The song is illustrated with still photos from the old days of Cracow, and people who ended up in Auschwitz, including Anne Frank.
This video is a nostalgic and sad song about childhood in Cracow, the pretty Polish city, with a Jewish quarter. I stayed in a boutique hotel overlooking Cracow's main square. We went on a walk to the old Jewish quarter and visited the Jewish museum.
Anne Frank
In the video, you might notice the photo of Anne Frank.
What's she doing here? Wasn't she in Holland?
Anne Frank was sent from Holland on a train to Auschwitz with her sister and mother.
Auschwitz Tour
Anne survived Auschwitz, given rations of food by her mother, Edith, who died of starvation. When Anne and her sister were in the infirmary (hospital), her mother took the daughters food.
On a tour I took of Auschwitz, Anne is not featured, not even mentioned.
The guide told me:
'Anne is well documented elsewhere. We don't want her story to eclipse all the others who died here, and whose lives were equally important.'
Birkenau
The tour I took goes on to Birkenau, which is just down the road. Some people have had enough after the harrowing tour of Auschwitz. But our guide told us, 'You must see Birkenau. Not a lot to see, but it puts everything into perspective."
He was right. I had seen the train line and the parked train at the gate of Auschwitz.
In Germany near Munich I had see the map of train lines all over Europe and thought nothing of it. Just train lines. How dull, I thought. No human interest.
However, at Birkenau I saw the significance of those train lines from cities all over Europe. Birkenau is a series of fields, surrounded by barbed wire as high as tennis nets, which would have electrocuted any one trying to escape. The watch towers had guards who would have shot would-be escapees.
Each field contained a wooden barracks and was for a different nationality, for their language group, so that the Nazis could communicate instructions.
A field for the French. Another for Italians. Another for Greeks. Another and another and another, as far as your eyes can see. Not a flower, not a bird. Every train from a different city in Europe, brought people here, to die.
Now you know why every city in Europe has a history of famous Jewish people, singers, songwriters, bankers, business people, doctors. Like the USA today. But in Europe, no more. From every city, in every country, they ended up here. And there is the crematorium.
Any good news?
Anne and Margot
Anne survived Auschwitz.
So did her sister, Margot. Margot also wrote a diary. Her diary was never found.
Margot. Photo from Wikipedia.
Anne and Margot were sent on the march when the German's retreated across the border into Germany, on to Belsen camp, where Anne and her sister died weakened by stress and starvation and disease - typhus.
Meanwhile, back here in Poland, Cracow is your base for touring to the village of Auschwitz, where the songwriter died, along with Jews from all over Europe.
Yes, the song is illustrated with stills from the old days. Poignant.
Schindler's Factory Museum
All the more remarkable is the story of Schindler who set up a factory in Cracow, saving so many. On a slightly brighter note, after visiting Auschwitz, you can visit the Schindler factory and see the photos and the videos made interviewing people he saved, telling stories of his kindness and generosity. He was courageous, and showed ingenuity in saving them. Even when the ruthless commander of the camp came to visit the factory and chat and drink with Schindler.
Statistics and nationalities
By nation, the greatest number of Auschwitz's Jewish victims originated from
Hungary, accounting for 430,000 deaths, followed by
Poland (300,000),
France (69,000),
Netherlands (60,000),
Greece (55,000),
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (46,000),
Slovakia (27,000),
Belgium (25,000),
Germany and Austria (23,000),
Yugoslavia (10,000),
Italy (7,500),
Norway (690),
Of the non Jews:
| Nationality/ethnicity (Source: Franciszek Piper)[2] | Registered deaths (Auschwitz) | Unregistered deaths (Auschwitz) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jews | 95,000 | 865,000 | 960,000 |
| Ethnic Poles | 64,000 | 10,000 | 74,000 (70,000–75,000) |
| Roma and Sinti | 19,000 | 2,000 | 21,000 |
| Soviet prisoners of war | 12,000 | 3,000 | 15,000 |
| Other Europeans: Soviet citizens (Byelorussians, Russians, Ukrainians), Czechs, Yugoslavs, French, Germans, Austrians |
Useful Websites
Cracow/Krakow
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Krak%C3%B3w
Auschwitz
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz_concentration_camp
Schindler's Museum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margot_Frank
https://www.facebook.com/AnneFrankCenterforMutualRespect/
https://www.annefrank.com/who-is-anne-frank
About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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