Kraków, Poland

Cloth Hall in Krakow, Poland

Memorial for 82 Lidice Children

Since my weekend in Krakow included a trip to Auschwitz, I want to include a summary of when I took a field trip to Lidice and Terezín here within the Czech Republic. This field trip was designed to teach us about the art that people made while inside the concentration camps. The Protector Reinhard Heydrich was assassinated by two Czech soldiers in 1942. After this happened, the Gestapo used Lidice to make a deterring example of the whole village. The Gestapo shot all of the men in the town, and sent all the women and children were sent to concentration camps; 82 children were gassed at Auschwitz. The only children to survive this horror were those who looked “Aryan,” and they were sent to live with German families. 

Barracks used to hold political prisoners in Terezín

After visiting Lidice we went on to Terezín. First we toured the museum that displayed artwork made by children living in the concentration camps, and then we went to the baroque-style military fortress. This fortress was originally built to hold artillery in the 18th century, but from 1941-1945 it was used as both a Jewish ghetto and  a prison for political prisoners and prisoners of war. While Terezín was not an extermination camp, many people died due to the horrible living conditions. Jews came to Terezín from all over Europe, but mostly Central Europe. Terezín quickly became a major transport center out to Auschwitz, but when people were sent out, they had no idea where they were going. I am glad that I went on this field trip so I could see how the past presence of the Nazi regime directly affected the Czech Republic, but also so that I would be able to compare the concentration camp of Terezín with the extermination camp that was Auschwitz.

"Work Makes You Free" Gate at Auschwitz 1

My weekend trip to Krakow started with an overnight bus ride from Prague that left Thursday night at midnight. I have to say, I did not sleep that much, so when we arrived in Poland I felt a bit like a zombie. After a quick breakfast at a youth center, along with the chance to brush my teeth, we headed straight over to Auschwitz to start our tour. We first toured Auschwitz 1, where many of the barracks had been turned into small museums or memorials. One of the most disgusting things I have ever seen was a room that had cases of human hair from the people who imprisoned there from 1941-1945. All of the women had their hair cut or shaved off to further dehumanize them, but the most sickening part was that the Nazis repurposed their hair as insulation in the lining of their soldiers' jackets. Another hard room to walk through was the  room that had 44,000 pairs of shoes. It was very difficult to see the mountains of shoes from people of all ages, especially when you saw that some of the women had brought or worn heels; it just really showed that nobody knew what was going on and obviously had no idea what to expect when they got to the concentration camps.

Cans that contained the gas used in gas chambers

While at Auschwitz 1 we also walked through a gas chamber and then the accompanying crematorium, which had ovens that look similar to MRI body scanners. The gas chamber we walked through could fit 700 people. All the Nazi officers had to do was drop gas in from the ceiling and all of those hundreds of people in the room would be dead within 20 minutes; the gas only needed human heat to activate and spread through the air. While this gas chamber could fit 700 people, the ovens could only burn through 350 people a day. At the neighboring concentration camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Nazis solved this problem by making multiple gas chambers, all with larger furnace rooms.

Next we went over to Auschwitz-Birkenau which was a much larger camp; the ultimate cruelty is that the Nazis made prisoners at Auschwitz 1 build the barracks here. Some of Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List was filmed at this location. We walked the length of the camp, which for most people, was their last walk ever before being lead to the gas chambers, which were even larger than at Auschwitz 1. When the fresh prisoners were getting shipped in, they were automatically sorted into two lines as soon as they stepped off the train, one line for people who were fit enough to be considered "valuable" to the regime and the other line of those deemed too weak, who were immediately sent to their death. The Nazis targeted anyone wearing glasses, since that had a stereotype of intellectual people; this means that I most likely would have been automatically sent to my death as soon as I arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Auschwitz-Birkenau

After our four hour tour, we got back on the bus and headed towards Krakow, which was about an hour and a half away. Since this was an organized trip, we got to stay in a hotel. While this was just a regular, 3-star hotel, after staying in a couple of hostels, this hotel felt like The Ritz. After checking in and dropping our bags off, we walked around Krakow for awhile. The main square is large and spacious and has many restaurants. The building in the middle of the Square is the Cloth Hall, which has many little vendors inside, so we did some shopping. We ended up eating at a little pierogi place for dinner, and it was delicious.

Wawel Cathedral

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel (which had a surprisingly good continental breakfast), and then had an organized walking tour of Krakow. The leaves were just starting to change colors, so every though it was a little dreary outside, Krakow was very beautiful.We started at the Schindler's Factory Museum, walked around the Wawel Castle and Cathedral, and finished at St. Mary’s Basilica in the main square. The inside of the basilica had a massive ornamental display at the front altar; it was absolutely beautiful. After lunch, my friend Alexa and I decided to go back to the Schindler's Factory Museum. The museum was very well done and did a great job of depicting was it was like to be in Poland during World War II and the Nazi Regime.

Underground church in the salt mine

Sunday morning we got up early, ate breakfast, and got back on the bus. Our last tour before leaving was visiting and walking through the Salt Mines in Wieliczka. These salt mines were absolutely huge, and we were quite far underground during our tour. In addition, this salt mine was the first ever UNESCO World Heritage site. While I am glad that we went to the salt mines, by that point in the weekend I was a little tired of tours and ready to go back to Prague. Overall, I enjoyed my time in Krakow, and I hope I get a chance to go back to Poland at some point in the future. I am grateful that I got the chance to visit Auschwitz, and even though I was there and walked through an extermination camp where so many people unnecessarily lost their lives, it still is difficult to imagine all of those horrible things happening.

Wawel Caste; photo credit Alexa Berry