Krakow, Poland! Project Week 2013

Krakow!

Summary-

A trip that combined the two best projects:

1. Extremely educational, sentimental and memorable,

2. An amazing group of AC students put together in a new, unexplored city – itching to discover

 

Day by Day-

 

As the trips went, it was one of the shorter abroad trips of only four nights, but Kate’s Hungarian efficiency managed to make it worthy of every hour, so that by Thursday morning we were all exhausted and ready for AC beds. Let me explain…

 

Day 1-

 

Meeting at the Outer Arch at 2:10am meant three hours of sleep on Saturday night (though I’d say about 10 of the 20 students just stayed awake in anticipation). We embarked on the 2 hour bus ride to Bristol, with 2 hours to wait before our 2 and a half hour plane to Krakow.

After arriving and being settled in the hostel (my second hostel, so still not sure about how they go, but this one seemed nicer with three girls per room and an en suite, we also seemed to be the only guests and had the whole floor to ourselves, which meant the kitchen area was our meeting room), we went for a walking trip of Medieval Krakow. We had a guide, who had a Gandalf walking stick and described a long-winded story of how the fifth Beatle was from Krakow. That being said, he was very knowledgeable. It’s a shame though that we were all freezing. Within half an hour of walking my toes went from feeling stuck together to not there at all. The pain.

The tour ended in the Main Square. This was definitely the area with the best architecture of Krakow. Otherwise, I hate to say it, but it was quite a dull place. The main building was St. Mary’s church, it was enchanting. Probably the most memorable than any I’d seen in Rome last year when I entered. So many colours and details, and I guess it made a difference that we went in when Mass was actually taking place so it was full of people singing Polish hymns and the atmosphere was inviting. Entering most of the Churches in Rome were cold and empty.  

That evening I took the first of many blissful power naps before heading out with 12 other AC students to find a restaurant. We settled on one in the Main Square where I chose Polish dumplings – Pierogi, which basically has potato and cheese in the middle – quite yummy. Polish food in general is not light on the carbs. I’m convinced they have to fatten up to keep warm. But I try to forget this when travelling and experience what the locals eat (minus the excessive amount of meat…).

This can be mentioned for every meal, but it was just all SO CHEAP. A very good meal would be about 20/30 Zloty “slot-ty’s”, and that would be divided by 5 to get the price in pounds. It meant that we didn’t have to spend any additional money than what we paid months ago to Kate for our suppers.

 

Day 2-

 

The next day we went to the Jewish District, starting at the museum that used to be where Schindler’s Factory was located and ending with a tour around the area…

We had another tour guide, this one extremely impressive in her knowledge on Jewish History, having a degree in the subject.  She took us around the factory, which was a very visual and interesting museum, about the invasion of the Nazis and all the changes. I didn’t take notes but took pictures of a few of the displays. It reminded me when in there about being in the Vatican Museum, just needing to sit down and get my bearings as there was simply so much to learn. I commented this to Kate and she said, ‘Well, if you leave remembering only 20% of what you see you’re still doing very well’. Hopefully I did.

 

It was about an hour and a half into the museum before Oskar Schlinder was even mentioned. At the point we saw a recreation of his desk, with the real map he used behind it. There was then a room covered with 1198 names, of all the Jews which he saved. However it was enlightening to hear a different perspective than what we see in the movie of Schindler. In the movie, he really is made to seem as a complete saviour.

 

Yet our tour guide gave the other view of him being an opportunist. Not to say that he didn’t save those lives… but the scene where he names each Jew would not have happened. He gave a number of how many he needed and one of his trusted men (in the role of Stern, who embodied about three real characters) decided the list. There were actually four lists, changing with names being removed and other being added… more of the connections you had and making sure the person who wrote the list liked you.

 

Also the part of the film where he gets all of the women back from Auschwitz did not happen. He would have gotten women back, but not the same women – just the same number. 

 

The final part I remember where my perspective of Schlinder changed was about the ring. The touching moment where they made a ring that said ‘Save the life of one and you save the life of the world’. That ring did exist, it was given to him. However, he confessed later in life that he traded it for a shot of Schnapps on his travels.

These were quite sad to think, because initially I and I think many of my peers, were in awe of him. Of course, he did risk a lot at the end- but the movie (as they usually do) heightens his kindness.

