Nathaniel Sansom added 35 new photos.
From the Ghetto Hero Square, to Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory, the Kraków Museum of Contemporary Art, the Krakus Mound, and Kamieniołom Liban (a Nazi Labor Camp) today was a day filled to the brim with history as I learned from an entirely new, quite literally hands-on, perspective.
The Hero Square was a memorial I stumbled upon on my way to the Enamel Factory. After visiting the memorial and walking to the factory, it was humbling to learn of the great extent that Mr. Schindler went through to protect many Jewish workers in his factory. Hearing of how they would hide Jewish workers during inspections was surreal- as was being told that the factory was mandated to produce munitions for the German war effort. The museum at the factory also contained exhibitions on the ghettos and other notable aspects of the war. On such exhibition touched on the arrest of Jagiellonian University Professors after they continued to teach following the Nazi Occupation of Poland. Even the Rector of the University, Tadeusz Lehr - Spławinski , was arrested and sent to Sachsenhausen before later being released. This revelation amazed me as it brought back thoughts and memories of both taking classes at Jagiellonian as well as of my visit to Sachsenhausen when in Germany this past May.
Following the factory museum, I visited the nearby Museum of Contemporary Art. It was a beautiful museum that showcased a number of exhibitions, some appearing a little bit too abstract for my liking while others were simply beautiful.
I then set off for the Krakus Mound, followed by the Nazi labor camp. Located within a limestone quarry, walking through the camp was a humbling experience. Visiting the towers that offered a sweeping view of the landscape, I could not fully comprehend the horror that others had experienced only a few generations ago. The rusted iron beneath my feet had been traversed by prisoner and guard alike decades ago- and now I was standing here. I then saw the graves around which a pathway leading to the base of the towers had been forged. Although I do not know the story behind the graves, it was apparent that the epitaph on each was engraved in Hebrew. It appeared as if the Nazis had intentionally turned the graveyard into a pathway, presumably forcing the Jewish prisoners to walk upon the graves of their ancestors as they went to labor at the camp. We cannot comprehend the horror these individuals were forced to endure.
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