The Start of Little Polish Tidbits

I thinking that I may try something a little different for this blog and that is to highlight places, museums, monuments and other significant places with little tidbits.  Especially with the rich nature of both the Polish and Jewish history here in Poland, I figured that it would be a unique way to highlight these places that I have really loved throughout my adventures through this beautiful country!

On a side note, it is currently down pouring with thunder and lightning, which makes for a cozy blog writing atmosphere.

Here goes...Tidbit #1. So Monday I went to work and got let off at around 2:00 pm.  I try to find little adventures or take purposeful detours on my way home in hopes that I will actually stumble upon something unique and exciting here in Warsaw! (which is not hard to do :) One of the benefits of living with Melissa is that she knows so much about the city already and shares with me all these places to visit while I am here! Needless to say, I anxiously await her emails that come through during my work day.

My first BIG "on my own" adventure involved me walking from the Family Heritage center where I am working to finding a street called Grzybowska.  I wandered a little while and then found the street but was on the other end of where I needed to be, so I pulled out my camera and just started walking.  It was amazing to me to see all of these old buildings that were ruins, that served as reminders of places of business and homes that people once lived.  At one point, I even found the only Jewish synagogue that had survived the war, which stood simply beautiful! As I looked out from the church, I was struck by a Jewish man that was sitting on a bench and appeared to be praying.  He didn't seem to let the noise around affect him but he just sat there in silent reverence. For moments, he'd raise his head to connect to the present, but then bow his head again and lose himself in his prayers. In light of the history of Jews of Poland, I found this to be a rather poignant moment of my day.

I kept walking down this street, sweating in the hot summer heat, and continued until I finally reached 69 Grzybowska, which is the Warsaw Rising Museum.

This museum's exterior encompasses almost an entire city block, but after passing through the outer gates, you seem to be transported back in time. The museum itself is in an old restored power station. I was thankful when I entered the museum that admission was free, which is something I had not realized until I got there.

When you walk inside, there is this large concrete wall that has this loud thundering heartbeat sound coming from it, which seems to build as you take steps closer to it.  The Warsaw Rising Museum is actually on the corner of the former ghetto and houses a collection of artifacts, photographs, film footage.  The Warsaw Rising, in 1944, was an attempt of the Poles to take their city back from the Germans before the Red Army, or the Russians, advanced into Poland.  While initially this looked like it may succeed, the end of this 63 day struggle resulted in the death of 200,000 Polish lives.

This is the sewage system that the Poles made use of trying to advance against the Germans.  You can go in them, but I only went in a little ways as I was concerned how a tall girl would make her way back out.

I don't remember exactly what this is and since I don't read with Polish or German, I couldn't tell you for sure.  I just thought the attention to various details seemed quite extravagant for that time.

Warsaw Rising Propaganda.

The museum's unique collection of materials really helps to paint the picture of what it may have been like under German occupation in Poland.  I think probably the most impactful portion of the day (which ended up being about 5 hours here :) was the German portion of the museum.  There is such a large emphasis on the Polish involvement that the German perspective is removed and placed in more of a basement area.  The really odd piece is that it is behind these heavy black curtains, so you also have to make the conscious decision to go to this part of the museum. Right when you enter, you see this:

And while I guess I should have expected something like this, it was the mixture of color, the shouts of German soldiers and this overwhelming heavy feeling that gave just a taste of what life was truly like in Warsaw during occupation, especially the Warsaw Uprising.  There are even other pieces of this German part behind other curtains that have violent images of executions as well as first hand accounts of those who participated in the Nazi offensive.  While chilling, it provided a strong perspective that to a degree I seemed to have removed myself through reading memoirs in the past, but then was confronted with in that moment.

As someone who is also split between passions, the attention to those Polish men and women who participated from a medical standpoint was truly interesting. From seeing the surgical tools to the hospital gowns to the nurses caps, it showed the profound presence of medical personnel amongst such tragedy.  Sadly, the fate of many of these men and women was that they were executed by the Germans, despite them trying to save the wounded.

I could go on about this museum as it was really well done and a very lively picture of what it might have been like in Poland during the Warsaw Uprising.  If anything, this has given me a bigger excuse to order some new books off of Amazon to learn more about Polish history. :)

I hope to provide more of these "tidbits" to you all as I continue to stumble upon and find these pieces of Poland through my time here.  Next, it will most likely be pieces of my trip to Kraków this weekend, which I cannot wait to share with all when I return! For now, have a wonderful weekend!