EVS IN POLAND: MAGIC KRAKOW (JAN 2014)

Last Thursday, I had a conversation with Darek about holidays. I do not want, for now, enjoy my vacation but he insisted that, at least, I had to make three trips: one to Krakow, the second to Berlin and the last to Poznan, to meet again with people we met at the wedding. It was just in this moment, when Anna told us that the next day she went to Krakow to spend the weekend. So we said and done, the next day we went to Krakow. I was very happy, because I really was eager to go to Krakow, and of course, visit the concentration camp of Auschwitz and Schindler's factory. We arrived on Friday evening , we went to the hostel and then visited the main square.

This place is so beautiful, with a huge market and an incredibly beautiful church. After walking, we decided to find a restaurant for dinner. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant: a delicious pumpkin soup, pizza and other kind of pasta I can not remember. After dinner we went to sleep. The next morning, early, we went to the bus station and we went to Auschwitz. We got there about ten o'clock and we started the tour at 10.30 am. It is a place where the feelings are very strong. What I do not understand is why people take the kids to this place ... I think it is not good for children. But I guess I will have their reasons. Not was very cold, but the humidity was very high. I can not explain with words what I felt there , but I can say that it is impossible to imagine how much suffering was there. I cried when I saw the remains of hair, clothing and images of children. It was really hard. But the worse was to visit the gas chambers and crematoria chimneys. As Darek said: "How could people do that to other people!" Really horrible. It is a really sad and hard place but I think everyone should visit it to be aware of what happened and prevent it from happening again.

When we finished the visit to Auschwitz, we took the bus that took us to the other side of the camp: Birkenau. This part is much bigger, it is the part that we often watch in the movies. I remembered all the time the film The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. How hard!

In this camp there is a monument in stone with inscriptions in all languages were spoken there. We could see that there was an inscription that I could understand. Because it is like old Spanish. The guide told us it was Ladino. I had no idea that this language existed! So I did a little research. Looking for the definition of Ladino, I have not found anything similar to what is written on the board that you can see.

The guide told us that this language was spoken by prisoners from Greece but in the definition appears that Ladino is a language that comes from Italy. So I looked for about the languages spoken in Auschwitz-Birkenau and I could find that this language similar to old Spanish is Judeo-Spanish or djudezmo, and yes, after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, they were received by the Ottoman Empire, and also went to other parts of Europe and Africa. This definition is consistent with the guidance we gave. So is the language spoken by the Jews who were living in Spain before 1942, the Sephardim. Now, the number of speakers of Judeo-Spanish is 150000 and they are located in Latin America.

The visit lasted three hours. After the tour we returned to Krakow and we went shopping to a huge shopping center. Then, we met with Anna and her friend , and finally, we ate at a restaurant where I could eat typical Spanish " tapas"! It was a great and interesting day.

On Sunday morning we went to visit Schindler Factory. I think you all have seen the movie. In case you have not seen,Oskar Schindler was a German who saved the lives of hundreds of Jews during the Nazi Holocaust thanks to the factory he founded. It was exciting to be there! I have seen the movie recently , and after the hard moments spent in the visit to Auschwitz, this visit was a little more comforting. In this factory they have created a fantastic museum! Can you travel back in time and learn about the history of Krakow during II World War. Really fascinating. After this visit, we visited the Wawel Royal Castle. It is awesome! There, we visited the cathedral too. Precious because it is a mix of architectural styles.