Days 7 & 8 in Krakow

DAY 7 and 8 KRAKOW
Our departure from Budapest began slowly as once again our bus ran into heavy traffic (we left from the Dohany Syagogue). We finally got on the road for our Journey to Krakow. After our few free hours that morning, we did make a stop at the Holocaust memorial of bronzed shoes by the river. Between that stop, a lunch stop, and heavy traffic it took us over 9 hours until we arrived at the hotel in Krakow.
The scenery was extremely beautiful especially as we drove through the Tatras Mountains in Slovakia and Southern Poland. The group also had the extra experience of being in one more country, Slovakia, which was not entirely expected. We stopped at a rustic in appearance country roadside restaurant for a quick lunch. It was a log building with many stuffed animal heads mounted on the wall. There was a ram, a fox, a boar, deer and even a large pheasant. There were also embroidered dresses and blouses in the traditional folk style. We sat at wooden tables with benches, sometimes sharing them with strangers.
We arrived in Krakow which has changed dramatically since 1988, before the end of Communism. Our hotel was located a short walk from the walled old city and next to a Galleria Mall. The Andels Hotel is fairly new, lovely and modern and had a Japanese feel to its style. The rooms were beautiful with large bathroom facilities with both a large tub and a separate shower that had a glass partition between it, the toilet and the rest of the room. Even at the late hour a few of the group headed to the town center for dinner while others remained in the hotel.
Our first full day in Krakow began with much cooler temperatures than we had experienced up to this point. We drove over to the Jewish Quarter known as Kazimierz. When we arrived at the Szeroka square in front of the Remu Synagogue we were not able to enter because a group of Hasidim were holding a service. Janusz spent some time giving us an introduction. This neighborhood was established in the 14th century to give Krakow’s Jews a place to settle with special privileges. It also moved them out of other parts of the city. 22 years ago it had been quite run down but over the past 2 decades quite a bit has been done to restore old buildings and create a very lively and thriving neighborhood with a Jewish theme. The square is filled with restaurants and hotels as well as the two oldest synagogues. After a while we were able to enter the Remu synagogue before other groups because Janusz was friends with one of the two Jewish gatekeepers. Most of the Hasidic group moved outside the synagogue to the adjoining cemetery.
Remu (or Rama) was Rabbi Moses Isserles who wrote the Askenazic emendation to Joseph Karo’s Shulchan Arukh, (the set table) the major code of halacha. This commentary is known as the Mapa (the table cloth). This is the second oldest synagogue in Krakow; originally built in 1558 and restored a couple of times in later centuries. (We did not visit the oldest, the Old Shul, because of time restraints. It contains some Judaica but we had already seen quite a bit.) The Remu is still used for worship although not very large. The cemetery seems more organized than it did in 1988. It contains Rabbi Isserles’ grave and and those of other Tzaddikim. The Hasidic group was Vishnitzers from Israel. Besides praying at Remu’s grave they also gathered around one other. There is a wall in the synagogue that is made up of many pieces from broken stones. That way the stones remain as a memorial rather than for a secular purpose.
We walked a short way from the plaza and ended up near the Isaac Shul. This Synagogue has now been given over to Chabad. There is a wonderful story about the poor baker Isaac who travels to Prague seeking a treasure based on a dream. There he is caught by a palace guard who sets him free and allows him to return home. The guard said that he too had a dream but his was of a treasure under the floor of a poor Jew named Isaac in Krakow. When Isaac returns he finds the treasure and with his riches builds this very same synagogue.
We passed a building designated as a JCC (also not here in 1988). Near it was the High Synagogue, named not for the height of the building but because the worship space is on an upper floor. Nearby we arrived at the Temple Synagogue. It was Krakow’s attempt to create a non-Orthodox expression of Judaism. Many people call it the “Reform Temple” but its only changes were the mixed seating and a large organ. It may have also had the sermons delivered in Polish rather than Yiddish. It was a very lovely building that was built in the Moorish style of other synagogues we saw in both Prague and Budapest. Today the synagogue hosts both concerts as well as services.
