Day-trips

Terezin (Thereseinstadt), Czech Republic

Since getting back from spring break we went on two day-trips from Olomouc. The first was Terezin, a garrison city near Prague that had barracks meant to hold up to 6,000-7,000 soldiers. The Nazi's transformed it into a concentration camp with anywhere from 35,000-60,000 residents. 

This inscription can be found above the entrance to most Nazi concentrations camps. It means "work makes you free." Of course, this is a lie because as we all know, the Nazis had no intentions of setting any of their prisoners free.

On the tour, our guide explained that at the height of capacity in Terezin a room like this would hold up to 100 people. When studying the Holocaust, I knew that the living conditions in camps were horrible, but it was a new kind of learning experience to be in the places that they lived. On our tour we had approximately 40 people and we felt that the room was fairly crowded, which helped me to imagine what it may have looked like to have 100 people sharing this set of bunks, one table, and one bathroom.

Terezin was used as propaganda for the Red Cross when they sent representatives to make sure that the Jews were being treated well. Unfortunately, the Nazis knew of this visit 6 months before it occurred so they were able to prepare for it by deporting many to the east to Auschwitz so that the camp was less crowded. Other deceptions included temporarily keeping families together, giving them proper clothes, setting up fake cafes and shops, printing fake money, and building this barber shop. The representatives from the Red Cross left thinking that the Jews were being treated well by the Nazi Regime and had conditions much like they did outside of Terezin. 

Once the main camps was becoming too crowded, the Nazis built this new area specifically designed to be a concentration camp. They were able to make it so that one guard from a tower (behind me when I took the above photo) could manage this entire square. The two photos above this one show the inside of these barracks. These were considerably larger, but this did not mean that conditions were any better, as they were overcrowded as well. The skylight, although nice for lighting, created many problems for those living in these barracks as it made the temperatures be extreme. In the winter they were freezing and in the summer they were burning up.

After visiting the camp we went to a couple of museums in town. This is a display of drawings made by the children in Terezin. The teacher had stowed them away in a suitcase and hidden it in the wall. After liberation, the Allies found this suitcase and the drawings can be seen here and in the museums in Prague in the Jewish quarter. Most of the children were deported to Auschwitz, where they were gassed.

This is an example of what the Terezin ghetto looked like.

 Kromeriz, Czech Republic

Kromeriz is about an hour away from Olomouc by bus. While we were there we visited the palace and the second oldest wine cellar in Moravia.

This is the gaming room with an impressive amount of stuffed heads on the wall. With each plaque there is a plate that lists the name of the hunter and the day of the kill.

The place was beautifully decorated with ornate furniture and wallpapered walls. The floors were original and to keep them looking nice, before we could go in, we had to put on slippers over our shoes. We all looked pretty silly in these shoes, especially since we had to shuffle around to keep them from flying off.

The gardens from inside.

This room was used in the filming of the movie Amadeus. It was originally used as the formal dining hall, but now is used as a fashion runway and for concerts of classical music.

Outside of the palace, there were beautiful gardens with many kinds of birds including peacocks, turkeys, and this black swan.

At the winery they stored many, many bottles, always on their side. Here's a peek into one of the storage units.

While walking around, we noticed mold all over the ceiling and I was quite concerned about it. Our guide assured us that the mold lets them know that the cellar is the right levels of humidity, temperature, and darkness.

I'm not sure how this tradition started, but it is good luck to stick a coin into the mold and make a wish. The mold is so thick that the coins stay.

After the tour, we tasted 4 kinds of wine. They specialize in white wine (80% of what they make) so we tried 3 whites and 1 red.

Some of the wine aging in barrels.

Krakow

On our way to Krakow we stopped in Ostrava and toured one of the old factories.

We took a cool lift up to the top (well almost the top) of one of the towers. In this photo you can see some of our group on their way up.

Our guide told us that the gray machine to the left was nicknamed 'the elephant.'

This is the view of the factory from the very top.

Wieliczka Salt Mine

Here is a photo of some of the stairs we descended into the mine. From the top, I could not see the bottom and from the bottom, I could not see the top. At that point we were on the 1st level of the mine, which has a total of 9 levels.

Our guide explained to us that a dry salt mine is a safe salt mine. To keep it dry, they have to pump water out every day.

This is probably the most well known view of the salt mines. It is not the only chapel, but it is certainly the largest and most ornately decorated. The coolest part about the mine was that almost everything was made of salt- the walls, the floors, the statues. It was also very comical to see everybody licking these things to taste the salt.

