Krakow, Poland

Bath to Poland in 24 hours! What a week!

Monday morning I woke up bright and early to meet two teacher chaperones and 29 students at the Luton airport to head to Krakow, Poland for three days.

We met at 6:00am, a very early morning. After one student was half an hour late and two students brought baggage that was too large so we had to check it in, we were off to the gates and on the plane to Katowice, Poland. When we arrived, it was beautiful weather- over 0 degrees and sunny. We got straight on a coach bus and took a 2 hour bus ride to Krakow, Poland where we checked into our hotel and then headed straight out again.

Our first event was a Holocaust Memorial tour of Krakow. We started in the Jewish Quarter of Krakow- an area that was heavily populated by Jewish before WWII. From here we went into an old synagogue and saw a graveyard out back. During WWII, all synagogues were used as factories or storage houses which is why they were not demolished. The graveyard outside though did not meet the same fate and all the tombs were destroyed. The Nazi's used the rubble from the tombs to build walls,etc and without knowing it--in the future walls were continued to be built by these same tomb stones. After WWII, the tombstones were replaced as best they could be and memorial walls have been built with the remaining rubble of the old ones.

Jewish Quarter, Krakow

Wall made of tombstone rubble. 

The tour continued onto the Jewish ghetto that was set up in Krakow, Poland during the Nazi occupation. A section of the wall that was created to block them in still remains. We also were able to drive past Schindlers Factory which now works as a museum after the movie Schindlers List came out. Our final stop on the tour was the deportation square in Krakow. It was where Jewish and other Polish citizens were forced to register and were sent on trains to camps, such as Auschwitz. The square now holds a memorial where giant chairs are situated all looking onto the square; except two- one looking to the train station and one looking to an alley on the opposite side where executions took place.

Deportation site memorial

After the tour we went to a museum that used photography to show the life of Jewish in Poland pre-WWII, during WWII, post WWII and how they are remembered today. After the museum tour we were blessed with the opportunity to speak to a real Auschwitz survivor- a women who was a young child when she was sent to the most brutal death camp and only survived because of her mothers strength to sneak her food daily.

After a long day of travelling and touring we went for dinner at a pasta restaurant. It was a very posh looking restaurant and had good food for decent prices. The staff and sixth form students enjoyed it; however, many of the students did not eat much because they are very picky eaters. From dinner, we went back to the hotel- let the kids relax and gave them a set bed time for our early morning approaching. The staff stayed up to monitor the hallways and play some cards in the bar downstairs.


Day two was an early-ish morning. We were up for 8:15 for breakfast and in the coach by 9am to head to Auschwitz-Birkenau. It was another 2 hour bus ride that was slightly prolonged when a student was ill over their clothes and we had to stop at an H&M to purchase them some new ones for the day. When we arrived at the camp, we were lead on a guided tour of Auschwitz- the main camp. This was where thousands of Jewish and Polish worked and were executed during the years of the Nazi occupation. It was a educational and emotional tour but I think it gave the students good insight on topics they had learnt about in classes. We were able to see exhibitions of objects (suitcases, combs, glasses) that were stolen and left behind from the prisoners as well as what bunkers looked like. The camp still has access to the gas chamber at this location which was a very eerie experience to walk through.
After lunch we headed to the second camp of Auschwitz: Auschwitz-Birkenau.This is camp grounds where prisoners were sent to after their deportation from home; there are tracks running into Birkenau that lead no where else--they were built specifically for the purpose of deportation. This prison camp ground is where the prisoners would live and where multiple gas chambers existed. The number of prisoners killed upon arrival in Birkenau based on their inability to work or undesirable qualities in these gas chambers is astronomically high. It is an emotional location but I am overwhelmed with the opportunity to witness the location where some of the must inhuman monstrosities occurred. When the Nazis were leaving Auschwitz-Birkenau they demolished the gas chambers and most of the bunkers on the grounds to destroy evidence the crimes committed; but the ruins remain and some of the bunkers are still in place.

train tracks in Birkenau

Remains of a gas chamber

remains of bunkers

After a long and emotional filled day, we headed back to Krakow and relaxed in our hotels before dinner. After the students protested about their picky diets, we agreed we would just head to McDonald's for dinner and let the students order what they wanted so they would all be happy. We had another early night as we were up at 6am to catch a coach back to Katowice and be home for noon. It was a very busy few days but well worth it. Krakow was a beautiful city and I would love to go back again.

Krakow city centre at night

Krakow in the morning, very Eastern europe architecture 

So as it was my first over night trip chaperoning students---especially overseas, I feel it is good to reflect on what I thought about the experience.
For the most part--during the day, and especially at some of the sites which were sensitive in nature---the students were well behaved. They were respectful and really took in the information given to them. At night, in the hotels it was a slightly different story. As expected, with curfews there are always the students trying to break them; trying to sneak into each others rooms; planning mass group escapes at 3am and at a hotel with other schools--boys trying to pick up girls from other schools. I spent most nights with one ear open for the pitter patter of footsteps or whispers in the hallway. The students found the "brillant" idea to start calling one another and I became aware of it when I could hear EVERY word the students in the room next to me were saying to girls from another school. Needless to say, I got very little sleep and phones were removed from several of the rooms for their stay at the hotel. I would love to be apart of another trip as this (free vacation--why not?); however, I do believe I would kindly reject a few of the students from participating based on their wild antics when in a hotel. Overall, it was an amazing experience and I am so happy I was apart of it--even though I am now exhausted and have a cold.

India in 1 week, 2 days!