On a whim, I decided to go to Warsaw from Krakow and spent around six hours in the city (of which one was spent trying to figure out its tram lines). Warsaw is large, spread-out and has the ‘big-city vibes’ when compared to Krakow. The entire city was rebuilt after the Second World War. After … Continue reading Warsaw Notes
Polish Jews were the largest Jewish community in Europe before the war. Out of an estimated population of 3.3 million, close to 3 million were finished off by the Nazis. In Auschwitz, 1.1 million (of which Jews were a million and the rest Poles, Romas, gypsies, homosexuals and Soviet PoWs) were slaughtered between its establishment … Continue reading Auschwitz-Birkenau Notes
Krakow was a 7-hour journey by train from Berlin. The previous day, the Ukrainians had carried out an audacious strike on Russia’s strategic bombers, and there was a lot of online chatter about Putin contemplating a nuclear response. And here I was, chugging along in the direction of Ukraine. Fearing nuclear annihilation twice in four … Continue reading Krakow Notes
