#needleworkmonday | steemfest 3 | Independence Day and Ghetto Heroes Square (Plac Bohaterow Getta)
Sunday 11 November 2018 marked the centenary of Poland's independence after the collapse of the neighbouring occupying German, Austrian and Russian empires at the end of the Great War.
Amid the stories of far right organisations marching in Warsaw, there was this lovely story of the planting of 100 oak trees in Krakow's Branice district to celebrate the centenary and Krakow's liberation from foreign rule. Local students stressed the environmental impact of the event - Krakow, plagued by air pollution, gained another green area to help purify the air.
Source: local people planting 100 oaks in Branice district, Krakow.
We went up to the Main Market Square for the noon day Independence procession before buying some small presents from stalls in the historic Cloth Hall and enjoying warm spiced fig vodka with apple juice at one of the many cafes.
As the afternoon light started to wane, we walked back through the town and across the Wisla River to visit Ghetto Heroes Square. This was previously one of the entrances to the Krakow ghetto and the starting point of deportations to death camps during World War II. An art installation, inspired by descriptions of abandoned furniture and personal belongings strewn around the square after the liquidation of the ghetto, commemorates victims of the Holocaust.
Ghetto Heroes Square has 33 chairs of iron and bronze. Each chair represents 1,000 Jews who were deported to camps. This yarn bombed chair seemed especially lonely and desolate and reminiscent of the photographs of bundles of belongings abandoned in the square and streets.
The light was fading to dusk as we searched for a preserved segment of the ghetto walls. The original walls were about three metres high and shaped to resemble Jewish tombstones. They encircled an area of fifteen streets with 320 dwellings where up to 25,000 people were forced to live, four families to an apartment, or to survive on the streets.
Preserved sections of Krakow Ghetto walls, shaped to resemble Jewish tombstones, built using Jewish forced labour. (More information about the Krakow ghetto).
In his post about a visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau, @revisesociology talks about the banality of evil and the Stanley Milgram experiment about authority (75% of people will obey authority figures when they tell them to harm others).
While grateful that I live in a relatively tolerant and safe country and I'm free to enjoy fig vodka in Krakow's Main Market Square on Independence Day, I think about how fragile it all is and how much we accept poor treatment of others: the consistent, blatant violation of the human rights of women, children, black and ethnic minorities and disabled people, deaths in custody, and the shocking neglect of older people in the health system. The normalisation of violence and harm to others.
Glad to see you had a wonderful time and you're back posting. Hope you're well.
Really pleased you got out of Steemfest and had a chance to look around the city. I went to Krakow in about 2008 and like many small Polish cities its full of history, architecture and gorgeous town squares.
I'd also recommend Poznan although it doesn't have as much of the darker side of history.
Brilliant article and great photos and so good that there are these stark, constant reminders of previous inhumanity although I despair at how little difference they seem to make in a 'modern' society.
Love and best wishes to you and your family.
The whole experience was great - steemfest itself, everyone there (my friend kept saying, "everyone's so nice"), the organisation, range of activities, venues - and Poland was something else. I hadn't been before and it was fascinating. I started looking up airbnbs and then small apartments 😂. It was good to go, sort of revitalising and refocusing.
I see you got a @curie vote 😎 Well done, that must be very satisfying.
lol...it was only because they had nothing better to vote on while everyone was at Steemfest, but its gratefully recieved and was a bit of a lift. I feel a bit guilty though cos it was nothing but waffle and a few links! What was so awesome is all the great comments it brought, I met loads of new people :-)
Happy you got a boost, and only 12 months till the next Steemfest :-)
... We must not forget how we have got where we are, @shanibeer, while also keep improving the lives of less fortunate people and educating future generations.
I was thinking of you just now and wondering what you would have made of the salt mines - could have kept your outside challenge going for days ... although is 125m underground outdoors?
Krakow is a very interesting city, so much to it, worth a visit if you are ever thinking about it. I didn't have time to explore all the cultural offerings, I may go back.
I agree, remembering is important.
I've only been once to a mine, @shanibeer. The Dolaucothi Goldmines in Pumpsaint are not that far away from where we are and so we took the then children to visit.
It was really a bit terrifying to me as the tour guide at some point showed us what happened when the lights went out - I am not so keen on spiders or 'lack of outdoors'. Needles to say I was happy to crawl out of there :D
I think the idea of the photo challenge is to take the photos while you're outside. I often take photos of doors or windows anyway but totally lack 'statues', 'lamp posts', let alone bricks :D Because of that I tend to join in on Mondays or Tuesdays mostly. I feel the challenge is quite 'urban' and 'building' based, but it's good fun.
This mine was like a whole city underground. I thought I would be more nervous 😱, but after a while you forgot you were so far underground. There is a very good website https://www.wieliczka-saltmine.com
Thank you for the link, @shanibeer... It's so interesting that you can actually (even) stay there !
I'm the sort of person that prefers walking to taking the tube, so my initial reaction would be 'no, thanks!' - but then, my curiosity would stronger; what a unique place !