 

After having a meal at a restaurant the tour guide had recommended for us, we went on to the Jewish District. The sad fact that at peak, there were more than 68,000 Jews living in the Jewish District, and at present there are 200. We looked at the 7 synagogues and many of the scenes from the movie, such as the staircase that the women hides under, the road where the man comes out of the drain pipe and starts moving suitcases and the time the workers have to start shovelling snow.

 

That evening we went to a lovely restaurant, again in Main Square. I splurged with Shana and tried the White Russians- which we probably the best I’ve ever had! It was such a nice atmosphere in the room, a private one to ourselves with candle light. So much laughter and stories!

 

Day 3-

 

One of the most intense days of my life. I will forever remember it, and am glad it is only that – a few hours of memory compared to the horrific idea it was the last place a million Jews ever experienced.

 

We started the hour bus ride by seeing the real video footage of the Soviets liberating the camp. It wasn’t released until 1990 (somewhere around then, I may have it wrong). The most horrific footage was the doctors doing autopsies of a few of the bodies, including a starved baby of no more than a month.

 

Once at Auschwitz we were given a headset, which connected to our tour guides where she was able to speak up to 200m away and we could hear. This meant that as we were going through all of the rooms she could be whispering and we would all hear. It also helped as there were over a dozen groups going about 10 minutes after each other, so we wouldn’t get confused.

 

I didn’t take any pictures in Auschwitz or Birkenau. What I remember is walking from each red-bricked building (former Polish barracks), and seeing the saddest things on display. There isn’t really a strong enough adjective. This included:
a room as big as my bedroom, filled to the brim with used shoes, right beside a room the size of a bathroom with young children’s shoes. Than thousands of spectacles, another with thousands of hairbrushes. Thousands of suitcases, all signed with names in bold letters and years of birth. A horrific room of hair, 2 tonnes of the 7 tonnes collected. What we were seeing was only a small percentage of what was left at the camp when it was liberated. The majority has already been sent back to Germany. Then remember this was only one of the camps… the multiplications just got worse and worse.  All of these items were held in four barracks in Birkenau, which the prisoners called ‘Canada’, which was synonymous to them with wealth.

 

After this we saw the living conditions. However in this hallway were hundreds of framed pictures. Of a miniscule amount of prisoners. Each had a date of entry, and most (from a few days to a few months later) date of death. All with hollow eyes. Striped uniforms. So many faces, so many lives. Seeing something like this is a reminder that it’s more than just a number- of 6 million Jews, each life is someone else’s everything.

 

Then the horrible torture rooms. The cell where the Priest (who I studied four years ago in Religious Education) Maximus Kolbe was given the lethal injection after surviving for 2 weeks without food while giving his life for a fellow inmate. The miniscule 1m by 1m stalls where four people were forced to stand for four hours and then go to work for the other four… It was … indescribable.

 

All of these moments passed quite quickly, with our tour guide talking and explaining everything. But it was all done so fast that we weren’t given much chance to reflect, at least I thought so. So when we had a moment of silence at the Wall of Death was the first time I was overcome and began to cry. But we moved on and continued our walk soon after.

 

We then had a five minute bus ride to Birkenau. We entered right beside railway track. Then walked the distance down the platform, seeing the cattle crates that 80 people were crammed into for days of travelling. What was significant about this is that 75% of the people who came to Birkenau immediately went to the gas chambers. They were never prisoners- they never entered a barrack.

 

Day 4

The last day we needed something light. We went to the Salt Mines, which was very interesting. It was MASSIVE. Unlike my idea of coal mines, we were walking in corridors, all mined easily. There were 7 levels and apparently we only went to 3, and a small percentage of them – it took us over 2 hours. There were some truly beautiful (shocker, I know) parts. The most magnificent was a chapel, where many people get married. It looked like a really big, well carved cave- we had to keep reminded ourselves that it was all man-made. Apparently the air is good to breathe in their as well, so I was taking big breaths. As a group we bought Kate a cheesy Salt light, something to remind her of the trip.

 

That afternoon we went on an adventure to find – the mall. But it was quite exciting. We had to take the tram and only got lost twice. Once we arrived to at the mall, as usual I was overwhelmed at simply how much was on display. Shana was extremely excited for ‘FroYo’, a natural yoghurt chain that is in the States.

We went back to the same restaurant we did after Schlinders List Museum for the last night. Again, it was a lovely evening.

 

 

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And that was Poland. I think I’ve included everything. With half an extended essay in words if you’ve gotten to this part you baffle me. It was a trip I will always look back on, as I do with Rome. I doubt I’ll ever go back to Krakow (never say never though), but the experience will last my lifetime.