The guy
This picture has been lying in my folder for pictures that are worth publishing for a really long time. About two and a half years ago my girlfriend and I visited Krakow and just across from where we stayed this picturesque view could be found. I have always liked the picture so it actually feels quite good to finally have it posted:)
The lamp & the dove
It’s been a long time since I posted anything from a trip made to Kraków a while ago but here’s a picture that I remember working on before. I don’t know why I didn’t end up posting it back then because I don’t think it’s that bad today. As i recall my original thought was to just take a picture of the lamp which I liked and this was nothing I thought would ever make it to the blog but then this camera hog came along and changed all that;)
A cry of despair
Here’s probably the last picture from last summer’s visit to Krakow in Poland.
I’ve always been interested in literature and one of the genres that has caught my interest is books about the Second World War. For many years I’ve been talking about wanting to visit a concentration camp and last summer I finally got the chance to see Auschwitz/Birkenau with my girlfriend. It was every bit as horrible as I could have imagined and then some but it’s my opinion that it needs to be seen by everybody.
Please visit the special category for Auschwitz/Birkenau for more images and texts in my previous posts.
Today’s picture shows a part of the memorial at Birkenau. It has a short text which is written in different languages although you only get the English version here. The text tells us not to ever forget the horrible destiny that millions of people met here. The memorial is situated opposite the entrance and lies beside the blown up gas chambers at the far end of a huge barren field, filled only with the chimneys of the burnt down barracks.
It is also Monday today and I thought it fitting to play two tracks from a CD called “Tree of life” that I found in a bookshop with Jewish literature in Kazmierz, Krakow. The artist is called Alex Jacobowitz and he plays the xylophone. The two tracks are called “Oif’n priptchik” and “Yerushalaim shel zahav”. When I stumbled upon this CD I was instantly blown away. I think Alex’s music is so beautiful and I urge you to buy it if you like these tracks. When I listen to it and think back to that day last year it’s as if the music captures my emotions with its sad but beautiful melodies.
I’ve chosen some pictures to go with the music. Some you perhaps recognize from previous posts but there are some new ones as well so please check it out.
For the best quality of the pictures, please press “HD” in the lower right corner and then view in full screen.
No parking
I’m not sure whether to post this one or not but I kind of like it so bare with me please;)
The picture was taken last summer in Kraków, Poland and shows somewhat of a standard street, with its not so pristine buildings, from there. What I like about the picture are the two gates, one for grownups and one for children. Well, it looks like that to me anyway:)
Birkenau overlook
This is the right side of the Birkenau concentration camp outside of Kraków, Poland. I know it looks huge when you look at this picture but it doesn’t manage to show the entire magnitude of the infamous death factory. The whole area covers a mindboggling 175 hectares and it’s close to impossible to see from one end to the other. Once again, what you see in the picture is just the right side of the camp where the men were kept. On the left, outside of the picture, were the womens part of the camp. The two different parts weren’t that far apart, divided “only” by two lines of electric fense and the railways that went into the very heart of Birkenau.
Remembrance
When you arrive with the busses to the area where Auschwitz is situated you are met by this statue. It is made of material from the concentration camp and stands tall even among the birches at the entrance.
Selections
This is one of the last pictures from the trip of last summer to Auschwitz/Birkenau. The picture shows the railroad tracks that lead into the heart of the deathcamp Birkenau. On the left, where the crowd is gathered is where the Nazi’s did their selections. All incoming “prisoners” went through that selection. Most of them were taken directly to one of the huge gas chambers, never getting a chance to even catch their breath from the long and dreadful train rides. The gas chambers were situated in the far distance, in front of the trees. They are still visible today even though the Germans, in an effort to hide their heinous crimes, tried to blow them up. Straight ahead, at the end of the tracks, is a monument dedicated to the memory of all those who were murdered here.
Tombstones
This wall in Kazimierz, which is a district in the middle of Kraków, is made entirely of tombstones from a Jewish cemetery nearby. The cemetery was destroyed by the Nazi’s during the second world war and all the tombstones were ground to pieces. The Nazi’s did this all over Poland and in the concentration camp of Plaszow they even built roads with the broken tombstones. The tombstones are forever broken but at least this way there is a chance to remember them and see them anyway.
Our Lady the armoured
As promised yesterday, here is the other picture also taken from within the church Arka Pana in Nowa Huta outside of Kraków. Apart from having a 4-5 meters high metal statue of Jesus they also have this: A statue (?) which is called “Our Lady the armoured”. It is about half a meter high and is made of ten kilograms of shrapnel removed from Polish soldiers wounded at the battle of Monte Cassino during the second world war. Hope that lives up to what i yesterday described as having a “fascinating history”;)
Arka Pana – not like other churches
Here’s another picture from last summer’s trip to Poland. This is a church called Arka Pana which translates into “the new steel mill” in English. It can be found in Nowa Huta, some kilometers outside of Kraków. You can read more about this unique city here. What you see in this picture is from within this church and it’s of course a giant statue of Jesus on his cross. From the wall in the background and the 4-5 meters high metal Jesus you can see that this is no ordinary church, far from it. This is one of those occasions where pictures can’t really bring justice to what we saw, it needs to be seen in real life but hopefully it gives you some idea of what a strange, but really cool, church this is.
