Even if you weren't born then, remember.

The train ride to Poland was a little less than clear; my ticket showed me arriving at 7pm and having no connections, but I realized (thankfully before getting to Warsaw) that the train I got on in Vienna was not going straight to Kraków.  I had to get off at Katowice and hoped my connection to Kraków was legal; the train controllers didn't seem to be sure, either, but let me off the hook and I arrived around 10pm.  I was more than happy to join my friends Annie and Rodrigo at our hostel.

It was the strobe lights shining from the window of the hostel that worried me at first glance.  Its name was "Greg & Tom Party Hostel" ...and during the high tourist season, it probably is exactly what it sounds like.  Luckily, mid-April is a pretty quiet time, and our room was calm and never full.  Dinners were included, catered from the hostel's partner restaurant.  Not a bad deal at all.

Wawel castle

We had planned two days in Kraków.  It's a small but beautiful little city, but it has been improving over the past twenty years, and it's now charming and full of history.  Our first morning, we began by simply wandering the main city squares, some churches, and the Wawel Castle.  We didn't take the tour of the castle, but you can see the outside and walk through its cathedral for free.  The architectural mishmash interested me the most; the castle looks like several buildings from several eras smashed together.

We of course also tried some local specialties; I especially liked the stuffed cabbage with tomato sauce and the pierogi (Polish "ravioli", typically filled with cottage cheese).

 

In small European cities that "all start to look the same" in a way, I love finding small, unique places.  In Kraków, it was the Stained Glass Museum.  Tours run every hour on the hour...if there are tourists.  Tour guides are staff who work there and actually create the stained glass, so they walk you through the work rooms and explain what is happening as you watch the progression of their projects.  The three of us were alone on our tour and were able to ask plenty of questions and spend as much time as we wanted marveling over the process; it was truly incredible.  The work that is put into stained glass (cutting and molding the pieces, painting the pieces - maybe twenty times depending on the shading necessary - and the agony of messing up just one piece and having to completely start over on a project) is incredible.  Once a piece is finished, it also needs to be safely transported to its new home and placed correctly without being broken.  The work in matching colors, textures, and styles, is overwhelming, but our tour guide explained it all magnificently and answered our questions with ease.

Afterward, I walked almost an hour in the rain out of the city center and into the Jewish Quarter to visit the Schindler Factory, now turned into a museum.  Just before coming to Kraków, I had talked to a friend for recommendations; she said (and I pass on to you), if you have the opportunity, you absolutely need to visit Auschwitz.  As difficult as it is, it's important for every human being on this planet to go and see what humans are capable of, and remember.

Schindler's list

I started at Schindler's Factory.  There, I learned that much of the movie Schindler's List (which I haven't seen) is fabricated, but that Oskar Schindler did create a factory with decent living conditions for Jews at the time.  (He didn't have much to do with the list, though, but you can see a list of names in a circular room at the museum.)  The museum is so well done and moving, it will likely bring you to tears.  I recommend making the trek.  It's focused not exactly on Schindler, but on the lives of the Jews in Kraków leading up to their placement in camps like Auschwitz.  Germans slowly took over the center of town where Jews originally lived and forced them from their homes, placing them in what is now the Jewish Quarter; walls resembling gravestones were eventually erected around the zone.  In the end, they were almost all sent to Auschwitz or other death camps in the area.

Do not try to do both Schindler's Factory and Auschwitz in one day; you will need time to process each experience.  Rodrigo and I, and eventually Annie, decided to sign up for a tour with our hostel (for about 4 Euros more than going on our own, we avoided hours of waiting in line).  We were all nervous about what to expect, but we didn't think twice about giving up a sunny day relaxing on patios in Kraków.

Auschwitz is divided into two parts:  Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II (Birkenau).  The first camp is smaller, comprised of barracks that were mostly occupied by German officials (some workers and some prisoners on death row too).  The barracks have been turned into museums showing the estimated (probably vastly underestimated) number of people killed there and rooms full of the personal artifacts stolen from prisoners upon their arrival.  After the guided tour, you board a ten-minute bus to get to the second camp.  Annie and I were shocked by how modern the areas surrounding both camps were:  you can see supermarkets, freeways, and people living their everyday lives just five minutes from the former death camps.

Auschwitz II is a vast camp.  A double line of train tracks runs in through the front gates and stops in the middle; this is where families were brought in and separated, but, even in that moment, convinced that they would be okay and taken care of.  Those able to work were separated from the "weak"; even the weak were calmed and reassured as they were led to the gas chambers.  Much of the camp was destroyed by the Germans at the end of the war once they realized they'd lost, and wanted to hide what they'd done, but you can still see the blown up remains of one gas chamber.  The barracks are rebuilt every few years so that visitors can see where they were; the ground is too unstable for them to hold long-term.

I chose not to take photographs at Auschwitz; anything you really want to see can be found via Google search, I'm sure.  Photos are permitted as long as they are tasteful (no selfies, no having someone take your picture...) but we unfortunately saw those rules broken and were shocked and ashamed at how some (mostly, but not limited to, Americans...and not young Americans, either) behaved on our tour.  Depending on how you choose to get there and tour it, it can take around 8 hours; it is emotional, moving, and perhaps confusing, but you do not need to spill your every emotion to your whole tour group; you also do not need to "raise the group morale" by making goofy comments.  Hold your emotions and nervous commentary during the tour and debrief with your travel companions later.  Auschwitz is a burial ground and a reminder of terrible human capability; it is not a tourist site to check off your list; it is not the Eiffel Tower.

To summarize our tour guide's last words to us at Auschwitz II and echo with my own:  Let's be very careful of how we treat other ethnic groups and remember that we've already allowed similar camps to exist in America during WWII.  "Ethnic cleansing" is not a thing of the past; the holocaust is not a historical fluke that's now behind us.  It started somewhere and few noticed or stood up to how terrible it was becoming at the time.  Before you believe yourself to be superior to another race or any group of people in any way, remember to stop, sit down, and listen.  You may be different, but not in any way superior.  Yes, that can be a challenging concept, but the moment you sit, listen, and connect is the moment tensions subside, even on the small scale.  Ask, "Why?" or "How can I help?" or "Can you explain?" instead of making assumptions and passing quick judgment.  The answers may surprise you, and in the smallest of ways, help stop a new disaster.  Auschwitz is not a thing of the past; it could happen again today, maybe in some other way.  Instead, let's choose to be tolerant.