Tour Day 6 | Dzień Szósty

Polish Pride and Jewish Culture

The morning was dedicated to the resilient spirit of a city that was, by the end of World War II, destroyed to its foundations. Our local guide led us through a sobering look at Warsaw's Ghetto Uprising (the 80th anniversary was commemorated about 6 weeks before our visit), a valiant Jewish resistance against the Nazis. Then we visited the world-class Museum of the History of Polish Jews, spanning the complex and fascinating Jewish experience from the Middle Ages through today. The afternoon was comprised of free time, so mom and I went to the Chopin Museum and the weekly Chopin in the Park concert. We gathered for a toast and dinner to bid farewell to Warsaw with an Ukrainian dinner and traditional Ukrainian music.

Warsaw Ghetto | Getto Warszawskie

While a vast majority of Warsaw was destroyed as retribution for the Warsaw Uprising.  In the midst of all of that destruction, the bullet-ridden walls of the Ghetto are still standing in some places.  Half a million Jews were moved into Warsaw's Ghetto.  By 1943, only 10% of them were still alive with the rest having been shipped to concentration camps or died from disease.  They staged an uprising against the Nazis, but almost all were eventually killed during fighting, captured and summarily executed, or sent to concentration camps.  In 1944, the Warsaw Uprising occurred during which the Polish Resistance Army fought the Nazis and resulted in the death of around 250,000 Warsaw civilians.  If there is one word that captures this part of the city, it is sobering as Rick has said.  Others come to mind as well: devastating, shock, horror, and other apt descriptions, but all have the same feeling of profound sadness.

What our group did not realize is that the Ghetto established in 1940 was expanded to include the other side of the street (below) in 1942 as Hitler moved more Jews into this area.  They were not allowed outside of the walls other than under forced labor contracts with local businesses.  As a result, they had to move from one side to the other for work within the walls over a bridge. The tall bluish steel here are where the pillars were located for that bridge.  

From a landmark sign: "By order of the German occupation authorities, the ghetto was cut off from the rest of the city on November 16, 1940.  The ghetto area, surrounded by a wall, was initially 307 hectares (759 acres); with time, it was reduced.  Starting in January 1942, it was divided in two parts called the large and small ghettos.  On January 26, 1942, the two ghettos were connected by a wooden bridge over Chlondna Street.  Approximately 360,000 Warsaw Jews and 90,000 from other towns were herded into the ghetto.  Nearly 100,000 died of hunger.  During the summer of 1942, the Germans deported and murdered close to 300,000 people in the gas chambers of Treblinka.  On April 19, 1943, an uprising broke out in the ghetto.  Until mid0May, fighters and civilians perished in combat or in the systematically burned ghetto buildings. The remaining population was murdered by Germans in November 1943 in the Majdanek, Poniatowa, and Trawniki concentration camps.  Only a few survived."

Museum of the History of Polish Jews | Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich

POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews is a museum everyone should visit if in Warsaw (tour or not). This museum tells the history of the past thousand years of Polish Jews.  

Below: "The food ration card...we grew to live with it and all the procedures associated with it: picking it up from the residence registration official, signing it, having it registered in the shop, and them, clipping off the tiny squares, right up to getting the next one.  So officials give out the cards, check what's entered on them against their registers.  At the same time supervisors are verifying the registers by checking up on the residents of each address." 

- Gazeta Zydowska (Jewish Newspaper), a newspaper published in Polish for Jews of the General government, censored by Germans, 25 March 1942.

The Germans established nearly 600 ghettos in cities, towns, and villages across the entire territory of occupied Poland.  Some of the ghettos were closed, surrounded by high brick walls, wooden fences, or barbed wire.  Others were open.  All of them were overcrowded, living conditions harsh, hunger and disease a constant threat.

Frederic Chopin | Fryderyk Chopin

You cannot go to Warsaw without hearing about Chopin.  Some of Kristen's favorite piano compositions to play are his Preludes.  She was excited for both the concerts and possibly having time for the Chopin Museum.

Ukrainian Dinner & Music | Ukraińska kolacja i muzyka

We gathered for a toast and dinner to bid farewell to Warsaw with an Ukrainian dinner and traditional Ukrainian music. There are many Ukrainian refugees in Poland. The Polish people feel a strong Solidarity with them given both having a history of imposed Russian rule.