Tomorrow I’ll post a new picture from this church with a fascinating history so please check back for that:)
Stores
This picture is from last years trip to Kraków, Poland. It portraits some of the small stores near the main square in Kazimierz which is the old Jewish district placed in the middle of Kraków. The stores are of course new since all life associated with the Jews was destroyed during the war. I like that they are back again but in many ways they are just a sad reminder of an evil age and the loss of an entire community in Kraków, as well as in most places in Europe during those years.
Vorsicht
Here is another picture from Auschwitz. Follow the barbed wire a bit further and you’ll end up by the entrance with the “Arbeit macht frei” sign. It is just visible in the middle to the right. Behind the camera, also on the right side, is one of the gas chambers. The day we visited Auschwitz was in the middle of the summer and it was really warm but going into the showers and seeing them and the ovens in real life chilled me to the bone. Let me just say that when you close your eyes you don’t need a very vivid imagination to see the horrible scenes that took place there in front of you.
Bells
We’re back in Nowa Huta in Kraków, Poland. This is another close-up of the highly original church Arka Pana or the Church of the Ark as it’s called in English. Read more about it here.
Insulator
Here is another picture from Auschwitz. As you probably can see it’s a close-up of an electrical fence with an insulator. I think it’s almost scary to look at this because it doesn’t look that old but then again, it’s not that long ago since electrical currents ran through this.
Stones, stones & stones
Today’s picture is a close up of yesterday’s church Arka Pana from Nowa Huta outside of Kraków in Poland. If you compare with the one from yesterday you’ll see that this picture is a close up of the lower left corner and shows some of the two million stones the surface of the church is made of.
If you are totally bored today and have nothing else to do, might I suggest you count the stones visible in the picture. Unfortunately there won’t be any correct answer, or a winner for that matter, but your name will forever be recognized on this page;)
Arka Pana
Ok, we’re back in Nowa Huta outside of Kraków, Poland, for a short visit. This must be one of the coolest and most original towns I’ve ever visited. To read more about this please visit my other post here. Both these posts show pictures of some extremely alternatively designed churches. The one you see in this picture is called Arka Pana, or the Church of the Ark in English and was the first church built in the new town.
You can’t see it that good in this picture but in a later post here you’ll see that the surface of the church actually consists of about two million small stones. The construction of the church was started back in 1967 but took over ten years to complete. This was partly because of the discovery of an ammunition dump from the 2nd world war that delayed the work due to the precarious removal of some 5,000 mines and shells.
Besides having an amazing design it has several other unique features. It has for example a sculpture dedicated to Our Lady the Armoured which is made from 10 kilograms of shrapnel removed from Polish soldiers wounded at the Battle of Monte Cassino during the 2nd world war. The church also features a highly expressive huge Crucified Christ made of steel.
Stay tuned, I’ll return with more pictures from this visit.
Bricks
The regular visitor to this blog might recall that my girlfriend and I visited Poland last summer. On one of our many walks through the city we passed this building. In all fairness it’s not all that different from most other buildings in Kraków but I found all the different angles and “the chaos” in this particular building quite interesting.
I will also remember it because we passed it on our epic journey in search for the factory where Oscar Schindler and especially his Jewish workers found refuge during the 2nd world war. Our journey had a somewhat disappointing end because when we finally got there we couldn’t see a thing. Apparently they were turning the old factory into a museum so it was nothing more than a construction site at the time when we got there. I’m sure it will turn out great for future visitors though;)
The Liban quarry
What you’re seeing in this picture is the Liban quarry. It is situated some kilometers outside of the city center of Kraków. Just like me, I doubt that you have heard of it’s name before but if I mention the movie “Schindler’s List” by director Steven Spielberg most of you, if not all, will surely know what I’m talking about.
This is where the horrible and unreal scenes depicting the Plaszow concentration camp were shot. All that is left of the set are the rusty towers in the background and they are shown on numerous occasions throughout the movie. However, this isn’t where the actual camp lay. The real camp was just a couple of hundred meters away.
A road, still visible to this day, took the Jewish prisoners from the concentration camp to the quarry where they were forced to work. Why I mention this road is to give you some idea of how the perverted mind of the Nazi regime worked. It is actually paved with the tombstones of the old Jewish cemetery that the Nazi’s destroyed when they built the Plaszow concentration camp.
When I think about how easily they could destroy and desecrate an old and beautiful cemetery to build something as horrible as a concentration camp it makes me so sad. Here, the value of a human life couldn’t have been any lower and this is just one example out of thousands upon thousands from those dark days.
Alternative church
Nowa Huta is a truly fascinating town found outside of Krákow, Poland. The name translates roughly into “the new steel mill” and is one of those names that hits right on spot when it comes to choosing suitable names for cities.
