Warsaw is the capital of Poland and has more residents than the entire country of Estonia. It was a little bit of a shock to get off the bus in the center of the city after spending the last week in Northern Europe.
Warsaw has always been a thriving city. It is a melting pot of religious groups and languages. In the 15th century, people from all countries immigrated to Poland to escape religious persecution.
Prior to World War II, Warsaw had a million residents about 35% were Jewish. The Jewish lived in a thriving area of Warsaw full off store fronts and apartments.
In 1939, Hitler had a wall built around the area where most of the Jews lived. This area is known as the Jewish ghetto. Over the next 2 years, the Germans moved Jews from other cities into the ghetto. By the middle of 1940, there were half a million Jews living in the ghetto. They were given 300 calories a day to live on.
In 1942, the concentration camps be came active. Jews were systematically set to nearby camps for execution. When there were only 50,000 Jews left in the ghetto an uprising happened. The Germany’s came into get another bunch of Jews and the Jews attacked instead of coming peacefully. This pissed off the Germans and they proceeded to burn down the ghetto from outside the walls. They even had bombs dropped on it.
In the end, the Jews ghetto had been leveled and all the Jews exterminated. To date, there are no practicing Jews in Warsaw.
This is the type of story we have been told all our lives about the Holocaust. It is horrible and gut wrenching. Almost too much to take in as you walk the streets, listening to the tour guides.
To Derek and I, one of the uplifting stories of Warsaw was the Polish Uprising which came near the end of the war. When the German’s were weakening and the Soviets were heading into Warsaw, the Polish people of Warsaw staged an uprising against the Germans. This was their attempt to fight off the Germans and reclaim their city.
As the fighting started, the Soviets held back. The US and British Air Force dropped supplies but the Soviets would not let them land. The Soviets stood back and watched as the Polish people slowly loss ground to the Germans. Some kind of ally. The Polish believe that Stallin wanted them to fail so they would be easily absorbed into the USSR.
In the end, the Germany kept control of Warsaw. About 35% of the city was destroyed in the uprising. As Hitler’s last mark on Warsaw, he had his troops systematically destroy the rest of the city. Burning buildings, blowing them up, and even dropping bombs. When the German troops retreated from Warsaw, it was 85% destroyed. Just piles of rubble everywhere.
Here is the uplifting part… Then the people started to put the city back together again. Women and children sorted bricks and removed the rubble. What struck Derek and I was where do you start? Every where you looked there were piles of broken buildings. Nothing is intact. But the people did it. They put everything back to where it was before. They rebuilt the city using the rubble from the old city. The drug store went back exactly where it was.
Today, the old city looks exactly the way it did before the war. The people are so proud of their 800 year old city which was built in the 1950’s. It is so funny to look at the city sky line.
Look at the picture below, you can see the old city in the back with its red roofs and the new city in the foreground. They were both built at the same time.
The picture above was taken from The Palace of Cultural Science. The building was a cross from our AirBnb in central Warsaw. It had been calling to us since we got off the bus. It had an elevator to the 30th floor.
Old town was truly beautiful. As you walk through it, you feel the need of the people to put their life back together again. By the way, before the war Warsaw had a million residents. After the war, they had only 168,000.
Derek found that we could climb St Anne’s church tower for better views of old town.
As we were enjoying the views of the city, we heard signing and chanting. Derek knew immediately what it was, a demonstration against the proposed changes to the Polish judicial system. I am so lucky to be traveling with someone who is so well read.
We watched from the safety of our tower for some time. Then we decided to get a little closer. It was so moving. People signing and then someone would give a short speech and then the people would chant and wave either a Polish flag or an European Union flag.
There were families and friends gathering in hopes that their president would heard them. “Three Vetoes” was the chant. There were people handing out newspapers defending the cause. I think this will be Derek’s most treasured souvenir.
There were demonstrations all of the city. Public transportation was at a halt. Police were everywhere. And Derek and I were wondering in the sea of people. Hell of a first day