Krakow #2

Krakow Day #2
After a night out last night that included dinner at a traditional Polish restaurant in Market Square and a bit of time out at a local night spot in the city.

Today we took time this morning to go on a walking tour of Krakow and the important parts of the city that have played a key role in the development of the Jewish community in the city, as well as, areas that were in the Krakow Ghetto.

Oldest Synagogue in Poland
- in this place we discussed various aspects of the Jewish faith and practices
- the synagogue was used as a community centre for the Jewish people for study
- we visited the cemetery located behind the at synagogue where two pivotal Rabbi are
- while at the site we learned that in the war the stones were all knocked down and taken away from this site (many were used for structures and roads), after the war stones were brought back to the synagogue but are not placed in the right locations and in some cases some areas have no stones
- additionally, in the Jewish faith when people have a pilgrimage to these important people's resting place it is common practice to leave a note with a hope or prayer on it and place it in a silver box, later a Rabbi takes the notes and barriers them
- in a later post I will discuss some of the things I have learned about the Jewish faith and their practices

En Route to the Krakow Ghetto & K Pharmacy
- we walked on foot to the location of the Krakow Ghetto, crossing the bridge as the Jewish people once would have crossed one of the many bridges from one side of the city to the other on route to the Krakow Ghetto believing that they were simply being 'relocated'
- the ghetto was 600 x 400 feet and housed approx. 18,000 people
- on killing sprees at times they could kill between 300 - 700 people in one event (approx. 1 body every two meters in the ghetto
- discussed the attempted youth uprising in this ghetto, but the risks associated with an uprising (e.g. the Nazis could kill more people and it wouldn't do any good)
- the site of the pharmacy in the ghetto where the owner chose not to leave his business and in turn ended up helping the Jews in the ghetto throughout the war

Plashov Concentration Camp
- all that is here is a memorial, and further down the hill the grey hall and the villa the commander of the camp lived on site
- Michael (our faculty guide) talked about what was here and what happened
- this is the place where the Schindler's list was based off of and filmed

Pinchas' Story
- while at the camp we sat and listened to part of Pinchas' story which I will include more information on tomorrow

I appreciate all of your patience as my blogging has been somewhat delayed these past few days.  I will be catching up tomorrow and will be writing formal blogs about certain aspects upon return.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

"the only thing that matters, is that it matters." -unknown