The South-Eastern part of Poland as well as much of the Ukraine and a few other areas are known as Galicia. We use the term Galitziyaner for a person from this area as opposed to the Litvaks who came from Lithuania. We visited a museum dedicated to Jewish culture of Polish Galicia. It contains many wonderful photos; some from the past but most of what remains in these towns in recent years. There are pictures of destroyed and restored synagogues. There was also a picture of a synagogue that is now used as a furniture warehouse. Our docent was an Austrian young man who is doing national service in a foreign country. Why was he at this museum - because it was the only museum that offered such an internship.
Lunch time! People spread out to a few nearby restaurants to sample such things a pirogis, potato pancakes and hearty soups. These foods wash down well with some Polish beer (Piwo, pronounced Pivo).
Back on the bus for a short ride over to the new museum at the Oskar Schindler factory. The museum opened this past summer and tells the story of WWII both for the Polish citizens of Krakow and the Jewish community. It is creatively set up as the visitor walks through the maze - like and often dis-orienting path of the exibition. It contains multi-media presentations beyond the pictures and collected items on display, primarily testimonies from people who lived through those terrible years. One video featured the testimony of Professor Jerzy Vetulani, who I had met in 1988, and spent time with him and his wife and son. Jan ran into a Jewish man, a survivor (of the Plaszow camp – see below) from Israel who returned with his son, who now lives in the US. He was describing all the details in the photos – his own childhood. Most of us felt it was too little time in this museum.
From there we drove over to Ghetto Heroes’ Square. This is a plaza that commemorates the place from where many were sent on the transports from this ghetto of Podgorze. There are many empty chairs spread throughout the plaza signifying the emptiness left behind with the loss of these victims. On the corner is the famous drug store (apothecary) called the Pharmacy Under the Eagle that was run by a Polish Catholic, Tadeausz Pankiewicz. He was the only non-Jew who chose to remain and operate a business in the ghetto. From his store he was able to help many Jews.
Our final stop in our day’s tour was the site of the concentration/work camp, Plaszow, on the edge of the city. There is nothing left of the camp. On the top of a hill is a large Soviet period monument. It is an abstract sculpture of sad-faced and downtrodden human forms. There are also two much smaller monuments that were put here in honor of Jewish victims. The larger of the two was erected by the Jews of Krakow for the thousands of Jews from Poland and Hungary who were tortured, murdered and incinerated. The second, put up in 2000, pays tribute to Jewish Hungarian women who were in Plaszow before being sent to Auschwitz. The Soviet monument de-emphasizes the reality of the Jewish deaths and was dedicated to all nationalities murdered by the Nazis. For some, this area seems to be nothing more than a park. As we were standing and listening to our guide Janusz, there were two young women sitting nearby on a bench just talking and laughing. We also saw people walking by and baby carriages being strolled around. For us, these simple leisure activities were out of place on the grounds of a concentration camp.
Spielberg filmed much of “Schindler’s List” in and around Krakow. The authorities would not let him construct a replica of the concentration camp on the actual sight. We could see a row of trees not too far from the camp. Behind them was the location of the set. After a couple of years it was taken down and nothing remains of it.
The dinner this evening was at Restaurant Ester on the main square in Kazimierz. We were supposed to meet with Rabbi Tanya Siegel but she never arrived. Earlier in the day she told Janusz she’d be late due to a Beit Din, a rabbinical court. She leads the small liberal Jewish community. Since I knew nothing about this group it would have been informative to hear from her.
Dinner was lovely and we were entertained by a small klezmer trio. There was a singer, an accordion and a clarinet player. Their music was enjoyable with a small catch. Everyone noticed the cross around the neck of the singer. We were told the other members of the trio were also not Jewish. This brought up the irony that we witnessed a rebuilt Jewish quarter, synagogues, museums and culture in Krakow. However, except for a gatekeeper at the Remu Synagogue, we encountered no other Jews.