KRAKOW & OSWIECIM

INSIDE DOM SLASKI

BEER IN THE RAIN

ALWAYS SAID RUBI HAD A BIG HEAD (EROS'S HEAD)

WORK SETS YOU FREE

SUITCASES OF SOME OF THE VICTIMS

COSY PLACE TO STAY - NOT

SINISTER RAILWAY

CATTLE TRUCK

FANTASTIC VIEW FROM BALCONY OF  U ZIYADA CAFE

I WUZ 'ERE TOO

LAKE IN PARK SKALY

LAST LOOK DOWN FLORIANSKA

Our MHMK ticket gave us entry to the Dom Slaski (Selesian House) at Pomorska Street, which from 1939 to 1945 was the Krakow District Security Police, a division of which was the Gestapo. There were cells in the basement of the building were victims were tortured, sometimes to death. The displays included many accounts of what happened there. The museum also commemorates the victims of the Stalinist period after the war from 1945 to 1956. Having been liberated from one oppressor, the liberating Red Army forces didn't leave and Poland found itself occupied by a new communist oppressor.

Following that, we wandered down the west side of Krakow, popping into the foyer of the National Museum of Krakow as we passed by. We then returned to Rynek Glowny for a beer in a bar that had been recommended to us, tucking under a umbrella to shield us from a short spell of rain.

An early night was called for as we needed to catch the 6:20am bus to Oswiecim the following morning. Auschwitz is on the edge of Oswiecim town, and I had booked a ticket for a 6 hour study tour there, starting at 9.30am. It was raining when we arrived.

There are actually 3 Auschwitz camps, Auschwitz I, originally a Polish Army camp, Auschwitz II - Birkenau, a much larger camp purpose built to exterminate Jews on an industrial scale, and Auschwitz III - Monowitz, which housed slave workers for the Buna Rubber factory.

Having passed through security checks, we met our guide who took is though the infamous gates of Auschwitz I, with its arch above cynically saying 'Arbeit Macht Frei' (work sets you free). She took us to several of the large number of brick buildings, arranged in an array. Each building had been prepared in some way to show the conditions that the inmates lived in, for instance a sleeping block crammed with three-level bunk beds, or a toilet and washing block. Some of the buildings were used to display materials found when Auschwitz was liberated, such as piles of shoes, spectacles and suitcases - and even human hair. Other huts housed displays representing the suffering of Jews from different European countries who were brought here. Then we were taken to see the prototype gas chambers and the incinerators used to dispose of the bodies.

A short bus ride took us the Auschwitz II - Birkenau, which was huge by comparison, easily requiring an hour to walk around the perimeter. Railway tracks passed through the entrance to bring in the Jews, crammed into cattle trucks. They were immediately sorted as they alighted the trucks. Those who were fit enough to do useful work were sent to the wooden huts and those who couldn't, which meant most of the women and old men, and all of the children, were sent straight to the gas chambers. Over a million Jews died here.

As the war came to a close, the Germans made some attempt to hide what they had been doing by destroying papers, blowing up the gas chambers and incinerators, and transporting inmates to Germany. However, there were too many survivors for knowledge of what had gone on there to be covered up.

Our guide left us at this point, and we spent the rest of the day walking around the site on our own before returning to Auschwitz I for a final look before catching our bus back to Krakow.

Our trip had been on Rubi's birthday, so we needed something a bit more cheerful for our last day in Krakow. I had planned a walk that took us from our apartment to a park several miles to West of Krakow, outside the immediate city environs. It was a lovely walk along paved footpaths and woodland trails on what turned out to be a beautiful sunny day.

Our destination was Przegorzaly Castle, once the abode of Otto Wachter, the Nazi Governor of Krakow district, but now a hotel and cafe, the latter named U Ziyada. We enjoyed a couple of drinks and the most amazing huge ice cream fruit sundae (which we shared) whilst enjoying the incredible view to the south of the Vistula from our elevated position.

We used a bus to take us part of the way back to the city, but then walked through a lovely wooded park, Park Skaly, with its huge man-made lake produced as a result of quarrying. We climbed up to a cliff above one of the quarries to be rewarded with commanding views over the city.

Our walk back to the apartment took us through the Jewish Quarter, once again, and up Grodzka to eat at the same self-service restaurant that we had visited on our first evening. That very literally rounded off our visit to Krakow, as we would be making our way to the airport in the morning.

Our final evening ended with a visit to a delicatessen in Florianska to buy some smoked cheese for Mum, and a walk around Galeria Krakowska Shopping Mall near the Railway station, where we ate our last fruit sundae.

We had learned much on our first trip to Poland. The wartime history was obviously dreadful, and the immediate post war situation not much better, but Poland at last has its freedom and is a beautiful, safe and friendly country to visit. Perhaps Warsaw next time, or maybe Zakopane again?