Krakow & Poland: Fascinating, challenging & beautiful

So four days almost to the minute since I was sitting on a plane predicting what I was about to see and experience in Poland.  It feels like longer than 4 days that I have been out of the country and the experience has made me think afresh about this country, as I hoped travelling here might. 

It is a fascinating country with a diverse history; indeed, its borders have shifted so much that it has only really existed in its current form for 70 years.  The sense of pride and belonging to the state can be seen everywhere.  It is undergoing rapid change and yet has been caught by many of the problems of the economic crisis in Europe.  

It is a challenging country with a very mixed history: not only through the concentration camps we visited but also in its recent past.  The architecture reminds us that the communist era only ended 30 years ago  though, I feel, wealth has been more equally increased since the late 1980s than, say, in the Czech Republic.  This is a country which is still living with scars of its recent past. 

It is a beautiful country and in places you would not expect: the castle & cathedral in Krakow are, of course, impressive; the countryside around Krakow has a rugged beauty; the alcohol (as you can see from the photo) has won me over; but the lasting memory is the beauty of the modern churches in Nowa Husta which will stay with me (as seen below).  Impressive, beautiful and saying so much about Poland and its population. 

And it is a country I will be returning to – and one that has reminded me to keep traveling through Eastern Europe.  

The Modern Independent Traveller

I class myself as a vaguely experienced traveller in Europe. Packing the rucksack is a bit of an art, knowing when to book flights and where to look for good value hotels are all part of the game.  However, I am no-where near as experienced as my Father, my current travelling companion who must average 4 flights a week and has mastered the Ryanair system to a tee.  When to queue, where to stand and which end of the plane to get on, it’s all a quick routine. 

But we’re not alone; in the past the only way to travel would have been through organised tours and yet the freedom of low-cost carriers and the internet for booking accommodation has made us, the individual, the travel agent.  That’s made things easier over the last five days: having a car has meant we could travel as we pleased and saved time (and money) on local transport. 

And there are various tools in the modern traveller’s armour: the smartphone for those web checks of maps, emails from the airline and telephoning the hotel.  The sat nav as a way of getting easily from place to place.  For me, my mini-laptop to write read, check details and locations as well as using social media to share experiences and get recommendations via the free wifi. 

Yet, some argue there’s something lost, there’s a sanitisation, a westernisation of the whole travel process.  We spend less time with our eyes looking outwards to the new world we are visiting and more downwards to contact the world we come from.  I don’t agree.  Using the technology empowers me to travel: to walk through areas and see things that I might not have done.  It allows me the time to stand and think when I want to rather than when stuck or lost. 

Travelling to see and learn is important but just because we can be “connected” back home doesn’t mean that I am not connecting with the world I am visiting.  In the end, the modern independent traveller is just that: using the technology at hand to see the world around him without support from ‘professionals’. Modern, independent, travel.  

Communal Guilt & Learning from Past Horrors

In the Austria National Hut at Auschwitz, there’s a sign saying that they are in the process of re-writing their exhibit.  Instead of being a victim of past errors they are saying that they are wanting to acknowledge the part that everyone played in the history. 

This exemplifies the change in history over the last 70 years better than any historical text.  In the years after the war there was a need for individuals to be tried and to take responsibility, as exemplified by the Nuremburg trials.  Today there is a need for us all to show our part as well as for someone, ultimately, to say “sorry”.  And it’s not always possible. 

We visited one of the lesser known concentration camps today in Krakow: Plaszov.  Bleak, eerie and sinister as the snow came down.  At many corners the remaining concrete blocks of huts.  Yet the one remaining building was the Commander’s House.  It is now council flats and behind it a modern estate.  The world has moved on and yet this memorial, this memory continues.  And it must continue.  But rather than searching for new people to condemn for the actions of our forefathers and blaming ourselves, perhaps communal guilt needs to be replaced with communal learning.  

Poland and the EU

When I visited Ireland in late 1990s, everywhere one turned there were signs saying “funded by the EU”: from new roads to broadband internet in remote communities. 

And this was the deal that Poland signed up to: that by coming in line with EU beliefs and structures they would get massive investment.  But it hasn't happened.  Then the economic crisis struck and the money that might have come to the poorer corners of Europe is needed to balance the books.  Furthermore, although Europe has expanded, the fundamentally rich countries has not expanded: Germany, France, the UK, BeNeLux, Scandinavia remain the majority funders.  There are more States justly pulling on a resource and funding which is no bigger. 

