Text and photos by Michael Anes except where noted.
Day 4 began with our third consecutive (and long!) Polish language class session, led by our patient and brave teacher Marta. Everyone is doing a great job when, you know, Polish is notoriously difficult to learn! Heather and I have heard many Poles over many years tell us that Polish is so hard even Poles don't know - or agree - how to speak it.
Colleen punking the camera operator here.
When language class was over we toured Wawel Cathedral and Castle. Wawel is one of the most sacred places in Polish history and crucial for a fuller understanding of Polish national identity, and is the place where kings, queens who were kings (Jadwiga), poets and politicians are buried. A place with a legendary dragon. The Royal Private Apartments highlight art and architectural design from Poland's founding and adoption of Catholicism around the year 1000 to the end of the first republic with the partitioning (and final dissolution) of Poland in the 1790s.
After a group dinner away from our student housing at a wonderfully traditional Polish restaurant in a building dating from the 1200s (!!!) called Pod Aniołami (Under the Angels), we all trundled home happy, grabbing snacks along the way for Day 5. We needed to prepare for a long day on the road to Auschwitz-Birkenau, a 75-minute drive from Krakow. We planned a full tour of both camps, including a section of Birkenau (the Canada portion) that most visitors do not visit.
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Time in Auschwitz-Birkenau is always a profound experience. For Heather and me, this was our 6th tour and we keep learning new facts and experiencing new feelings. Our guide Patrycja was born and raised in Oświęcim (the Polish city where Auschwitz is located and the name of the city while it was under German occupation) and she has worked at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum for 18 years, since she graduated from high school.
June 6th also happens to be our wedding anniversary (the 20th! Hooray!)
There is a whole new entrance to the museum since Heather and I were last here with students in 2018. Along this new walkway the names of victims were recited and audible on loudspeakers along the way. There is also a new introductory video about the camp and the experience. All of this "sets the tone" in a way Heather and I had not previously observed. Previously, when arriving at Auschwitz I, you got your tickets, you got in line and then you were almost immediately face-to-face with the "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign. In this new system there is more preparation.
Speaking of the famous sign, you can see it in the background of the above photograph.
The children's clothing and shoes room is always deeply affecting - to everyone.
Here you see a conservation worker on one of the several barracks that are being carefully restored. He had just finished photographing (with great seriousness of purpose) something on the ground.
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