Off to Krakow

            I am sitting in a train on route to Krakow. I have no Internet access right now, so I am typing this blog entry out on a word document and then I will copy and paste it later once I have WIFI access. Did you know what the acronym WIFI is? Wireless fidelity. Don’t know what that means or how it works, but it’s interesting I guess.

            It is very comfortable as we are in first class. To be honest, however, there didn’t seem to be any crappy seats on board this train. The next train over is the bar car, so when I feel thirsty I may have to head down that way.

            Last night, after I wrote my last blog, I went to the bar just down the street. I had a few beers there by myself because my mom fell asleep at the hotel. The beer was called “Lech,” and they were quite tasty and refreshing. Especially after being outside in the 30+-degree weather all day. Speaking of weather, it is supposed to be 37 according to the weather network in Krakow. HOLY JUMPING! That day we are heading to Auschwitz. As my mom said, “I guess that will give us the perspective of how brutal that place is.” She is probably right. At least this train is air-conditioned. I’m really starting to dislike the heat. But if it was raining I might say that I hate the weather too. So I guess I shouldn’t complain. But a few degrees cooler would be nice. I think Germany in a few days will be a bit cooler. The guide said that they were having quite a bit of rain earlier this summer.

Here is a fact for you! When Poland was invaded in 1939 by the Nazis, the leader of the Polish Socialist Party, known as Bund, Szmul Zieglebojm, escaped and ultimately ended in London with the rest of the Polish government-in-exile. There was significant resistance to the Third Reich in Poland with the Jewish resistance organizations, which led to the Warsaw ghetto uprising in 1943. There was also the horrific deportation of the Polish Jews (and others) to the Treblinka (closest extermination camp to Warsaw) and Auschwitz (closest camp to Krakow) camps. Zieglebojm was ashamed and angry that the Allies did not know or disregarded the situation regarding the concentration camps. In a sense, they ignored people like Jan Karski who had travelled to America to talk to Roosevelt regarding the status of Jews and others in the concentration camps. You may have heard of him. He was a Polish World War II resistance movement fighter and later a professor at Georgetown University. In 1942 and 1943, Karski reported to the Polish government in exile and to the Western Allies on the situation in German-occupied Poland, especially the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto, and the secretive German Nazi extermination camps. 

Mom with Karski. It was really hot and the seat was painful to sit on. Burn your bum cheeks.

But I digress. Zieglebojm, I guess you could say, was disheartened and lit himself on fire in London in protest to the Allies disregard toward Nazi atrocities. He explained in his suicide letter that just as the Nazis were accountable for the extermination of many Jews in Poland, the Allies, through their indecision and lack of intervention during the uprising, were also guilty. Here is a photo of Jan Kasinski. After Zieglebojm’s death, he said that he felt responsible.

Our guide yesterday talked a lot about Polish resentment towards the USSR and their control over Poland. We saw a memorial or commemorative place in Warsaw regarding the Soviet atrocities in 1940. Approximately 20,000 names.

Also saw pictures of bodies that were covered by dirt. The descriptions talked about how these bodies were exhumed from the dirt-like coffins. There were names of the people who were identified and subsequently exhumed. Very disturbing. These types of memorials or information-laden poster boards are all around the city. Very much part of the public’s cognizance. (See photos below)

There was another fact about the USSR. The guy who started the KGB (USSR secret police) was Polish. Polish people are ashamed by this. He was viewed as a heroic figure to the Communists authorities in Poland. However, once the USSR collapsed in 1989, Poles were quick to remove and damage his statue, because they despised the KGB because of their brutality. Similar to the Gestapo in Nazi Germany I guess you could say. Putin was the head of the KGB once upon a time. Talk about corruption. Scary.

OH! One of the most interesting things we saw were when you look at certain cement buildings that survived the bombings and war-time destruction, you can see where bullets hit the walls, and how, in some cases, these buildings were repaired. This building (see photos below) was a Nazi headquarters building, I believe. They would take imprisoned Poles and line them up for firing squad, and shoot them execution style with machine guns. You can see the damage done to the building. If no one told me this than I may have assumed that this was just the style of architecture.

But back to last night, which was quite interesting. As I headed back to my hotel after a few Lechs, I decided that I needed another drink at the hotel bar. A couple Austrians came and sat next to me as I ate my complimentary olives and almonds. The kid was 21 and he was with his father. The kid spoke pretty perfect English. We talked about Austria, and in particular Vienna, which sounds very interesting and beautiful. The kid wanted to know about Canada’s “cannabis.” Pretty funny. I told him that where I live, it is the best. But of course, how would I know that? We continued to talk about Austrian and Canadian cultures and history; as of course I am most interested in that!

I told mom that I would love to go to Austria now! Maybe an Austrian and Czech Republic trip in the future. I really want to see Prague too, which I learned that Prague means “steps,” I think. Something to do with the river there.

I really scared my mother though last night. She was worried about me because I was gone for a few hours. Told her that she shouldn’t be. She texted my dad and he told her not to get worried too.

I woke up this morning with a bad headache and serious neck pain. Not sure if it was a hangover or just aches and pain. Think the latter. But I am better now. I bought some “Ibuprofenum.” Everyone here drinks mineral water instead of distilled water. I know this is useless information; it’s just a weird idiosyncrasy I guess that I feel I should mention. I can’t tell when I buy water if its distilled or carbonated.

Oh yah! There were no perogies for breakfast this morning L. Instead they had pancakes, but we would consider them crepes. Most of Europe has crepes and considers them pancakes. Ours are just humongous fluffy things and Europeans consider them ghastly. Maybe that’s not the right word, but something along those lines. They claimed to have had maple syrup, but to me it would be comparable to corn syrup maybe haha. It wasn’t all that tasty, just very sweet.

I am quite enjoying this blogging thing. I always look forward to writing them everyday. Even though I am not sure people are reading them. It’s just for my own memory and maybe for me to reflect back in the future.

I hope to be doing a little more historical writing in the future. I may do another entry today after my tour through, from all accounts, beautiful Krakow. Looking forward to it.

porozmawiać wszystko później!