Highlights E Europe Day 11

Day 11 – Sunday, May 9, 2010 – Drive to Auschwitz, Poland then on to Jasna Gora Monastery in Czestochowa and to Warsaw, Poland

Happy Mother’s Day! I remembered to purchase a card in Colorado, but finding it in my bag after two weeks was another challenge! I was successful in finding it and Gennie was very pleased.

It rained most of the night. With our window open we could hear the rain drop on the streets below. The temperature was 56º and 91% humidity. We were up early as Eva planned our visit to Auschwitz before the crowds began to gather.

We left Krakow at 7:45 and traveled west and then north on our journey to Warsaw. Eva gave us a preview of the intensity of the Concentration Camp and the museums. It was about a 90 minute drive to Auschwitz, the weather was as gray as our spirits when we entered the grounds.

When we arrived at the museum we were given headsets for listening and divided into two groups. Kasia, our guide began with the history of the grounds, previously Polish Army barracks. Auschwitz was near the railway station and out in the country, a perfect place for the relocation of the Jews in Europe.

Auschwitz was the largest of the Nazi concentration and extermination camps. Over 1,100,000 people were murdered there. Of those, most were Jews, but also Poles, Gypsies, Soviet prisoners of war, intellectuals, people with disabilities, and resistance groups.

As we walked through the rows and rows of brick barracks, Kasia described the Holocaust and the torture that happened on these grounds. We saw rooms filled with shoes, human hair (to be woven into Germany uniforms), brushes, eye glasses, prosthetic limbs and crutches, Jewish prayer shawls, and suit cases with names and addresses of their owners.

Many of the Jews had no idea they were going to the death camps. They thought they were only being relocated or hoped they were going to work at the camps. Hope was the last thing to die in this camp.

Because Auschwitz became too overcrowded, another extermination camp was built further out into the country. Our next stop was at the camp at Birkenau, where the gas chambers used for mass killings were located.

We drove to the death gate, and saw the railroad tracks that led to the unloading platforms inside the camp. The many wooden barracks still exist, along with the wash rooms and latrines used by 2000 people assigned to one block with 400 people in a barracks.

As far as the eye can see there are rows and rows of barracks. Many were burnt to the ground by the Nazis in the last hours before the camps were liberated by the Soviets.

Millions of tourists come here each year to pay their respects to these hallowed grounds. Among them are many Germans and youth from Germany who come here to do restoration work.

The somber affect of the morning was evident. We all got back on the bus and left Auschwitz a little more aware of the atrocities of the Holocaust. We left the parking area at 12:30 just as it began to rain, fortunate to have avoided it during our tour of the camps.

Continuing north to Warsaw we stopped at the town of Czestochowa where we toured the Paulite Monastery at Jasna Gora. Eva took us right into the church so we could see the portrait of Our Lady ‘The Black Madonna’.

The icon was supposedly done by St. Luke but carbon dating found it to be painted in the 5th Century. Close to the painting hangs the sash worn by Pope John Paul II when he was shot. The Pope believed his faith in the Madonna saved him from death.

After visiting the chapel we also visited the Treasury and looked at the opulent robes, vestments, and other altar ornaments. It was almost 3:00 so we hustled back to the bus.

We continued north for another 3 hours through the flat agricultural land, part of the Central European Plains. Fields of rape, a bright yellow grain used like canola for cooking oil and now for bio fuel went on for acres. There were also fruit orchards in full bloom.

It was almost 6:00 when we arrived at the Westin in Warsaw. Gennie did a little laundry and I started to go through the photos of the day. We had a wonderful dinner in the hotel with our group and then came back to the room at 8:45.

I got my camera and went up to the top floor to take a few night shots of the city. Bombed to the ground by the Germans in WWII, there are not a lot of old buildings left, but the lights of the city were interesting.

Hotel: The Westin Warsaw (Buffet Breakfast)

sobering. this day was a hard one to get through, I'll bet.

Also my memory of Birkenau was the vast size of the camp. It is something that has stayed with me for years.

Day 10: Mediterranean Navigation

Antonio, Our Guide

Gardens at the Alcazaba

Roman Theater

Visiting with Picasso

Gennie & Vic, Malaga 2004

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