The Detouring Doctor

Our final 24 hours in Poland was back in Warsaw. Just enough time to catch up on a few sights in the old town and for me to “explore” a couple of famous Poles.

Copernicus is a favourite for me. Born in the 15th century he achieved fame as an astronomer who first proposed that the earth revolves around the sun rather than the then prevailing view endorsed by the church that the earth is the centre of the universe and the sun revolves around it.

Last century an electrician working in Gdansk rose to prominence as a trade union activist. He drew the ire of the then ruling USSR. His leadership of the “Solidarity”  (Solidarnosc in Polish) trade union was one of the pivotal events leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the USSR. He served with distinction as the first president of the newly liberated Poland.

Marie Curie grew up in Warsaw in the late 19th century. She furthered her studies in Paris and married Pierre Curie. She and her husband won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 for developing the theory of radioactivity. Subsequently she won a second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry for the discovery of the chemical elements polonium and radium. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two separate fields.

On the final morning before our flight home I was up early to catch up with one of my favourite composers Frederic Chopin. Born in 1810 the master pianist and composer had a Mozart like life. Playing piano at age 4, first composition at age 6 this prodigy was famous throughout Europe in his time. Tragically his flame burnt brightly but he died young at age 39.

The monument is in the Royal Baths park also home to the beautiful Lazienki palace.

A pleasant 2 hour drive south of Krakow has us at Zakopane the main town in the Tathra mountains straddling the border between Poland and Slovakia. Part of the broader Carpathian mountains the highest peak here is 2600 metres high. In the winter this is a popular ski area.

We spend the day on a circular drive that takes us into Slovakia before returning to our accommodation for the night the Bania Hot springs hotel. We finish the day with a dip in the thermal pool and a cocktail from the swim up bar.

We are walking through the 20th century concrete ramp and tunnel, listening to a haunting roll call of the known victims of the death camp known as Auschwitz over load speakers. It is both sombre and eerie and through our transit we hear only an infinitesimally tiny proportion of the names of the 1.1 million who died at this death camp alone.

Arriving at the entrance we are confronted with a wrought iron fence with the same inscription as we saw in Dachau “Arbeit Macht Frei” which translates as “work sets you free”

In January 1943 at a conference just outside Berlin the then militarily rampant Nazi leadership of Germany devised a plan to implement Butler’s long held desire to exterminate the Jews. Having labelled them an inferior race, even before WW2 German Jews were treated to harassment and abuse by German authorities. The conference devised a plan to kill over 11 million  European Jews and labelled it the “Final Solution”

At the core of their plan was the development of 6 death camps in the now devastated and out of the way nation of Poland also home to 3.5 million Jews the highest Jewish population of any European country. The largest camp was the Auschwitz Birkenau complex beautifully preserved as a monument to those who suffered and died in horrific circumstances there.

The plan involved arresting and herding Jews from all over Europe onto overcrowded wooden train carriages in worse conditions than animals. They often endured many days before the train pulled up right in Birkenau.

Allowed out carriage by carriage I can imagine their short lived feelings of happiness breathing fresh air exposed to daylight and being able to stretch out again. All of their belongings were confiscated. They were rapidly assessed by a doctor and separated in a process designated “the selection”. On one side stronger able bodied men and women who were processed stripped shaved and sent to barracks to work. Most of these were dead within a couple of months from starvation. On the other side women, children, elderly and infirmed who were told to march in a different direction. If they asked they were told they were going off to have a shower. Within a couple of hours they were dead from hydrogen cyanide gas poisoning in the gas chambers.

Even after death the depravity did not cease. Anything on their body that could be taken was including women’s hair and gold fillings. The bodies were cremated and the ashes spread indiscriminately as fertiliser.

The horrific and tragic stories here once again make my eyes well up. Again and again what strikes me most is that it was ordinary people who actually carried out this evil plan. SS officers here were certainly acting on orders but at work they killed all day long and literally went offsite to the village built for them and their families who were allowed to accompany them and must have been loving husbands and fathers. How can anyone live such a dichotomy?

The second city of Poland was the capital and royal seat of power until 1795. Unlike Warsaw it remained relatively unscathed after WW2. This is a beautiful city with a picture perfect old town that makes it a superb place to spend some time and step back in time. This is a touristic jewel!

Enjoy the photos

Prior to the age of refrigeration salt was a precious commodity. Not only is it a seasoning it was important to preserve meat and fish. In fact the word salary derives from the Latin word for salt.

Just outside of Krakow, the Wieliczka Salt mine started in the 13th century. Last extraction was in 1996. Since then the site has been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List and it has become an historical monument which attracts over 1 million visitors a year.

The mine extends down over 9 levels and 300km of tunnels. The tourist trail goes down 3 levels to 135 metres down and goes just under 3km. It is replete with underground lakes, salt carving and massive chambers including a huge fully functioning church complete with Sunday mass and weddings.

Warsaw was one of the most heavily destroyed cities during WW2 with some 85% of the city razed to the ground. When Germany invaded in 1939 Warsaw resisted much more fiercely than expected. The Luftwaffe bombed the city extensively causing early large-scale destruction.

Subsequently in 1943 the holocaust caused substantial destruction of Jewish neighbourhoods killing tens of thousands of Jews and deporting the rest.

Hitler viewed the Poles as racially inferior. When the Polish underground launched the Warsaw uprising in 1944 the Nazis put it down brutally and launched a full scale assault with the instruction from Hitler that Warsaw was to be levelled.

Arriving in Warsaw now one has to admire the resilience of the Poles. This is a major modern city despite the German devastation and decades of Soviet neglect. Most amazingly the UNESCO heritage acclaimed old city here  has risen like a Phoenix from the ashes having been rebuilt between 1951 and 1953. It is here that we spend our first afternoon here marvelling at the reconstruction.

Finally back to our apartment which is outside the old town and the nearby Palace of Culture and science. Initially built and completed by the Soviets in 1955 as Communist Party HQ. It now houses theatres and museums. The Soviets designed it deliberately to look like New York’s Empire State Building.