I went to Poland around a month ago. With a variety of contrasting activities it was quite the experience:
1. Krakow
Krakow was never really on my list of places to go, but after visiting I definitely recommend going there at least for a weekend. It is very middle-agey and much more beautiful than I expected. And lots of tourists!! The old town is the center of attention for all visitors and much more impressive (and less tacky) than Warsaw’s old town. Before you go I recommend checking out all the sights within the old town, as for a lot of them you need to prebook at least a day in advance or more. I didn’t book anything, but still had a great time. The central market square is already impressive, but you can’t miss the St Mary’s Basilica who towers over the city as its architectural icon. You need to buy a ticket to get in and an additional ticket to go up the tower. There are timed slots, so make sure to book a ticket in advance which suits your itinerary. The same goes for various other attractions around the old town. Once you are done with it, head south to Wawel castle. I didn’t have time to go in, but the court and the surrounding facilities, including the fire spitting dragon statue will already make you unholster your camera quite frequently. From Krakow you can do day-trips to the famous salt mine and the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp.
2. Auschwitz
Obviously it is difficult to “recommend” Auschwitz, the former Nazi concentration and extermination camp, as a “tourist”/travel destination, but when it comes to historical sights and experiences I strongly believe that there is nothing more essential than this and I think everyone should at least once visit a concentration camp, no matter how difficult it is. We are on the verge of people having survived the holocaust to die out and very soon there will be no one left who has lived the worst atrocities in European history. With extremism returning to parliaments all around Europe and the world, all we can do is remember and remind where we as human people come from.
The practical guide side:
You need to book a visit to Auschwitz (pol. Oświęcim) way in advance, a couple of months recommended to fit it in your itinerary. One ticket gets you into both sites Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau, which are 30 minutes walking apart from each other, or take a taxi, which is much quicker. You can get free solo tour tickets if you book even earlier than that or simply go for one of the paid guided tours available in various languages. It is extremely essential to visit both sites! This will most likely take you a full day, if you want to take everything in. Check with the museum, if you can do two sites on two days, I’m not sure. Start with Auschwitz I, which is the main site in terms of the museum exhibition. You will be able to walk through the camp with most blocks and huts still intact. Inside you find various exhibits and explanations. Here you will also find the infamous “Arbeit macht Frei” sign. Auschwitz II-Birkenau is a much larger complex with mostly ruins and a few huts, which you can go into. It is also where millions of people were gassed and incinerated immediately after they got off the train. Once you enter the site, follow the train track to the very very far end of the complex. It is massive and will take you some time to reach the other site. There at the end of the tracks you will find the incinerator and monument to all the people that were killed. Take your time here, because you will most likely not come back here again. On the way back you can take different paths which will lead you through more ruins and huts. If you prefer a bit of peace and quiet and would feel uncomfortable sharing these grounds with other “tourists”, I recommend going later in the day. Just don’t forget to check closing times and and more importantly last entry times for the second site. Again, you definitely will need to see both sites! The easiest way to reach Auschwitz from Krakow is the coach. It is rather cheap, the trip lasts around 90 minutes and it will take you directly to the parking site of Auschwitz I. There are hotels just minutes from the site. You might want to stay a night to process your experiences. You are allowed to take pictures in almost (!) all parts of the camps, although it will definitely feel wrong and disturbing to do so. Be mindful not to cross certain boundaries. Although there are no official guidelines, I recommend following your instincts. Don’t take happy group pictures, or happy pictures in general. If you need to be in the picture, don’t overpose, dress appropriate and be mindful of other visitors who might regard picture taking as disrespectful. I did end up taking some pictures. Although it did feel awful, at the same time I felt it was personally important to me to have a memory of this visit and the history it represents.
The emotional side:
As a German who has traveled quite a bit I believe Germany is one of the only countries in the world which very actively and consciously looks at its horrible past and tries to not to let it happen again. The second world war and holocaust will come up in education as early as elementary school and then will always be a subject in all areas of education: German, English, History, Religion, Politics etc and will not leave you alone until you are rightfully shamed into developing a sense of responsibility for a better future. Despite being well educated and having exactly that sense of responsibility, nothing could really prepare me for a visit to Auschwitz. Because when you are actually there, standing on those grounds all the stories and all the horrors take a shape and a form stirring up emotions, which are difficult to put into actual words. Despite horror, shock and disbelief I had the constant feeling of needing to cry and throw up at the same time. An emotional throwback which evokes an essential and fundamental historical awareness of human nature in a not too distant past. Apart from the challenging emotional experience, which I’m clearly struggling to describe, I am very “glad” I went and I recommend everybody to do the same, or at least visit one concentration camp in your life time. There is clearly nothing pleasant about it, but it is so damn essential.
3. Pride in Warsaw
After Auschwitz I took the bus back to Krakow and then the plane to Warsaw, where I went to participate in Pride. Clearly a contrasting program to Auschwitz. I always felt the need of visiting Pride in a country where it potentially means something different compared to for example London where I live. Don’t get me wrong, I love the crazy massive celebrations in big Western cities, where much (but not everything) as been achieved for the LGBT community. I believe those Pride celebrations are essential to hold the fort and not let the progress of human rights slip away. However, I also feel another sense of responsibility when it comes to the world wide LGBT community, which is often still a far cry from achieving any kind of equality. While being gay in Poland is not illegal, it is not easy. You might have seen news of people in rural areas burning rainbow flags fueled by political rhetorics. I was a bit worried about going by myself to a Pride in a conservative country I have never been in. In the end, Pride in Warsaw was much more cheerful, colourful and bigger than expected. However, I did not stray from the herd very far. My accommodation was very central and the parade obviously as well so that I felt quite protected in numbers. Another layer of “protection” I felt from corporate sponsors. In London there is lots of discussion going on about Pride being too commercial, an argument which I hardly understand. Yes, corporates jump on the rainbow wagon and advertise their business, but they also put themselves out there. What would be the alternative? They either don’t do it and don’t care or, imagine even worse, they advertise against LGBT rights. I felt this even more to be true in Warsaw. When I saw that Netflix and Sprite were among the main sponsors, I felt that the corporates had my back. It is definitely worth something: while the atmosphere in Warsaw was in full party mode, their were multiple counter protests in the rest of the country. It was lots of fun walking in the parade, as there was no need to book any places, I could just join the march and dance a long to the tunes of one of the floats (Google had a float as well!) Everyone was very welcoming. I was surprised also seeing a lot of straight families with their kids and older ladies waving to the parade from their balconies.
When I first started writing this post I considered putting the various parts of the trips into difficult post as they have very different emotions attached to it. At least at first glance, but when looking at the past not more than 70 years ago millions of people were killed under the rhetoric of a disturbing political agenda. A whole nation was swayed to abandon their human compassion and basic common sense. It is the same logic of emotional deterioration which we see happening right now. In Poland the people to blame for anything which goes wrong in their life are the gays, lesbians and trans people. For the rest of Europe it is the migrants. Detention centres in the USA. I believe it doesn’t take much from detention to concentration and from centres to camps.
Sorry if this seems like a grim article, I had a great time in Poland and it is definitely worth the visit. I guess what I am trying to say is, go out there, see, live, enjoy your life, CONNECT and don’t let the past repeat! What else can we do?
