Today we toured many sites within the citz of Krakow, including
- Kazimierz square
- Remuh synagogue
- Podgorze ghetto
- Museum of the Under the Eagle pharmacz
- Factory of Oskar Shindler
- Former Jewish ghetto wall
The sites are much easier for the group to handle than our visit yesterdaz to Majdanek. Much of the focus of our tour is on the Jewish resistence, especially at the Under the Eagle pharmacy. This shed light on two crucial parts of Holocaust history that are often overlooked. One is that the Jews mounted a very serious resistence in Poland. Their opression and murder is often the only thing we hear about. A "Jewish person" becomes "the Jewish people", and somehow they were all only passive victims? Hardly the case in the Podgorze ghetto. While World War 2 was obviously on e fo the darkest periods for a people in history, the fact that there were many sites of organized resistence is very important to remember. An elaborate network for smuggling medicine to people in the ghetto existed. Valuables and sometimes people were hidden in the pharmacy. Plans for escape through the sewers were developed and carried out. It is inspirational to see what people overcame in order to fight back against their occupation. Other sites within the former ghetto also illuminate our understanding of how the Jewish community in Warsaw developed, was broken up and persecuted during World War 2, and has been regrouping and rebuilding ever since.
After we leave the former ghetto, the rest of the day is dedicated to free time in Warsaw. A few of us take a run through the city, while many people shop and tour museums and churches. After dinner, we board a rather poorly kept sleeper train to take us overnight to Prague.
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