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Warsaw is Poland’s capital city which is situated centrally on the Mazovian Lowland and has approximately 2 million inhabitants. It started its life in roughly the tenth century as a fishing and farming settlement, then in the 13th century local dukes built a stronghold where the Royal Palace stands today. The town of Warszewa (the name used until the 17th century) sprang up around it and became very prosperous thanks to the trade on the Vistula, the major transportation route at that time. It then became the administration centre of Mazovia when it became annexed to Poland in 1526, then becoming the capital in 1596. The events of WW2 literally swept the whole city away, 1939 the siege of Warsaw, the Ghetto Uprising of 1943 and the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 also the death of 800 thousand people, it is hard for me to understand and to put into a context that amount of people being killed from one city. Some of the statues in the centre of town are so graphic they say it all but without a word being said, there is one of a small child called “The Little Insurgent” these were the small children who ran messages, took ammunition and anything else that was needed to the men and women defending the town during the siege, it is a very poignant little statue. Warsaw itself has been mostly rebuilt in the post war years including restoration of the historical sites, using the surviving paintings of Bernardo Bellotto an Italian artist and “nephew of Canaletto” who worked in Warsaw in the 18th century. The central square in the old town “rebuilt” has a statue of a mermaid in the centre of it, but is otherwise very similar to many other European city squares today, full of restaurants where you can sit out under the canopies and have a meal or a drink, we did both! It was a town that I found interesting and the people were friendly and helpful as we often asked for advice when using the trams to get around to the various sites we wanted to visit on the city outskirts.
The monuments are my lasting impression of Warsaw they state everything the population went through, which is beyond our comprehension or imagination. Was it because of the horrors that they went through that they remain a very Christian religious country? Unlike in this country today, where many think the love of God is something to be ashamed of. Even our Christian and Political leaders do not stand up for our Christian heritage; it is being eroded in all aspects of our daily lives. Moving on yet again, this time to Czestochowa and Jasna Gora the largest pilgrimage site in Poland, to see the catholic church of “The Black Madonna”, I would put this church / shrine on par with Lourdes, there were as many pilgrims there as I saw when at Lourdes, even though the huge coach park was barely half full. The dominant statue outside the church was that of Pope John Paul, he was and still is so loved by the Polish people. On special days the whole area in front of the church which is extensive, is jam packed with Pilgrims. We were just visiting on a normal day but had difficulty in seeing the Black Madonna due to the crowds.
Moving on our next stop which was to two places so profoundly moving I will never forget them, “Auschwitz 1” known as the factory of death, ironically over the gate was a sign which read “Arbeit Macht Frei” (Work Brings Freedom) and “Auschwitz 11 Birkenau” building work on camp 11 started in 1940 carried out by Polish prisoners of war, these are places so many of you have heard about, also the atrocities carried out there. People have asked why I would go to a place like that, but it is part of our history and I was alive while the atrocities were taking place. You cannot really believe that mankind can be so evil till seen with your own eyes, it really affected and saddened me, how can people think themselves so important that they have the right to take others lives. Until you see it, it is impossible to realize just how big the place was, there are just a small amount of the huts left but many chimneys still stand where they had been. The ruins of the gas chambers and crematoria were still there, even though the Nazis had tried to blow them up trying to hide the evidence of their evil doings.
Note the gap in the centre of the entrance gate where the trains came through loaded with prisoners to be sorted for slave labour or extermination, most females and children went straight to the gas chambers. The silence there was very noticeable and the exhibits heartbreaking, piles of children’s clothes shoes and toys taken from them shortly before they were sent into the gas chamber ending their young lives. Also the piles of hair waiting to be made into hair cloth most of this taken from female prisoners who were shorn before being gassed, also other piles, of spectacles shoes etc which had not been disposed of before the Allies arrival.
The first camp was in the town of Oswiecim renamed Auschwitz 1 after Poland was defeated in 1939. It was used for Polish political prisoners also many of the Polish people which included almost anyone on any excuse. Later it included Gypsies, Czechs, French, Austrians, even dissenting Germans, most who entered this camp were either gassed, hung or shot, and many were used for horrific medical experiments. On liberation a large amount of the camps inmates weighed only between 50 and 65 pounds. The Commandant of camp 1 was caught after the war by the Allies and handed over to the Polish people who hung him from his own gallows. The pictures and every thing I saw there will remain with me for the rest of my life; the depth and administration of so much evil done in those places are beyond my comprehension. That is it for this issue; I will try to make my next instalment less sad and depressing. Christine L. Culley |
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