Poland was definitely one of my favorite places that we've visited so far, in fact it is currently ranked as number two on my top three favorite countries list! Just as we arrived on the outskirts of Krakow, we first ventured deep, deep, down into Krakow's Wieliczka salt mines, which was extraordinary to see to say the least. I was extremely hesitant to go in because I seem to have developed umpteen problems over the years which now include claustrophobia, anxiousness, getting lost underground, running out of air, walls closing in on me, you know, the works! However our instructor Martin, assured and reassured me that the rooms were pretty spacious underneath- and he had me after he mentioned the underground church and chapels. So inhaler in hand, we climbed down an insane number of stairs to reach depth levels that I didn't dare catch or care to know about because the last thing I needed was to start hyperventilating underground. Everything down there was made of either salt or wood, and yes we all licked the walls numerous times. We all seemed very interested to hear what life down in the mines was like, and some of us were rather impressed (or a little heartbroken) to find out that miners transported horses underground for labor. The sad part about that was that because it was so difficult and time consuming to transport these massive animals up or down, stables were built to house the animals throughout their years of life and work down there. Of course in my mind all I could think of was HORSES HAVE RIGHTS! But our guide informed us that somehow because of scientific things that I do not understand, the animals lived quite a bit longer than those above ground because the air has no allergens, pollution, other things I don't remember, and it's especially great for those with asthma. So okay, I could make my peace with he horse thing.
The mines were so interesting to visit because it was like an underground colony- did I from time to time think that maybe the whole thing was going to cave in on us?? Maybe three times yes, but I'd still go down again because of how impressive the church and chapels were!
Shortly after the salt mines, we all piled back into our bus for about a twenty minute ride into Krakow's Jewish Quarter were we would be staying. We stumbled across many Jewish cemeteries and synagogues but because it was a Saturday they were all closed off. Most of our group wandered into a hip little beer garden that had delicious ciders and we all just sat and took a load off!
The following day some of us woke up early for mass at St. Mary's Basilica in Krakow's main square, and WOW. wow. wow. wow. It was one of my favorite's for sure (huh fav, every church seems to be your favorite... pick one!) Everyone asked us when we got back "oh was mass in Polish?" which I've just got to say is kind of a silly question considering that we were IN Poland... so yeah it was in Polish. I understand that some churches offer mass in different languages or even Latin, but I'm getting a tad annoyed with others being weird about certain things not being in English... not to mention, the Catholic church is universal, we may not understand the words being said at the masses we attend but we understand what is going on during all parts of the mass. The only differences I've found really are whether people sit, kneel, or stand during different parts of the mass! Nonetheless, yes it was in Polish, yes I understood what was going on, and yes I was gawking at the beautiful church during the homily when I actually couldn't understand what was being said.
After breakfast we all trekked to Schindler's factory, and I guess I expected to see the factory as it had been during the second world war, however it was turned into a very great museum that clearly spelled out a little about what Poland was like briefly before the Germans and Soviets invaded in 1939, all the way until it was liberated by Soviet troops in 1945. That's quite a bit of history. I think that we all learned quite a bit in that museum, and it wrapped up a lot of what we've been learning in class as well. I'm not going to go into depth to explain or analyze everything that I learned at Schindler's factory because I'd be here all day, but I must say that I appreciated the setup and information that the museum had to offer. A few examples to backup what I just stated: you could walk through what it might have been like to visit an apartment room within a ghetto, along with the voices and whispers of different families from each corner of the room that might have filled the silence. Earlier on when Poland was fighting off invasion in the 1939 sector of the museum, bomb simulations and machine gun sounds were playing overhead as you walked through the room... a small little cubby filled with weapons, helmets, and family photos made me think of my late grandpa who fought towards the end of WWII. I reflected a lot by that small space because I don't even want to imagine the terrors of warfare, and it's unsettling that so many had to and still have to go through that all for what? Millions of lives lost, so much bloodshed... but I understand that it's the offensive versus the defensive, and it's like a paradox because war can also be used to save many more lives in the long run, but it's just a terrible, horrible, saddening thing that I wish we saw less of.
After the museum we all went back to the beautiful main square and broke up into groups to venture on our own, and often ran into other groups to only break off again and just do whatever basically!
Zach, Kelsey, and I church hopped and went in and out to feast our eyes on the beauty that Poland's churches had to offer, JPII staring back at us from nearly every one (haha a lady laughed at me when I said JPII and thought it was a little strange I think, but enjoyed it) and every corner seemed to have a church on it and I'd say "Oh just one more! Oh there's another one we'll turn back after this one! Oh well we'll regret not seeing that one!" Poland was beautiful. (I had not realized that I was not allowed on the castle/cathedral greenery... Kelsey caught the candids)
Here however, is where the beauty ends, for we all woke up at 5:30am to shuttle to the hell on earth that was Auschwitz-Birkenau. I could either do one of two things- write an entire 15 page paper on my thoughts around the subject... or describe how my visit has altered what I've felt and thought about the Shoah for so many years. If it wasn't already obvious I'm going with the latter, for it surprised me to my very core.
It's one thing to learn about something that happened in the past thousands of miles away from your own country, it's another thing to step foot on the very places where these horrors took place. All of the life around us (other people, tour groups) were blurs, but the buildings and outside areas were eerily... I'm trying to pick out a good word, stagnant? Or perhaps still... it was as if these buildings- especially the firing wall, where people were persecuted for what the Nazi's deemed as 'crimes'- felt as if they had been locked in the past after the camp's liberation. These areas where I had assumed I would feel utter despair at what happened with millions of people, actually were areas that were completely void of all human reason, which also meant void of all human feelings. Especially when we visited Birkenau and seeing the rows, and rows, and rows of barracks lined as far as the eye could see... my mind reached a level that simply just stopped comprehending things. I'm a history major, I've studied WWII and the Shoah since middle school until now, and I thought that going to this place would help me understand. Understand what? I don't know exactly... the feelings, the hate, the fear... some of what the prisoners might have felt... and how the guards might have acted, but I didn't, I couldn't! After visiting one of the children's barracks... I felt as if this whole thing it did not happen. There is no way on God's green earth that all of this happened! But it did, and I know it did I won't ever deny it... but I just don't understand. I haven't really had the time to sit down and process all of what we all just witnessed, but going back through the few pictures that I took makes my skin crawl. I usually want to touch the walls and floors of everything we've visited everywhere, and I get funny looks because of it but I don't care because I think "wow, how amazing that so much history has taken place here?" or "wow what kinds of historical figures touches this pillar?" But here in Auschwitz and Birkenau, I wanted nothing to do with anything there. I didn't want to touch the concrete, the bricks, the barracks, and especially none of the gas chambers. Our guide was quick, and didn't let us linger in any areas for long perhaps for timely reasons, or maybe her own, perhaps it was even for our own good. Something that I wanted to make sure I documented however was this: two years ago one of my friends named Jessica did this same study abroad trip and also visited the camp. I remember reading her blog and this one particular picture stood out to me so much so that it always comes up whenever I read about the Shoah and death camps. She took a photo in one of the gas chambers in Auschwitz that clearly showed all of the scratch marks that other human beings had made against the walls.
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