip to one of the most tragic and depressing places in the world - Auschwitz/Birkenau. The largest mass extermination site in Poland is only about an hour and half bus ride from Krakow. There are actually three camps with more than 40 subcamps but only Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau are open to the public and there is a shuttle bus that connects the two. I had visited Dachau concentration camp before in Germany and Auschwitz II was very similar. The structures are very basic with one story brick and later wooden barn style buildings. It's hard to imagine the suffering these people went through, and sometimes it's easier to not imagine at all. The wooden barracks were designed to hold 52 horses and the Nazis crammed about 400 people in there - barely protected from the elements with minimal rations and awful sanitary conditions. Auschwitz is a living museum and memorial so things are left untouched, including the destroyed gas chambers. The Nazis toward the end of the war tried to destroy any evidence of the brutality at Auschwitz and blew up the gas chambers. Today there are just two piles of collapsed concrete. In that way, I have to say that Dachau was more chilling because visitors could actually walk through the intact gas chambers disguised as showers.
Auschwitz I was completely different from what I expected. If not for the history, it would be a nice little community - something like a small boarding school. The brick buildings are three stories high and lined up in grids. The barracks have been converted to exhibitions and each one features a different theme; ranging from extermination and prison life to different Jewish populations who were also deported to Auschwitz. Anyway, after 5 hours, I had had enough and headed back. The night ended on a semi happier note with some football (soccer) watching in a local bar with my host and her friends, but unfortunately Poland lost so everyone went home defeated.
Today is Sunday, which means some museums around the city are free, and Sara and I took advantage. We started off with the Ethnology museum and then I went solo to the History of Photography museum. I love days when the only things I have to pay for are food :)
Yesterday, I took a day trip to one of the most tragic and depressing places in the world - Auschwitz/Birkenau. The largest mass extermination site in Poland is only about an hour and half bus ride from Krakow. There are actually three camps with more than 40 subcamps but only Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau are open to the public and there is a shuttle bus that connects the two. I had visited Dachau concentration camp before in Germany and Auschwitz II was very similar. The structures are very basic with one story brick and later wooden barn style buildings. It's hard to imagine the suffering these people went through, and sometimes it's easier to not imagine at all. The wooden barracks were designed to hold 52 horses and the Nazis crammed about 400 people in there - barely protected from the elements with minimal rations and awful sanitary conditions. Auschwitz is a living museum and memorial so things are left untouched, including the destroyed gas chambers. The Nazis toward the end of the war tried to destroy any evidence of the brutality at Auschwitz and blew up the gas chambers. Today there are just two piles of collapsed concrete. In that way, I have to say that Dachau was more chilling because visitors could actually walk through the intact gas chambers disguised as showers.
Auschwitz I was completely different from what I expected. If not for the history, it would be a nice little community - something like a small boarding school. The brick buildings are three stories high and lined up in grids. The barracks have been converted to exhibitions and each one features a different theme; ranging from extermination and prison life to different Jewish populations who were also deported to Auschwitz. Anyway, after 5 hours, I had had enough and headed back. The night ended on a semi happier note with some football (soccer) watching in a local bar with my host and her friends, but unfortunately Poland lost so everyone went home defeated.
Today is Sunday, which means some museums around the city are free, and Sara and I took advantage. We started off with the Ethnology museum and then I went solo to the History of Photography museum. I love days when the only things I have to pay for are food :)
Hi Tan Tan,
ReplyDeleteTrust all is going well with you. We still continue to read all of your journey and find it exciting.
Take care. We love you, Libby and John
Hi Libby and John,
ReplyDeleteThanks for following along my adventures :) Everything is going well and I just purchased my tickets back to the US. Only one more month left.