We got up Thursday morning and headed out to see some sights. We are staying in a section of Warszawa called Old Town (we have an “Old Town” in Gdansk, too). Since it is Christmastime there are lots of little booths set up in the square in the middle of Old Town. There are so many things to look at. We strolled around there for a while and then headed to see some places of historical relevance in Warsaw.
We first went to the Warszawa Uprising monument. This is a very large monument that honors all of those Poles who organized and fought the Nazis. These were not the Jews--they had been rounded up and taken to the Warszawa Ghetto. This was the rest of the Polish people who banded together to try and fight the Nazis on their own. They did not walk the streets of Warszawa, they navigated the city through the sewer system. One of the pieces of the monument is of a man emerging from a manhole in the street.
The people of Warszawa fought hard for freedom from the Nazis. There were 40,000 fighters killed along with 180,000 Polish civilians. The uprising occurred from August 1, 1944 until the Polish surrendered on October 2, 1944.
We also saw where the Warszawa Ghetto was. All of the Jews of Warszawa and surrounding areas were forced to move into the ghetto. There were walls erected so they could not get out. There were approximately 370,000 Jews herded into the ghetto. The conditions were very bad. Of those there, 100,000 died of hunger. There was also disease running rampant through the ghetto. Then there were transports of large numbers of Jews daily to Treblinka, which is not far from Warszawa. Treblinka was exclusively an extermination camp. Those who were transported there were killed in the gas chambers. There was no work camp, no hope. People taken to Treblinka perished. The walls are no longer there, though there are some markers showing where they once were.
As people were systematically taken away day after day, the remaining Jews realized that their fate was grim. They banded together to fight back. They had had enough. They decided that if they were going to die anyway, they would rather die fighting than to sit there and take it. The Jewish residents of the ghetto were poorly armed, but they fought with everything they had. After a month of fighting back, the Nazis regained control. During the Ghetto Uprising, 13,000 Jewish ghetto dwellers were killed. Many of the remaining Jews were shipped off to Treblinka and exterminated. There most certainly are things that are worth fighting for! We went to the monument honoring those who fought in the Ghetto Uprising.
By this time poor Trey was starving. We stopped at a little grocery and bought bread and cheese so they all had a little snack. As we were walking back to our neighborhood, we came upon playground. We NEVER pass up a playground!
So Trey and Abbie played on the swings for a bit. Then we came back to the square with all the booths, and had some kielbasa. Then we headed home to get ready to go out in the evening to the home of a fellow Fulbright family.
We set out at 5:00 to catch a tram to reach this family's home. We walked to the tram stop and waited. The tram did not come when it was supposed to. Two of the other trams came and went (we were waiting for the 35). After it was 10 minutes late we started to get a little concerned. Twice more the other trams each came. Myles finally called David and told him our problem. They were trying to work out an alternate method of getting there when our tram finally showed up 30 minutes late! There must have been some kind of traffic problem or accident or something. Once we got on the tram it was unusually slow moving. At one point we sat in one spot for 10 minutes. We finally made it to our destination and had a lovely dinner and evening with this family.
Going home was another story. It was close to 10:00 and David kindly walked us to our tram stop to make sure we knew where we were going and got there on time. Our tram was due to arrive at 9:53. Guess what? No tram! We waited and waited. Finally the 35 shows up at about 10:10. So we all pile on but it does not go to any of the stops that it is scheduled to go to! Frustrating! This tram ends up taking us to the central tram hub. We had no idea where we were, but there was an entrance to the subway. So we now have to buy tickets for the subway through an automated machine and the train going to where we need to go is coming in three minutes! So as quickly as he can, Myles is purchasing tickets. We get them all bought and hurry down the stairs and miss the train by seconds. Oh, well, the next one came six minutes later. So we finally get going the right direction, get off on our stop and walk about ¾ mile back to our apartment. Another exciting Polish experience!
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