What a hectic past month it has been! Unfortunately, I am just now writing about trips and stories from a month ago...so here is what you all have been waiting for (or at least I like to pretend that everyone has been anxiously checking my blog every day for the past month waiting for the next post).
For Spring Break, I traveled around Eastern Europe with four of my friends from the IES program. After returning to Berlin from St. Petersburg on Saturday, all of us unpacked, washed, and repacked for our adventure which began on Monday morning (March 28th). We began our journey in Krakow, Poland, which is the second largest city in Poland and dates back to the 7th Century. Krakow is situated on the Vistula River, and the city has a wide walkway that follows alongside the river. All five of us were amazed by the beautiful weather, the scenic stroll along the river, and the view of the old town and castle fortress. We stayed in a small hostel called "Elephant on the Moon," and all of us were happy to find that we were the only ones staying there that night. The place was quaint and I almost felt like we were living in the owner's house. She sat us down at a table, circled places on the map, and gave us suggestions on where to go. The hostel owner also asked me (after she had copied information from my passport) if I was of Polish decent. I looked at her confused and told her "No, I am of German descent. Why?" She told me that "Ruch" is polish for "movement" and that I would see my last name written all over the city. I called my mom and told her that our relatives may be lying about our ancestry. Once we finished filling out the paperwork and talking with the owner, we started our walk into the "Old Town" of Krakow. We first walked along the river toward the Wawel Castle, which is an historical fortress that dates back to the 12th Century. Actually, people lived on Wawel Hill for as many as 50 thousand years ago in the Paleolithic Age. The castle went through many different renovations up until the 20th Century, and it was made into a national museum post-WWII. The fortress area is beautiful with a variety of differently shaped spires, crosses, and towers that complement one another.
After Wawel, we walked around the Old Town where there was amber jewelry vendors galore! I mean, with every step there was a vendor. We also noticed that there were a plethora of "head shops" and/or hippie-like stores (basically Asheville-type stores). All of us are still unsure on why this was so. From Old Town we walked to the Jewish Quarter where we looked around in some folk-art/jewelry shops and got dinner. We ate at a small restaurant that is tucked away in the Kazimierz area. We all picked off of each others' plates (yet, I was still on my limited diet from my Russian hospitalization, so I was a bit more limited) and ate the traditional red-beet-soup, perogies, and potato pancakes. All of the food was fabulous, to say the least.
The next day we traveled to Oświęcim, where the Auschwitz camps are located. There are three Auschwitz camps: Auschwitz I base camp (which is now the museum), Auschwitz II-Birkenau (which is now a memorial) and Auschwitz III-Monowitz (which has been destroyed). The tour began at Auschwitz I where we met our guide and walked through the infamous "ARBEIT MACHT FREI" ("Work makes you free") gates. Once a military base for the Polish army, the camp is actually aesthetically pretty with the red brick barracks and buildings; therefore, an uncanny feeling devours you as you try to imagine the atrocities that occurred in this location. (I am sure it would have been easier to imagine if we visited in the dead of winter when the temperature drops to an average of -4 degrees Fahrenheit.)
It was difficult to make my way through all of the rooms that displayed the hundreds upon thousands of personal belongings. There were rooms devoted to the victims' shoes, glasses, dishware, shoe shiners, brushes/combs, and (most disturbingly) hair. Yes, the victims' hair was shaved off, saved in bundles, and used as a textile. The gross amount of personal effects was enough to bring tears to your eyes. The faces that stood around me were vacant and tears welled up in most visitors' eyes at some point during our visit. While I found the Washington D.C. Holocaust Museum interesting and grotesquely insightful, my visit to the Auschwitz--the actual location where the heinous crimes of mankind took place--was life-altering. To stand where the crimes took place, to feel the chill of the cool air permeate my clothes, and to see the artifacts of an all-to-horrific past made history come to life in front of me. To truly understand our past, we must visit it; this is a journey that all beings should make during their lifetime.
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