So Poland has not had the funds that they could have expected.  Unlike my trip to Croatia, there are not EU flags everywhere but there are prices in Euros fairly regularly.  This is a country wanting to commit to Europe but which has been denied full privileges of the club. 

 This poses a challenge on how the EU holds together where countries are not getting quite what they expected but are still getting the kudos of being in the EU.  Poland has positioned itself to be politically and culturally EU-facing – from its architecture and politics to its history and culture selections.  But how long can that continue without the money they hoped for?  How long can socio-cultural union mean the economics are overlooked?  Poland may lead the way in a new type of Europe to get the deal it hoped for.  

The Faith and Hope of the Polish

Today has been a day of two halves: the established, historical faith against the new, reactive faith.  Before I arrived in Poland I was aware of the different values that existed and the high-level of Catholic respect. 

And when one enters Krakow’s castle and cathedral, one sees the historical element of this.  The place where royals were crowned is beautiful and surprisingly intimate.  Religion and politics have always been interlinked with people using one to gain power over the other. 

But in the middle of the 20^th Century that was challenged by the communist regime.  The creation of an ideal communist town in the Krakow with the building of Nowa Huta was about creating a dream to challenge the old regime, including its faith.  Therefore, if the religion was to be communism, then no churches were constructed for the old Catholic faith.  On entry you see row upon row of straight, concrete blocks along wide roads.  The size and fulfilment of a vision is impressive. 

However, behind the scenes the faith continued and, after much campaigning, a church was built and dedicated by the Archbishop of Krakow, the later Pope John Paul II.  And the Arka Pana is spectacular, shaped like an ark as if to carry its people to safety.  This was about the church challenging society, challenging the norms.  This was about the church being its best. 

Just as the Catholic church was trying to say something different to this communist world, so is this building to those around.  Amongst the blocks of straight-lined concrete apartments you find the rounded, circular corners of the church.  In a world of concrete, you find natural wood and stone as if symbolising the difference between the things man constructs and the things God inspires.  The flowing lines, for me contrasted certainty with possibility.  The church building was showing the cultural change the institution of the church can bring.  Inside, the light, the materials and the images are beautiful. 

The church is being used, as I entered mid-afternoon we were scowled at as tourists disturbing the dozen people who had popped in for a moment’s prayer.  Faith is strong here, as seen in the construction of this building 30 years ago and in its continued use today.  Just as the ancient Cathedral has stood for centuries, so will this church as a powerful symbol of hope.  

Stopping the Banality of Evil

My father reminded me of a phrase today: the banality of evil (Edward S Herman/Hannah Arendt).  Today I saw that as well as the scale on which evil can operate. 

Today is my second day in Poland and, for me, one of the main reasons to visit was the camp outside Oswiecim known more commonly as Auschwitz.  The numbers are well known, around 1.5 million killed including at least 1.1 million Jews.  Terrifying and impossible to imagine death on such a scale. 

And it is not that this is my first encounter to human loss on such a scale: I have seen the graves on all sides in both world wars to the concentration camps at Dachau and, particularly, in Struthof in Alsace, France.  The scale of the suffering is huger there, but so much greater at this camp. 

On arrival I was surprised: Auschwitz is in a surprisingly urban setting.  It is a little smaller than I had expected.  The rooms describing the death (particularly in the death block) were chilling.  And yet the thing that stuck me was the permanent nature of the camp.  One imagines wood sheds but here were 2 storey brick buildings: this was a long-term elimination of a race and the nature of the project surprising.  But these houses also reminded me of the 19^th Century Work Houses one sees in the UK and Belgium/the Netherlands.  Blocks to house large populations needed for major industrial projects.  The normal used in a truly awful way: the banality of evil. 

Some 3kms from here is Birkenau, more often seen as part of Auschwitz and labelled as Auschwitz II but actually quite distinct and the only camp created solely to kill people.  This was more what is expected: the sidings where people were removed from cattle wagons and selected for death or work; the cold, basic, accommodation designed for animals not humans; a vast scale taking 20 minutes brisk walk to cross any boundary.  Awful. 

