And the Polish adventure continues....

As we shared in the last blog, we visited the Warsaw Uprising Museum and were unable to take photos inside but here are a few from the grounds. This Wall of Remembrance is much like the Vietnam Wall in Washington D.C. It lists all the people who lost their lives during the Warsaw Uprising (1944).

At this point in blogging, I have decided to share our experience by day because it gets to confusing. But before I go, I forgot to mention that on Saturday, we watched Matt's basketball team ( group of guys from the American School of Warsaw) playing in a Polish men's amateur basketball league. Great fun and Matt's scored 13 points... 3  3-pointers...  Should have had photos but alas, we forgot to take them.

Sooooo, on Monday, we visited the Jewish Historical Institute which is on the grounds of the prior Jewish Library and synagogue which were both blown up during the German occupation. This institute housing much of the historical artifacts and genealogical records of Jews in Warsaw and other areas of Poland. It is different than the newly constructed Museum of the History of Polish Jews which opened three weeks ago but has not real exhibits yet. If you visit Warsaw, both the institute and museum are musts.

That evening we went to Matt's favorite schnitzel restaurant....

Matt in his glory

Tuesday, we went to an organ concert at St. Anne's. The music, organ and interior were quite beautiful to say the least.

Side altar

Center ceiling painting

Last in the afternoon, we returned to the area of the Warsaw Ghetto and visited both the memorial at Mila 18, the ghetto fighters last bunker. Please read the inscription on the plaque below.

Please read

We then walked a few blocks to the memorial to those taken from the ghetto to Treblinka and Auschwitz/Birkenau for extermination. The Umschlagplatz was the gathering place for Jewish ghetto residents who were selected for transportation Treblinka and later Auschwitz/Birkenau). In early September, 1939, there were 380,000 Jewish residents of Warsaw. During 1940-42, the population rose to 480,000 due to refugees from the Polish rural areas.  From the beginning of the ghetto, in 1939, 100,000 died from disease and starvation and between 1942-43 300,000 had been transported to the death camp at Treblinka or Auschwitz/Birkenau.  By the end of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, there were none.  It is difficult to explain how it feels to be in the location of these tragedies. Lots of thoughtful contemplation and reflection.

Please read a few of these first names. The memorial has over two thousand first names to remind us of what happened here. 

Below is a photo of the Warsaw Ghetto as it is today. Please note the glass building in the middle of the photo (white top) is the Museum of the History of Polish Jews (just opened). The area used to be the home of Europe's second largest Jewish community which shared its rich culture and traditions with the world. Today, there are high rise apartments built by the Soviets (1945-1989) for low income residents.  They, too, left their tragic mark on Warsaw.  Flashing back to 1944, imagine this photo as only rubble, flattened buildings and total devastation.

The Warsaw Ghetto area today

Hope reading this hasn't been a downer as much as a reminder of the ability we have to destroy one another and forget the wonderful contributions we all have to give to one another. It is also a reminder that, sadly to say, there is evil in the world. It is so true, " We can never forget".