Poland Day 10

Monument for Janusz Korczak

We got to sleep in today! We left at 9:45 to walk a few miles to the museum that we would be visiting today, the Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews. On our walk there, we passed a memorial dedicated to Janusz Korczak (Dr. Henryk Goldszmit) who was the director of an orphanage in Warsaw. When the Second World War broke out, Korczak stayed with his children rather than fleeing to another country. When his orphanage was forced to relocate to the Warsaw Ghetto, he went with his children. He stayed with his children until they were all forced to be sent to Treblinka, an extermination camp. He was witnessed walking through the town with all of his children, some as young as two or three years old, each carrying one toy to bring with them on their journey. He chose to stay with his children all the way until they were sent to their death at Treblinka. This story was told by one of our faculty members and it was very hard to hear. It was extremely courageous of Korczak to stay with his children, even though he had many opportunities to save himself. It was very sad to hear that this story did not have a happy ending as it should have.

The exterior of Polin Museum

We got to the museum, and the outside was beautiful. We walked inside and the walls seemed like waves. We were given audio-tours to walk us through the museum and the first one we could listen to told us about the building we were in, which was built in the heart of a ghetto. The museum is full of symbolism; the walls were inspired by a canyon (I can't recall which), the space between those rolling walls was supposed to represent the gap over the 1000 years of history the museum covers, as well as the Holocaust, the large windows and shiny exterior, were meant to represent life and the continuation of Jewish history. I thought the building was beautiful, to begin with, but the deeper meaning with almost every aspect made it even more so.

The exhibits of the museum were amazing. There were so many quotes, activities, artifacts, and displays that it took me two hours to get through 4 of them. My favorite part was reading the quotes from various writings, from legal documents to religious texts and journals. The audio-tour gave so much information about the room we were in and some background to the time period. I loved the early, medieval exhibits because I had never learned about it in school. I didn't know when or how Jews settled or how their relationships changed over the course of 300 or so years in Poland before the breakout of many wars. I also found the more modern exhibits to be very informative. As our trip is dedicated to the Holocaust, I went through those parts open to gain more information. Again, the quotes and displays they had were unbelievable. One part talked about three of the major camps and the room was set up like a train car, maybe similar to ones that transported thousands of Jews. I felt the walls close to me and the metal floor below me. This set up was intended to make the viewer feel a certain way, and I believe I felt that. Even with two other people in the area, I felt cramped. The pictures, numbers, and testimony never get easier.

An attempt at a pretty view of Warsaw

After at least three hours in the museum, I finally decided I needed some food and wanted to see other parts of the city. Using our maps and an app two others and I were able to figure out the correct bus we needed to get on to take us to Old Town. We waited twenty minutes, and after the bus we needed had failed to show up for two of their scheduled times, I was about to call it quits and walk (a lot considering it was rainy and cold). Finally, after being a few minutes late, we saw bus 180 in the distance. During our twenty minutes of waiting, we figured out how to decipher all of the information at the bus stop like times of arrival and the stops they had. Considering most of it was in Polish and I have very little knowledge of public transportation, I was very pleased with the progress we had made!

Tiramisu

We got lunch in Old Town, I had penne and chicken, then tiramisu for dessert. The tiramisu, my favorite dessert, was not able to beat my favorite of all time (Maggiano's still has that title). After our yummy meal, we walked through a little outdoor market (yes, in the cold rain) and I bought a mug and a little watercolor painting of Warsaw. After a little bit, we decided to head back since our shoes were starting to get very wet and it was cold. We figured out the stop we needed to get off at, found which buses stopped at that location and got on. Unfortunately, I think we got off one too early and while we were in the right area, we got off on a different side than we were used to. I found the tall museum that we got off in front of and headed in that direction. I knew there was a mall right by our hotel, and conveniently enough, there were two malls, one to the left and one to the right. I vaguely remembered the exterior of the mall I had seen a few times and chose left. Left was correct and we were able to reorient ourselves and get back to our warm hotel!

My helpful landmark!