Krakow

One of the first things we did was tour the Jewish Quarter, which we were staying in, and visit a museum there. This piece stood out to me because of the description that accompanied it. A lion can be seen on many Jewish artifacts as it is a symbol that reminds them to follow God with the ferocity of a lion. This photo was taken of a run-down synagogue, in which the face of the lion has been torn off. To me, it was almost a symbol of the holocaust as those events took away the identities of so many, for some, even destroyed their faith in God and humanity.

Afterward, we went to the town center. Here are a couple of shots of the square.

This is the outside of Wawel Castle in Krakow. To the right, you can see Polish flags, a common sight in Poland as they have a lot of national pride.

Inside the castle walls, the gardens and architecture were very beautiful.

Some of the weapons on display in the museum inside.

In my opinion, the ceilings were the most interesting to look at. Most looked like the first one, but the last room I visited had heads inside of the squares, almost like frames. 

The castle has a legend of a dragon that was fed people, namely virgin women. One day, he wanted to eat a royal virgin, so he captured the princess. Following this, many suitors fought the dragon as they were promised that if they could rescue her, then they could marry her. I believe that this is where we got our traditional dragon stories, as it sounds very much like them. We were able to walk through the "Dragon's Den."

Outside there is a dragon statue that spits fire every hour.

There was a lot of new foods to try in Krakow and all of them were delicious! This one is zapiekanka, which is bread with melted cheese and mushrooms topped with anything you want. I told him to do everything so I got ketchup, corn, peppers, pickles, cucumbers, green olives, and fried onion. I assumed that this was the 'basic' zapiekanka as I went to a different stand the next day and was able to choose between different combinations of toppings and sauces.

We visited a chocolate factory while we were there where we were able to sample different kinds of chocolate and where they had many flavors of truffles, blocks of chocolate, and shaped chocolate gifts. In the store window, there was a woman making paintings of Krakow with chocolate.

While looking for an outdoor market, we stumbled upon this great market of paintings.

We went to Schindler's Factory, where there is now a museum. It was a very large museum, in which all of the displays were different. I enjoyed this as it made it more interesting since they mixed together many types of media so that any type of learner could learn from the displays.

I saw this photo once in a short film at the beginning of my walk through the museum and then again later. For some reason, this photo spoke to me.

Before the war, the factory made pots and pans. Later, they manufactured weapons for the Nazis, which they sabotaged so that they would not work properly.

Schindler's office.

 Auschwitz-Birkenau

Almost immediately after entering the camp, you can see the sign, "Arbeit Macht Frei."

A map of the camps that transported prisoners to Auschwitz, which is the red dot in the middle.

The piles of things that people brought with them to the camp and which were inevitably left behind by order to do so were called "Canada" in camp jargon. Some of these items are on display. They reminded me that these people did not know where they were going as they brought with them things with which to shave and cook. The hardest part of the tour was to see cases full of human hair and to see some of the photos taken of inmates upon arrival. The common attribute among every single one of them was the fear in their eyes. No matter what other features were different, their eyes were, without fail, the same.

This is the entrance to the execution square.

The two posts on the left-hand side were used as a way to torture inmates. A person's hands would be tied behind their back and then those ropes would be tied to the posts. The officer would pull up on the ropes until the inmates shoulders dislocated and then he would leave the inmate there to suffer for about an hour.

The execution wall, now a memorial.

These signs could be seen all over the camp, warning inmates of the electric fence.

The Nazis had many ways to torture inmates; here is another. These were standing cells in which the inmates had to stand all night (if they sat they would be shot) and then work the next day. They would often do this until the inmate perished.

The place where people were publicly hanged, in front of the roll call square.

Roll call square.

The entrance to the gas chamber.

The hole through which Zyklon B was dropped. Those standing next to it would die instantly, within 20 minutes, everyone would be dead.

The gas chamber

The crematoria

This photo was taken from the inside looking out of Birkenau.

An aerial view of the three camps.

The prisoners were transported in cattle cars like this one.

This is a memorial made to represent the chimney and the victims.

Most of the crematoria are in ruins as the Nazis tried to cover up their crimes by destroying evidence.

The brick barracks

Prisoners slept on these bunks, sometimes on straw.

The buildings had four 'halls' like this one.

The showers and latrines

Showers

Latrines

The tracks looking into the camp. After prisoners got off the cars, they were told that the only way to leave the camp was through the chimneys. 

I know that the beginning and last parts of this post were very depressing, but, as our tour guide said, we must not forget the horrible things that happened here.