Krakow Part 3...

Thursday arrived and we were up and down for breakfast for 7.30 as the minibus was picking us up at 8.20 a.m. for our visit to Oswiecim better know to the world under its German name of Auschwitz. We had to pick up others on the way but the actual 75 kilometre trip took about an hour and a half.  There were 16 people on our minibus and when we arrived we combined with people from another minibus and waited for our guide. We then collected a pair of earphones and a receiver each so that we could listen to his tour notes as we walked around and made our way to the infamous gate which states ‘Arbeit Macht Frei' - Work brings freedom.


There is nothing I can tell you about Auschwitz and Berkenhau that you can’t find by searching the web, so I am not even going to try, but I will tell you that whatever you read the reality is a million times worse. We all cried many times during the tour. Feelings of despair at the reality of what happened were foremost in our minds, there were many school groups being taken round and I truly believe that the Holocaust should be part of every school curriculum in every country in the world so that what happened is never forgotten.


We visited Auschwitz/Berkenhau not out of any morbid curiosity, but to pay our respects to the millions who lost their lives in those God forsaken places. We were allowed to take photographs outside, which we did and I have put up a slide show at the end of this post so you can get an idea of the size of both Auschwitz and Birkenhau and better understand how the victims of the two camps lived.  It was forbidden to take photographs inside the buildings and to be honest you wouldn't want to out of respect for the people who's belongings were exhibited there.   It was a pity that some of the other ‘tourists’ did not give the respect due, the ones who insisted on taking photographs of the exhibits, such as the room full of human hair taken from the people who had been killed, despite the signs saying no photographs inside and the guides repeatedly telling them to put their cameras away. There was a man with an American accent in our group, who appeared to be with his elderly mother, who had filmed every building we went in and been told numerous times not to film.  He was behind us filming the walk into the gas chamber and crematorium and I was so incensed that 'Mrs Gobby' reared her head and I told him to put his camera away and show some respect.  He did stop filming but deliberately sought me out after the tour and asked me

“Sprechen Sie Deutsch’ to which I replied
“No, I’m English” his retort to this was
“Well you can thank us lady!”


I couldn’t make my mind up whether he was American and taking credit for American forces liberating Auschwitz, which isn’t true, or whether he was German and telling me to thank his nation for the atrocities that were committed there. Either way he was a tosser, which I informed him of as he disappeared into the crowd as he scurried away before MWM and our friends returned from the toilet.


We returned to the minibus to be taken the 10 minute drive to Birkenhau which is even more desolate than Auschwitz. There was quite a wind blowing as we stood in the open area between the two camps (male and female) though the day was warm the wind did blow straight through you. Our guide pointed out that in winter it is often 20 degrees below and to be standing there dressed only in striped pyjamas without the benefit of good health one could barely imagine what it was like.

We could not see the boundaries of Birkenhau it is so huge.   The four crematorium were destroyed by the Nazis before the camp was liberated as were the 'CANADA' buildings.   The 'CANADA' buildings were so called because Canada was known as the land of plenty and these buildings were where all the possessions of the prisoners were stored to be recycled.


It is said that there is no birdsong at Auschwitz and Birkenhau – I can tell you this is true.

If you hover you cursor over the photographs you will see the description.

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We left Birkenhau to return to Krakow where we had just enough time to have a drink and a toastie before we had to go to meet our minibus at 15.55 p.m. to take us to the Salt Mines.


Light was fading as we climbed aboard the minibus for The Wieliczka Salt Mine. It is only a 20 minute drive but the traffic was building – it always seem to be rush hour in Krakow no matter what time of the day – so it actually took us thirty minutes to get there.


We were told before we went in that there were 380 steps to climb down but a lift would bring us back up. What they didn’t tell us was those steps just took us down to level one 65 metres below ground, then there were a lot more steps in the two kilometres of tunnel to take us down to level three at 135 metres. There are seven levels to the still working mine but tourists only go down to level three, which is enough believe me because by the time you get down there your legs are like jelly because of all the steps!


The temperature in the mine is a constant is a truly wonderful sight to behold there are numerous chapels all carved out of the salt such as St Anthony’s Chapel created in the 17th Century and at level three there is a 23,000 cubic metre masterpiece the Chapel of St Kinga which was created by three men, taking them 68 years to complete. There are underground lakes in the mine and a theatre and a restaurant on level three also.

The tour of the mine takes about three hours and it was 8.30 p.m. before we got back to the centre of Krakow – just in time to go to our favourite Polish restaurant to sample more of their delicious food, down a few Polish beers and head off back to the hotel to crawl into bed exhausted.

Krakow Part 4 coming soon.