Tuesday was our walking tour of Jewish Krakow. We enjoyed a
nice buffet breakfast and waited for our tour guide to arrive. Initially I was
pretty excited to see the Jewish section of Poland, also know as Kazimierz.
After walking around for a few and stopping in an old synagogue, I realized
that this area was just a tourist trap. The restaurants that were labeled
“Jewish” did not even sell kosher foods. In fact, many of them even had pork on
the menu. It was almost insulting to me that they labeled these places as
“authentic Jewish Food” when they were just really tourist traps. We continued
on and saw some more synagogues and sites. We also saw parts of the Jewish
Ghetto and stopped for some Zapiekanki, which is traditional Polish street food
(essentially a baguette with cheese and various toppings). I watched Ryan
inhale his and decided that was good enough. By hour three the tour was getting
tougher. As much as I was enjoying the sights, I was just so exhausted I was
having trouble paying attention. We stopped in some museums and visited
Plaszow, a Polish concentration camp. Plaszow was much different than the other
camps we visited since there was almost nothing left of it. The majority of the
camp was overgrown and is now essentially used as a trail for runner and
walkers. If there had been no sign, I would have had no idea there was ever a
concentration camp there. In the end I was a little disappointed by the tourist
feel we got in Kazimierz and did not feel like Judaism was properly portrayed.
A few of us then hopped on a bus to go grab some dinner. We were delayed a bit as we had a small run in with the ticket officers. Unfortunately we were unable to buy bus tickets before some gentlemen boarded the bus to check tickets. In Poland it is a big crime if you don’t buy and validate a ticket. Needless to say we had a long argument with them and had to find some English/Polish speaking people to help us out. We ended up having to pay a fine (half of what it was supposed to be) and got away with just a warning. We were pretty scared that we were going to be handcuffed and taken to jail, but we definitely got lucky. No more public transportation for me. We needed a little treat after that whole incident so we stopped at a Polish self serve restaurant. Of course I got golobaki and potatoes, which were amazing, and only $4. We headed back to the hotel and stopped for some snacks for our long day tomorrow.
Tuesday was our walking tour of Jewish Krakow. We enjoyed a
nice buffet breakfast and waited for our tour guide to arrive. Initially I was
pretty excited to see the Jewish section of Poland, also know as Kazimierz.
After walking around for a few and stopping in an old synagogue, I realized
that this area was just a tourist trap. The restaurants that were labeled
“Jewish” did not even sell kosher foods. In fact, many of them even had pork on
the menu. It was almost insulting to me that they labeled these places as
“authentic Jewish Food” when they were just really tourist traps. We continued
on and saw some more synagogues and sites. We also saw parts of the Jewish
Ghetto and stopped for some Zapiekanki, which is traditional Polish street food
(essentially a baguette with cheese and various toppings). I watched Ryan
inhale his and decided that was good enough. By hour three the tour was getting
tougher. As much as I was enjoying the sights, I was just so exhausted I was
having trouble paying attention. We stopped in some museums and visited
Plaszow, a Polish concentration camp. Plaszow was much different than the other
camps we visited since there was almost nothing left of it. The majority of the
camp was overgrown and is now essentially used as a trail for runner and
walkers. If there had been no sign, I would have had no idea there was ever a
concentration camp there. In the end I was a little disappointed by the tourist
feel we got in Kazimierz and did not feel like Judaism was properly portrayed.
There were no "Polish" concentration camps, death camps, extermination camps, labor camps, ghettos, etc. in occupied Poland. The camps were the creation of Nazi Germany, which imposed a brutal 5-1/2 year occupation on the Poles. The first victims of the camps were Polish Christians. Please refrain from using language that shifts the blame from the perpetrators to the victims.
ReplyDeleteLovely photos Natalie. And the food looked lovely too.
ReplyDeleteBut shocked as I am to find that Krakow (unlike every other big city in the world) has "tourist trap" restaurants, I am even more shocked to find that it also has "Polish" concentration camps.
Has the Official History of WW2 already been spun so much that Poland is now part of the Axis Powers? These were surely "concentration camps in Nazi and Soviet Occupied Poland" - given that Hitler and Stalin, working happily and harmoniously together, invaded, occupied and divided Poland up between them. Poland barely existed during the war years.
Thank you, Sue. In fact, Poland was wiped off the map of Europe during World War Two.
ReplyDelete