Poland: Krakow and Oświęcim (Auschwitz)
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1. Actually, this isn't Poland but Vienna -- Dave is giving the thumbs up for Wolfgang Petritsch, who was the High Representative to Bosnia before giving up the post to run in Austrian elections. He's the guy on the left, and goofily holds his thumb up in some other campaign posters found around Vienna.
Krakow
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Pictures 2-6 are of old Krakow, a beautiful city that's pretty dark at the end of November. Picture #2 is of the park that surrounds the old city -- it's built on what used to be a moat. Pictures #4 through #6 are from the old town square, the largest medieval square in Europe.
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Pictures 7-12 are particularly relevant to Krakow's Jewish past, which was dramatized in the movie "Schindler's List." The pre-WW2 Jewish population of about 70,000 is now less than 100 (mostly elderly).
Picture #7 is of a Jewish graveyard in the Kazimierz district that was destroyed during Nazi occupation (bulldozed beyond recognition), and which only began to be uncovered in the late '90s. (Out of the picture is the remaining unrepaired section, which is still a wall of earth).
Picture #8 is the main square in Kazimierz (featured prominently in the movie), formerly the Jewish center of the city and now filled with ersatz kosher restaurants to serve tourists such as Julie and I.
Picture #9 is across the river in the Podgórze district, in the center of what was the WW2 Jewish ghetto. The building belonged to a pharmacist named Tadeusz Pankiewicz, the only non-Jewish resident who supplied medicine and other goods to those in the ghetto. The picture is taken from the main square in Podgórze, which was the site of about 2,000 executions and is now a functioning city bus station.
Picture #10: one of the few remaining sections of the ghetto wall.
Pictures #11 and #12: the former factory of Oskar Schindler, which was used in the filming of the movie and is now a print shop and electronics factory (you can see Julie and our guide in #11). Picture #12 leads up the stairs to Schindler's office (you might also recognize it from the movie).
Auschwitz I
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Pictures #13-14: the main gate at Auschwitz I, with the inscription "Arbeit macht frei" (meaning "work brings freedom"). Picture #18 is of the original (and sole remaining) gas chamber, and Picture #19 is a replica crematorium built from the original materials. Both were found to be too small, and were replaced by multiple larger units at Auschwitz II (Birkenau), which were destroyed by the retreating Nazis at the end of the war. The State Museum estimates that 1.2 to 1.5 million victims died at the camps.
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Pictures 20-24: horrific evidence -- hair, prescription eyeglasses, suitcases, brushes. #24: the Gestapo police court where suspects were usually sentenced to death. #25: office of the SS duty officer -- note the picture of Hitler on the wall. #26: executed suspects were brought to this room before going to the crematorium. The photo on the wall shows the condition of the room as found by the liberating Soviet army in January 1945.
Auschwitz II (Birkenau)
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#28: the main entrance and SS Guard House at Auschwitz II (Birkenau). #29: railway siding where prisoners were offloaded. #31: another view of the main entrance and SS Guard House. #32: view from the SS Guard Tower.
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#33: Latrine. #34: Housing for prisoners -- very cold when we visited in late November.
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#35-#39: These pictures should give you some sense of scale. Most of the prison housing was destroyed by retreating Nazis, but each barrack had a brick chimney which still stands (you can especially see this in #37).
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