Archive for June 24th, 2009

I left Warsaw the next day, still pissed at the event at the train station. I’d blown off some steam by going out dancing in Warsaw (salsa of course) and was prepared for a decent journey on to Augustów and Lipsk. I was returning to my ancestral roots, one of the oldest cities my aunt who does our genealogical tree has found.

I grabbed the evening train and arrived at Augustów station around 11pm. Much to my dismay (and continued anger against poland) the train station at Augustów is 4km, yes FOUR kilometers from the city. That combined with a locked and dark train station and lack of phones or any way to call or find a taxi lead to my wonderful walk to the city center. 4km and about an hour later walking in full gear (my two packs and thin clothing) in northern polish weather – Cold, dark, Drizzly, left me cold and a little upset. I did manage to listen to my Ipod which made the walk much more bearable. However, Polish signs + dark road + no idea what the town looks like + no place to stay = Very nervous walk.

I arrived at the city and walked another KM into the center, I passed the cities two hotels and tried their receptions – one the door outside was locked and no one answered to door bell or heavy knocking. the second had lights on but had no answer, once again to heavy knocking, yelling and a bit of frustration at the impossibility of Hotels with closed receptions, despite it being around 12:30am. I made my way into the city park and found myself a bench near the bus station (well lit) and laid down to nap for a while. I woke again around 2 am… it was way too cold. So I wandered until I found a Bank with a separated area for its ATM. I stepped inside and found that I was the second person with the idea. I wedged myself into my corner of the small space, giving the other man sheltering in the space his area.

I strapped my bags together on my chest and then pad locked the straps together putting the key in my back pocket and then lying on my side against the wall. Sheltered from the wind, light rain and cold temperature I dozed until around 5 am. I woke and unwound myself before putting myself on the first bus to Lipsk at 6:20 am.

I arrived in Lipsk around 8:10 and started my search for remnants of my family.

I arrived in the Train station in Warsaw after a nasty experience on the train.

Apparently the Polish rail system accepts student discounts only for polish nationals. However, their railway desk had sold me a student ticket, having accepted my student ID (ASU Sun Card) and taken down my student number. I boarded the train and had no issues until the Railway conductor asked for my student ID with my ticket. She didn’t speak any english and I didn’t speak any polish so I had to rely on a young Polish girl as translator. The railway conductor was upset and expressed through our translator that my student ID was not valid and that I would have to pay a fine on the ticket of 150 Polish Zloty. When I refused and asked the translator to explain that their offices had taken down my ID number and had sold me the ticket and that I had accepted it in good faith of its validity. As such I was in no way responsible for the violation of the rules nor was I going to pay her 8 times the ticket price in a ticket.

The conductor became rather upset at this and after some heated yelling at me and my translator in Polish, my translator told me that she now wanted my passport and that the ticket would be 200 zloty. I refused to give her my passport at which point she screamed a bit more in polish and then started saying Police Police. My translator then informed me that she was threatening to call the police if I didn’t pay the fine and that they would meet me at the station. She then asked me for my passport again so she could write me the 200 zloty ticket.

I stood my ground and refused her again. Noting again that their offices had sold the ticket and that it was a problem between those offices. If she felt there was such a big issue we could discuss it at the PKP station in Warsaw with someone who spoke english. After 5 minutes of me repeating my offer she yelled again at my translator and stormed off. My translator then told me that in two hours, when we arrived in Warsaw the police would be waiting for me at the station to arrest me.

I sat for the rest of the train ride in relative suspense, knowing I was in the right and sure that I wouldn’t be punished for doing nothing wrong. In my mind I kept telling myself that I would be vindicated by the police. The constant positive reinforcement boosted my mood and I took video using my Flip Video camera of myself on the train with the ticket explaining the situation just in case.

I disembarked the train to the call of two Polish police officers dressed in solid black with night clubs and guns waiting for me.

We repeated the same dance as I had on the train. I staing firmly that I was in no way responsible for the mistake and would not pay. I especially wasn’t going to pay a fine for a violation I had not committed nor was I going to pay a fine for a fine for that violation. I showed my student ID and expressed my concern that I was being taken advantage of as some kind of a gimmick against travelers.

By this time I was also quite aggrivated and over an hour late for my check in at my hostel.

After some more back and forth the officers finally gave up on trying to get me to pay for violation and instead tried to explain to me that I had to pay for their appearance. IE: I had to pay the costs of their being called and coming to sort this out. At this point I insisted that I didn’t violate any rules, the Issue was one between the two PKP offices and needed to be sorted out there, as such I was not responsible for the Conductors decision to call the police.

Finally the officers gave up and just walked away and left me to wander to my hostel a full hour and a half after my check in appointment.

I checked in, Had a drink and walked down Nowy Swiat (new world) street in Warsaw before having a traditional polish meal and calling it a frustrating day.

I arrived from Budapest that evening, exausted and ready for a little bit of a break. I grabbed my bags from the bus and meandered my way across the central square and the mall towards the Hostel. Gregg & Tomms. A short stay, long enough to get my bearings and see what I could. I wrote a little and crashed out around 1am before waking at 6 to eat breakfast and then head to Auschwitz and Birkenau.

I could only stay for one night at the hostel because the next evening was a city sponsered free concert by a Mr. Lenny Kravitz and everything was packed. Nervous and unsure of where I would stay, but sure that I wanted to take the time to see and really understand Auschwitz and Birkenau I arranged with one of the gentlemen working at the Hostel to Couch surf for the night at his apartment. After leaving my bags at the Hostel I headed for the tourist tour booth and picked up my ticket for the Tour.

Auchwitz is an experience that is hard to describe. My foto’s can only express a small portion of the combined atmosphere and understanding of how many thousands of people were executed and tortured there. Our bus pulled in after an hour long documentary shown on the ride over. The weather had turned from semi-sunny to dark, forboding, cold and rainy. Nasty weather for a nasty place.

Dark silver and black clouds rested over the complex as we passed through the electrified barbed wired fences and past the famous gate reading “Arbiet Macht Frei”

As we passed under the gate our guide began her description of the grounds and the daily proceedures. From daily public hangings to torture and suffering wrought for the slightest action Auschwitz was a place of horror. The feeling of that suffering has not been washed away.

Even as the rain poured down the brick, running clear and picking up the reddish colour of the brick it was clear that the suffering here will never be washed away.

we turned down the main block corridor and started entering the buildings, examining shoes, combs, suitcases with namesand addresses written on them and finally a room containing tons of grey and decaying hair. The Hair was used by the german war machine to make uniforms, socks, and felt… what was left over is perserved in the museum open and in braids. The very real pieces of the humans beings who were slaughtered and tortured there threw me over the edge.

We continued on to the prison barracks and inspected the standing, suffocation, and isolation rooms, as well as the death wall where the firing squad operated.

Finishing by walking through the gas chamber and undersized crematorium at the end of the camp we quietly climbed back on board our bus and headed to the Ruin of Birkenau. Auschwitz II Birkenau is mostly destroyed. The germans burned the warehouses holding all the prisoners belongings at Birkenau to the ground as well as detonating explosives in the giant crematoriums there in a desparate attempt to cover up their sins. they failed. the imported german stables- cheaper to reassemble there than build brick buildings – which housed 700 people in the space where you would fit 50 horses still stand, perserved as a museum complete with the barrack used as toilet and wash room. Five minutes for a total of 2000 people to use the facilities. Violators executed.

We made our way to the tower, made famous by Schindlers list and over looked the camp before boarding the bus and heading back to Krakow in somber reverence.

I left Krakow early the next morning taking an afternoon train to Warsaw.