Flag of Poland. White above red.
Not to be confused with the flags of Singapore and Indonesia.
Flag of Singapore. Red above white. Has the crescent, a reminder that Singapore was once part of Malaysia.
Plain red above white.
Flag of Indonesia.
The first thing a Polish guide will want to tell you is that Auschwitz may be on Polish soil but it was not run by the Poles.
It was run by the NAZI party of German when Poland was occupied by Germany in WWII.
Auschwitz is the German name for the small Polish village on the outskirts of Krakow. Quaint, historic Krakow, the former Krakow, is a pretty little town, the former capital in the south of Poland. The Germans invaded and could easily capture the small city near their border, quicker and easier than capturing the larger city of Warsaw further away. That's the reason why over-run Krakow was preserved by the Nazis, whilst Warsaw was destroyed in the war.
Auschwitz, the camp, was outside the new German HQ in Poland, and less time and effort to transport the prisoners there.
I put off visiting Poland and Auschwitz for years because I thought it would be too upsetting. I was right.
One of the things I learned, was they showed a couple of photos of people taken on the day they arrived and three months later. The reason for the numbers tattooed onto inmate's arms was that people's faces were so thin, and lined and haggard, so different, that after 3 months you could no longer recognize them from their original identity photo.
Anne Frank
Anne Frank, her sister, Margot and mother and father were in Auschwitz.
Children under the age of 15 were killed on arrival. Anne was 15 so she survived the first selection, and was set to work, like the rest of the family. The mother died there, giving her meagre rations to her two daughters.
Anne and her sister survived Auschwitz and were sent to Bergen Belsen in German when the Germans retreated. Anne and Margot died in Bergen Belsen.
Their father survived. He later married a woman who had lost her spouse and offspring in the war. They had met regularly in the weeks after the end of WWII searching, for news of their families at the centre giving news of people found dead and alive.
Anne Frank's father moved from The Netherlands to Switzerland and his stepdaughter to London, England. She and her husband lived in Edgware where I grew up. I did not know that until after he died. The family kept a low profile.
Why no mention of Anne Frank in Auschwitz? Because the authorities do not want to single out one person but tell the stories of all. Because Anne Frank's possessions are elsewhere, in the Netherlands. She is already well documented in her WWII hiding place, now a museum in Amsterdam, Holland, The Netherlands; in Frankfurt, Germany, in the Jewish museum; and in the USA Anne Frank Centre.
Birkenau Birkenau I was advised that to understand what happened at Auschwitz you must visit Birkenau, just down the road. Yes, you must. In the first museum its is like a house of horrors boarding school.
Birkenau is totally different. fields. Huge hangars. Going on for miles.
This huge hangar in a field surrounded by barbed wire was for the French. The next huge hangar in the next field was for the Dutch. The next huge hangar for the italians. Stretching as far as you can see. All destined for death.
Stretching as far as you can see for all the nationalities and languages. Into the distance. Suddenly you understand this was not just cruelty to this person and that, but to hundreds, thousands. The trains brought them from all over Europe. Suddenly the map of the railway routes, which I had seen on the outskirts of Munich, at Dachau, were not just a plan of railway lines, but a horror of wiping out people in every country of Europe, an entire continent.
Belsen Anne's family had left Germany to live in Holland. Finally, those who survived Auschwitz, returned to Germany, to die in Belsen.
Saviour Schindler Let's end on a lighter note. The museum in Krakow in the factory connected with Schindler tells about those he saved. Every story is of gratitude, to the saviour, Schindler. A person who survived. In a sea or sorrow, one beacon of light, a lifeboat.
Poland's Trails Also in Poland, see the Jewish museum in Warsaw and do a Jewish tour. Visit Bialystock and learn about Zamenhof and his new language of Esperanto.
More trails tell you about Chopin and Copernicus.
Places to visit
Anne Frank house, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Auschwitz, Poland
Bergen Belsen, Germany
Anne Frank Foundation, USA
Anne Frank House, Amsterdam, Holland, The Netherlands
Statue of Anne Frank in Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Anne Frank Center USA
Useful Websites
Poland
https://www.pot.gov.pl/en/information-about-the-polish-tourism-organisation/polish-tourism-organisation-international-offices
https://poland.pl/tourism/
Krakow
https://www.visitacity.com/en/krakow
https://www.muzeumkrakowa.pl/branches/oskar-schindlers-factory
Auschwitz
https://www.viator.com/Krakow-tourism/d Anne Frank
https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/CAICnOLtC0lDLg?
About The Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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