Auschwitz and Krakow

AUSCHWITZ

En route to Krakow we stopped at AUSCHWITZ. What can I say? I just pray to god that such history is NEVER repeated. One has to be here to realize what might have transpired here and that would not even be a tiny percentage of it!!!

How can people do such things? The fact that after these atrocities the Nazi’s would go back to their families and enjoy dinner with them and do normal kind of stuff withour batting an eyelid. It was so normal to behave like that!!!!

We did a 3 hour tour of this place which was literally HELL for the jews and one could not but feel for what they might have gone through. There is so so much that can be written about how bad this place was but it would not be enough.

There are two concentration camps – Auschwitz and Birkenau. The first one was Auschwitz but they needed a bigger one as this one was not enough!!!! They designed a bigger, better and more efficient one!!!! Earlier they used bullets to kill but that was getting expensive so they looked for cheaper alternatives and ‘experimented’ with other various methods before settling on gassing them.

The worst part was that the jews that were being killed were never told what lay ahead for them. They were told that they were being taken to other camps and for that they needed to shower and to the extent that the Germans told the Jews to remember where they kept their clothes so they could collect it on the way back………

There is so much that we were told of and one cannot but feel saddened and the atrocities that took place. for me what touched me most was when I saw the rail lines end at the camp, for that literally meant the end of the line for a lot of people.

All I can do is pray that such instances are NEVER repeated again and that the world has learnt their lesson from this horrific time in history.

KRAKOW

If there were ever a city I would want to come back to it would be Krakow. This town bustles with energy and enthusiasm. Basically this is an university town and is the seat of learning for most of eastern Europe. It has about 33 universities and 25% of the population are students.

There are about 1000 bars and restaurants ( you cannot blame me for liking this places ) and some bars go 3 floors underground!!!! We were there for 2 nights and I really don’t know where the nights went by. We used to get lost in the underground rooms only to discover different bar counters and DJ’s spinning some funky tunes. Post Krakow all of us would need some SERIOUS detox programme.

We did an amazing and superbly informative cycle tour where LUCAS rather DR LUCAS was our guide. Post the communist era and lot of people hold amazing degrees but have hardly any work so they take up part time jobs like these. We surely weren’t complaining as Lucas was heads above all the guides I had ever met.

Below are some of my observations, as well as what we did in Krakow:-

• Pope John Paul II was from here and was a cardinal in Krakow before being ordained. They LOVE him and really look up to him. We visited the place where he stayed when he was n Krakow and it is said that from his window he would talk to hundreds of students till 2am!!!!!
• The gardens are just brilliant and so full of life. Everyone cycles here and it is such a perfect place to just ‘be’.
• We ate some amazing falafels and kebabs at the corner stores and they are like what our bhelpuri wallas are to us
• We spent some amazing time watching the festivities around the square as it was the weekend and people from neighboring villages and towns came here to take part in what I felt was a competition of sorts. They were dressed in their traditional clothes and what a photo op that was
• We went salsa dancing and it rocked
• We visited Oscar Schindler’s factory and house. Here also it was saddening to here how the Jews were treated and the atrocities they had to endure. It also saddens one to know that Osacr Schindler who helped save a thousands of Jews died a penniless man in South America.
• There are also stories of how other helped the Jews and despite being threatened, beaten, tortured continued to do so. There was this one lady ( whose name I don’t recollect but is a national hero and also was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize ) who everyday went to the Jewish Ghetto and would try and save one child. This she did for 4-5 years and eventually the germans SS caought her. They broke her legs and were going to hang her but someone bribed the SS and got her released….do you know what she did after that? Once her legs were ok, she went back to the ghetto and started saving other lives. She lived till she was 98 and she said that there never was a bad person, it was only the circumstances that made a person how they were and see forgave the Germans what they did to her. Just amazing. Oh! She did’nt win the Noble though…Al Gore beat her to it for Global Warming!!!!
• Learnt a lot about the history of Krakow and Poland in general and that would take a full day to write down.

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