Krakow and Auschwitz, Poland

For my last trip, I went to Poland with my Rise and Fall of Hitler class for our study tour. On Friday we headed to Krakow where we stayed until Sunday. We got in late Friday night so we just went to the hotel, ate dinner, and went to bed. On Saturday, we woke up and met our guide for a walking tour of Krakow. It was a little chilly but the city was beautiful! I was a surprised at how much I liked this city because I never really heard anything about Poland. After a couple hours of walking, we split up for lunch. There was a little circle of food stands with pizzas, pierogis, fries and ice cream so we stopped to get some amazing pierogis; better than Pittsburgh’s! After our late lunch we met back up with the group and headed back to the hotel. We freshened up for the evening piano concert we were all attending. The concert lasted about an hour and afterwards all the students went out for a bar crawl! The first bar was “power hour” and after that you went to three other bars. By no surprise, I went to the first bar & after just enough drinks went back to the hotel with some friends. It was so much fun though, I’m glad our whole class went together! The only thing missing was Haag haha. On Sunday we visited the Gestapo, Jewish ghetto, and Schindler’s Factory. They were all super cool, I expected Schindler’s Factory to be more of a factory but it was a big museum with plaques and props explaining parts of WWII. We had the evening to ourselves so we went to the big market in the square. There were so many stands with food, ceramics, lollipops, wooden tools and other cool things to purchase. We stopped for dinner and then headed back to the hotel to pack. On Monday we hopped on a bus to Częstochowa where we visited a salt mine and church on the way. The salt mine was very interesting! There was a giant ballroom made out of salt, even the chandeliers were. The guide said that there are events and some weddings that take place there. After the salt mine and church visit we made our way to our new hotel where we ate dinner and relaxed. Tuesday was the big day; we were visiting Auschwitz. Everyone was really excited but didn’t know what to expect. We watched a documentary about Auschwitz on our way to the camp. The weather was very cold and gloomy, which reflected the day we were about to have. When we got there, we met our guide and made our way to the entrance gate. It was so chilling to see the gate which is shown in so many photos and movies. We walked inside and began the tour. The first Block we entered mostly talked about the war and showed some pictures. We walked up the steps and into a room that showed a display of what the process was for the gas chambers- people lined up thinking they were getting a shower, those getting undressed, people in the chamber, and the crematorium. Then we walked across the hall into one of the most disturbing rooms in my opinion; it was a room encased with hair that had been shaved off the Jewish women in the camp. The amount of hair was sickening, and that wasn’t even a fraction of the women that were murdered. We left for the next block which showed the suitcases, shoes and other possessions from the Jews. It was crazy to see piles of these belongings that were owned by those that were killed. Our last Block showed the living conditions and bathrooms of the prisoners. Photos of the prisoners covered the walls with their names, birthdays, occupations, date they entered the camp and date they were executed. There were chemists, teachers, librarians and journalists that had lived in that Block, but were all killed. After walking along this floor, we entered the basement where all of the torture happened. We saw rooms where people we’re starved, shot and shoved in small spaces where they died of claustrophobia. It was so creepy and scary, I couldn’t wait to get out of there. Once we left the block we headed toward our last part of the Auschwitz I tour- the gas chamber. We walked in silence through the chamber. We saw where people undressed, where they were killed, and where they were burned. The room where they undressed was very small. After they undressed they walked through a door into a bigger room where they would unknowingly die. There were two holes in the roof where the officers would drop the Cyanide B. The guide said that there were so many people shoved in the room that not all of the bodies could fall on the floor so when the officers came to gather the bodies they thought some people were somehow still alive since they were still standing. This gave us an idea of how many people were killed in just one gassing. We walked through the next door where the crematorium was. This building was so small yet there was so much damage done in such little time. Thousands and thousands of people were killed in this chamber. I exited feeling sick and disgusted, not sure if I could handle Auschwitz II. We had about a 15 min break before heading to Auschwitz II. This camp was basically destroyed except for some buildings on the left. These contained a living space, a bathroom and a kitchen. Unfortunately, we had less time in this camp so we could only see the living space, which was much more beat up than the one in Auschwitz I. This room contained wooden bunks where 5-6 people were shoved. There was barely any light let in and the floors were covered with dirt. It was dark, scary and haunting. Although these tours were extremely sad and haunting, they were important to see. Everyone has heard about what went on during WWII but to see the actual living spaces and conditions really put it into perspective. I was going back and forth on weather I wanted to take/share these pictures, but I think it’s crucial for people to see so that history doesn’t repeat itself.