Yet, one of the most striking moment for me was the shower block.  The 1 in 4 selected for imprisonment rather than instant death were processed here and we could follow their passage: undressing, losing their hair, washing, dried and allocated new clothes then being sent to a camp.  Daily tasks here each flowed easily on from the last in a ruthlessly designed example of organisation efficiency which aimed to dehumanise and terrify the individual ahead of their residence at the camp.  The banality of evil. 

And this is tangible history; the camp closed only 7 years before my Father was born.  This is not some historical event but truly living history.  Only 8 years after Auschwitz was closed, was Europe trying to form the European Coal and Steel Community.  The leaders of countries at war which had committed atrocities such as these were trying to find a way forward, trying to find a “durable peace”.  The fact it has stopped war for a generations though mass death has still been seen too close to its shores.  

Standing there, amongst the horrors that had happened, it reminded me of the need for us a European citizens and, more fundamentally, as human beings to stop evil ever becoming banal again.  

The Polish Tiger

Dzien dobry from Krakow. 

Many of us are aware of the Irish Tiger - the artificial property boom and subsequent bust in Ireland - but I am currently sitting in an apartment on the edge of Krakow which seems to prove a Polish equivalent.  The flat's 15-20 minutes easy walk from the centre and very nicely appointed. 

But out of the 15 blocks of some 15-20 flats each, I can see but a handful open, perhaps 5%.  Most are empty and have never been lived in.  They lack furniture and even the protective plastic on each of the new doors has not been removed on most of the flat doors. 

It is a complex, built in a rush to fulfil an anticipated market need and no one has taken it up.  Just are there are housing estates in Dublin with no inhabitants (check Michael Lewis’ Boomerang Tour of Europe out for details), the same is true of Krakow. 

In the UK some complain that Poles are taking many of our jobs; other point that these are roles (plumbing, cleaning, fruit-picking) which some Brits are not qualified or willing to do.  I have heard rumours of the reverse here in Poland: Poles complaining of Brits taking their jobs in academia, management or building.  I have no evidence.  Bar the fact that I have just spent a naughty evening in an Irish Pub. 

Not my normal choice of holiday drinking venue but when there is a need to watch some cracking 6 Nations Rugby, I will find the best location I can.  [As an aside Ireland/Italy a good match, England/Wales a great match but rugby was the ultimate winner]

Anyway, as I sat there, a variety of Irish, Welsh and English companions joined my father and I for conversation as the matches progressed.  It was clear that people are coming to Poland for work as well as culture; the relations between our countries are not simple and both countries are employing each other’s citizens for work. 

And this is one of the successes of the EU: we can travel and work far more easily than any time in the last century.  But it is also a problem. 

This apartment complex is empty because international travellers have not bought a little holiday flat for their breaks away in Poland’s second city.  The professional firms have not provided enough jobs for Poles to need a little flat near to the work.  There has been a perceived need for accommodation which has not materialised. 

Now that migration back to Poland is increasing, the balance may change but with blocks of flats so empty as this one, it is clear that boom and bust has a few more years to play in this and many other EU countries.  

And So To Poland

I am sitting on the Ryanair flight from Livepool to Krakow with my father gently snoozing on the other side of the row.  The plane is bouncing a long and it is one of those moments where it is still early in the morning but one has been awake for hours. 

So Poland; another country on the grand European tour – I think this makes number 18 in my tour around Europe with only another 34 to make all those that possibly be within Europe.  Again, another language to try and follow, another culture to understand.  It’s Krakow where we are headed, the old, royal capital and also famed as being the starting point for a trip to Auschwitz.  Poland’s beautiful and troubled past in one trip. 

And, yet, from what I know the present is no less troubled or difficult.  It’s been a part of the EU for five years now and had wanted to join the Euro.  It can’t given the current economic crisis.  A country which is known for atrocities committed to Jews, Gays and other minorities, has a far right movement which continues to threaten those groups.  The political crisis which lead to its freedom in the 1980s has – like its leaders – matured but not completely been resolved.  This is an interesting country with the same social, economic and political problems as the rest of Europe and is yet working within its own unique historical and cultural context. 

Over the next few days, once again, my view of Poland, Europe and the EU will be most likely challenged and developed.  Which is, after all, one of the reasons we travel and I want to make my way around all of Europe.

 

PS: Countries visited to date: France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ireland, UK, Denmark, Switzerland, Monaco, Vatican City and now Poland