The city was at first an ideological communist dream and its construction begun as late as in 1949. It was planned as a huge center of heavy steel industries, hence the name Nowa Huta. The town was to become an ideal town for the communist propaganda and to be populated mostly by industrial workers. The distant grey ghost of communism is still to this day present. For example was the first built industry named Vladimir Lenin Steelworks which was later to become Poland’s biggest steel mill.
My girlfriend and I visited the city for just half a day on what must have been one of last summer’s rainiest day. This meant that we unfortunately didn’t have time to visit the industries which would have been very interesting to see. We did however visit, amongst other things, this very alternatively designed church called Kosciol Zbawiciela, or the Church of Our Saviour. I’ll post more pictures from Nowa Huta later on so stay tuned;)
Windows 3.0
The other day this blog passed a 1000 visitors. I don’t know what I expected when I started it but I must say I’m pleased so far and what’s even more important is that I really enjoy doing this. Let me take this opportunity to thank you for your visits and I do hope that you come back again:)
I sat for some time thinking of a suitable title for the picture below when all of a sudden it all came clear to me. Could there be a better title than Windows 3.0? I’m pretty sure, as for comparison though, that this is as far as the resemblance between my picture and Microsoft’s old OS goes;)
The picture was taken in Kraków, Poland in the Jewish district of Kazimierz.
Halt
We’ll continue on the same theme as the other day. I have just walked through the gate with the sign “arbeit macht frei” and it’s now on my right. On my left side, out of picture, is where the music band stood and played for the new arrivals in order to give them some sense of security and safety. The building straight ahead is where the German administration worked. The area that runs along the electric fence was called no man’s land and was of course off limits for the prisoners.
Arbeit macht frei
All of you are familiar with the entrance to the infamous concentration camp of Auschwitz I with the sign that says “arbeit macht frei” or “work makes (one) free”. What I myself didn’t know, prior to my visit there last summer, was that it was first built by Poles and used as army barracks by them.
The 20th of May back in 1940 all that changed when the Nazis took over and, at first, used it to house nearly 750 Polish political prisoners. Here they started their early experiments with Zyklon B as well as all kinds of perverted torture and killings of Jews, political prisoners, homosexuals and other people the Nazi regime for some reason disapproved of.
The relatively small camp was soon too crowded with prisoners and in order to keep up with Hitler’s plan for the final solution other camps were built in the near surroundings. First, in 1941 came Auschwitz II, or Birkenau followed closely by Auschwitz III, or Monowitz in 1942.
It is not known, and never will be, how many people were really murdered in the three main camps and in the up to 40 smaller satellite camps surrounding them. It is estimated that at least 1.1 million people perished in these camps alone but the total sum could be much, much higher than that.
I wish that all had the possibility of visiting Auschwitz or any other camp, because I think it is so important and vital that we keep on remembering what happened not so long ago just around the corner from our own safe and small world. It is only by being there in person you get a small glimpse of what all those poor people went through before they were killed. I say “get a glimpse of” because there’s no way we can ever fully understand what really took place there and how all of this was allowed to happen. Not ever.
The star of David
This picture was taken on the trip to Kraków last summer. In the middle of this town lies Kazimierz which is the name of the old Jewish district. The wall in the background belongs to one of the remaining seven synagogues and I now realize that naming it would be quite impressive. Unfortunately, my less than stellar memory has failed me yet again on that point:(
The fence has a symbol which I’m guessing looks familiar to most of you. It is, of course, the Star of David and I think you could safely say that it is a generally recognized symbol of Jewish identity and Judaism. Its earliest use is from the Middle Ages and it has survived to this day.
Birkenau
This is a picture I think most of you have seen before. It shows the main gate of the concentration camp Birkenau outside of Kraków, Poland. (The picture has been converted to black and white and some people have been removed.)
For many years I’ve been very interested in literature about the 2nd world war and for just as long I’ve wanted to visit, amongst other things, Auschwitz/Birkenau. Unfortunately I haven’t had the opportunity of doing this until last summer when my girlfriend and I visited Kraków.
For both of us, this was an interesting and yet very horrifying day. I mean, you can read all the books in the world and still don’t understand what really took place in the concentration camps all over Europe. Not until you stand at the very gates of what surely must have been “hell on earth” you can get some idea, although I think it is forever impossible to comprehend the full grasp of it. The evil men can do to others and how many people’s lives were ended during those dark years scares me but I really think that everybody ought to visit one of these places. I know for a fact that I will carry this experience with me for the rest of my life.
There is so much that I want to write about this and I feel I could go on forever but I’ll leave you for now with a quote from a book called “Forgotten voices of the Holocaust”, written by Lyn Smith. In this book she interviews over a hundred victims of the Holocaust.
Ruth Foster, German Jewish survivor.
I have been asked many times when I tell my story, “could you ever forget?” Then I tell them. “It is as when you stand on a lake and you throw a stone into the water. First you have large ripples, then the ripples get smaller and smaller still, then the surface is calm. But the stone is still on the bottom. That is the same with me and that sums me up. I appear like an ordinary human being but the stone of my experience is still lying in my heart.
Recent comments