My shock after having seen Auszwits and Birkenau was not much less. These camps were awful big. As far as my eye could reach, I saw dozens of gas chambers and brickstone bunkers covering the horizon. In these places around 300,000 Jews were criminally captured. With the drizzling weather it felt like thousands of souls being shattered while calling for a piece call; something the world would ony hear many years later. The latter being received as unbelievable, since these war crimes were not known during the war. I highly recommend a visit to these places. I hope my pictures can contribute to this somewhat soulless transfer of information.
After the end of the Second World War the misery was to be continued in the Soviet Union. People were transported to prison camps in Siberia. This was fully explained in the Centre of Education in Szymbark. A very interactive tour (guide) and nicely restrorated cottages, chapels and bunkers made this a very useful visit. The most scary part was maybe the bunker were they simulated the German invasion when grenades exploded all around me. “Millions of Poles fled the country. Others were less fortunate and disappeared into the prison camps in Siberia”, as the tour guide said. Something I never ever knew before…
The end of the Soviet Union was also not going to be easy for Poland. In Gdansk, I visited the Solidarity Museum where they carefully explain the collapse of the Soviet Union after the big strikes in Poland started by the shipyard workers. This lead to a chain reaction throughout the country which the Russians unsuccessfully tried to prevent and stop. Soon this spread to other coutries making pressure so enormous that an independent Poland was going to be inevitable. Also here you’ll find the shocking images. A film of a man deliberately run over by a lorry from the Russians is the most memorable to me unfortunately. Fortunately now there is a new era for Poland.
“Our generation is busy with Europe. We get money from the EU to fund our dreams to start small business like English language schools or restaurants. The country has been pushed forward since joining the EU. We are grateful to countries like Germany and the Netherlands to fund so much money”, as Ana told me. A friendly girl I just met in the train. “Let’s hope that my country can be become more developed, since now we’re still poor”, a Couchsurfer Kasia told me. Also she hopes to start her own vegan restaurant soon in the city of Wrocław. “The EU is creating many oppurtunities, but about the Euro I’m not sure”.
I think it should be fine with Poland. The young generation is catching up. If the government also will invest at this rate the country might face a bright future.
Next time more about Poland: nature 🙂
Piece,
Amar
For information about the Netherlands during the war, please read further here.