As we left Warsaw for Krakow we stopped at Czeswtochowa. When you examine the Holocaust in Poland you learn that 1/2 of the 600,000 Poles killed were Polish Christians of whom most were Catholics. Poland has the highest number of Righteous Gentiles declared by Yad Vashem (The Holocaust Martrs' and Heroes Remembrance authority). To understand the Polish efforts to save Jews and at anti-Semitism in Poland you need to look at the relationship of the Catholic church to these two issues. To help do this we went to the Vatican of Poland, Czestochowa. The church their is likened to St. Paul's in Rome
In the first picture is our guide throughout the church. He held a parish in the United States and was a wonderful guide. I can't remember exactly where is parish way but he did refer to Chicago, Ill. which is the second largest Polish city due to its large Polish population.
The church was amazing in its ornamentation.