These are more pictures from Kazimierz the old Jewish section across the Vistula from Krakow. The is the birthplace of Helena Rubinstein, who develop a line of cosmetics that were used world wide.

This is the square in this old section which was the center of Jewish thought for centuries. This is demonstrated by the next picture of the oldest synagogue that is hundreds of years old.
Though this was at the end of the trip and weariness was definitely settling in, as I stood in the center of this section as closed my eyes you could almost hear the sounds of the people opening up their stores, the clap of horses on the cobblestones. The greetings, the arguing, the laughter of people before.

We traveled from Warsaw, went to Czestochowa on our way to Krakow. After the Germans invaded and conquered Poland they divided the land into three sections. They annexed the western part of Poland to become a part of Germany, The middle section was called the Central government, then the East section was under the control of Russia, the Nazis alli. Krakow was the capital of the Central Government and since it held the Nazi government the city survived the war with no damage. This city is on the Vistula river as you can see from the first picture. Krakow is the home of Jagiegiellonian University which has appoximately 155,000 students and one of the oldest universities in Europe. In fact I had dinner with a Jagiegiellonian student. She was a absolute delight!
Across the river is the old Jewish section in Krakow called Kazimierz. More about that in the next post.
The last picture is of our guide in Krakow.

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.

Taking some time after intensense days to share laughter and enjoy the moment.

After you walk past the areas where the different countries are recognized, you see this large field with all sorts of different shapes and sized of rocks are about in no form or pattern. Their uniqueness asaults your senses and they scream the uniqueness of each person murdered there. Then rising out of a field of rocks comes this large tower of granite. It is in your face but not with an attitude, but with a silent dignity. In about 16 months, approximately 375,000 parished. Do the math it's over 780 a day!
I try to imagine what I would think if I was a guard whose job it was to be apart of the selection process or supervising the gas chamber.

After we the Warsaw Uprising Museum we traveled to Treblinka. Treblinka as a camp no longer exists because the Germans destroyed it after a Polish revolt in the camp. Later when the Soviets passed through they gave the land to farmers. It really was two camps. the first was a small labor camp, the second was a death camp. This was the camp where most of the Jews who where in the Warsaw ghetto were taken or "relocation".

In the first picture you see concrete shaped like railroad ties representing the tracks that lead to the camp. The next picture is of the cobblestone road that the prisoners and the guards walked on through the camp. I choose this picture that shows the road at an angle because it pictures how off balance you feel witnessing this.

This was the first camp we visited, and it was haunting. I thought I am here as a visitor what did people think as they walked this path. What last words of love were said among loved ones. What things were being said to then as they walked. This is all tucked away behind woods. "See no evil!"

The next pictures are the memorials that represent the countries the victims were from. The jagged boulders are a sharp contrast to the grassy woodsy surroundings. Like the starkness of the evil that took place surrounded by beauty.

Each post will only take 4 pictures, that is why the same place is shown on several posts.

These pictures from the top to the bottom show an actual sewer hole. the next few pictures show Nazi soldiers pulling out of the sewer a Polish resister.

When I had the opportunity to walk through the enlarged sewer for people experience what living in the sewers were like, I couldn't do it. Johnathon a leader of our group said when he got out of the tunnel that he would of rather have been shot. Many other my fellow travelers came out with their hearts pounding and trying to catch there breath. I was touched at what these people would do for their freedom. What a contrast between the sacrifice for freedom and the ones who denied it.