Finally back to travelling again. This time I’m doing a euro-trip and trying to make my way down to Italy. Hopefully we can manage to see 10 countries within a few weeks!
Krakow
After 1.30 hr flight from Copenhagen, Denmark I landed in Kraków with full of excitement. When I arrived I realised that I’ve made the perfect timing because of the Kraków festival that is one time per year. The whole city was so alive at the moment. So beside doing the normal touristing stuff I got to eat incredible food, see some typical polish folks act & just stroll around the citys street.
I’ve also got to visit a cool place that I very much recommend. Incredible food, A big wine & whisky selection and a cool cigar room.
The service was a 10/10 and i was there for 2hrs, talking with the service personal for at least 1hr. I enjoyed myself a nice cigar from Uruguay i think and a 23 y/o Rum that was a nice match with the cigar. Expensive? Absolutely not. Worth it? YES!
You have to check this place out. Here’s their website Enoteka Pergamin.
Mostly i was in the Old town of Kraków because of the festival. There’s a lot of nice architecture and churches as well that you’ve gotta see.
Auschwitz/Birkenau
I can write 100 pages about these extermination camps. There’s so many feelings and things to say. But I’m gonna try to do my best and be short.
When i arrived here i thought that i had a slight clue what happened here, Well I was totally wrong. When I walk trough the gate that says “Arbecht macht frei” I had the chills down the spine. Approximately 1.3 million people was send here. 1.1 million died a horrible death and 1 million of this people were Jews.
All kinds of feelings was going trough me when we walked from block to block. To see this with my own eyes was like i walked into a scary movie. All of the blocks had all kinds of different storys and horrible actions that went down there during the WW2.
But there were blocks that was worse than others. When we got to block 11 also called “Block of death”.
Prisoners that didn’t follow orders, was stealing food or tried to escaped was sent to “block 11” to be tortured and then to be shot.
They had all different kinds of torture. Some could be locked in a dark chamber (starvation cell) for several days or being forced to stand in one of four (Standing cells) . Punishment in these special compartments (one square metre each, with a hole 5×5 cm for breathing), consisted of confining four prisoners, who were forced by the lack of space to remain standing all night for up to twenty nights, while still being forced work during the days.
If they by some reason didn’t die by starvation or suicide, this men were so malnourished and weighed 25-30kg so they couldn’t work anymore. That’s when they was shot.
When the tour was over in Auschwitz we jumped into the car and drove to Birkenau.
I didn’t thought it could be worse, but I was wrong again. This place was a big graveyard as our guide said. All those people that got here, their life was gonna be decided in a couple of hours.
When the thousands of people was got off the train they were forced to stand in line, women and children in one line and the men in another one. The man on the picture sent the weak, the older and the children straight to the gas-chambers.
Every mother with a baby was automatically sent to their death, practically all over 50 did. Rest of the people was going to “work” to their death.
Right or left – Life or death
Right or left was the difference between life or death. A slight nod from the SS-Doctor at the platform decided the future, One way for the people that looked healthy and could work. At the other way waited one last walk beside the track.
When the people got up to the building, one of the SS-soilder said:
“Just a shower for disinfection then you will get hot food and drinks. Take your clothes off now and don’t forget the number on the hanger were you left your clothes. After that they never made it out of the Gas-Chamber.
This was not the only extermination camps in Poland. In total over 6 million polish nationals and 3 million jews lost their life. 20% of the Polish population was erased.
Never Forget!
I’ve also made a short video of my time in Kraków, Poland that you can check out here: My experience. Now I’m off to Budapest, Hungary!
