Projekt Polska: Jestem tutaj w Krakowie! (I am here in Krakow!)

I am currently sitting in Kolory (‘Colors’), an artsy café on Plac Nowy—the ‘New Square’ in the Jewish quarter of Kraków called Kazimierz. I have been sporadically taking notes this past week which has only resulted in a hodgepodge of half-finished paragraphs, random memories and insights. Needless to say, the time for organizing such thoughts should have happened days ago, and I apologize for my tardiness. But alas, I keep you waiting no longer.

In order to maximize space, I want to devote the majority of this entry to our first few days in the medieval gem of Kraków, but I must mention one story from our orientation in New York City, which crazily, was already an entire week ago. With the anticipation of early mornings and late nights in Kraków, I decided to get a long run in while in New York. It was about 7am when I left, running from our hotel, through Battery Park and up the biking path that borders the Hudson River. I am about 30 minutes into the run, feeling sick, tired, and hungry when I past a focused walker listening to his music. I recognize him immediately as David Marwell, the director of the Museum of Jewish Heritage (where we are having our orientation) and famed former Nazi hunter—employed by the U.S. Government in their Special Operations Department to locate Josef Mengele, the “Angel of Death” Nazi physician at Auschwitz. Now, immediate Holly-reaction upon recognizing Dr. Marwell is to keep running; she is sweaty, gross, and makeup-less (a usual big no-no to talk to important people), but somehow I found myself saying, “David?” and upon seeing him look over and take out his ear buds, but before he could say anything, I rapidly blurted out, “My name is Holly! I am one of the fellows! HI!” (I think I sounded overly excited, but I will attribute it to my previous post-run panting.) If he found my introduction an interruption to his walking routine, he showed no sign of it and kindly talked wih me about the path and how beautiful it was, my upcoming half-marathon, and how I am going to attempt to run in Poland (I have been in Poland for 7 days and have run once, not off to a great start).

Skipping ahead, our group arrived in Dublin at 5:30am on July 5^th (meaning it was only 11:30pm July 4^th in New York) right when I was just getting tired. I told myself I would sleep on the next flight; yet as my seat was next door to the bathrooms and there was 9 crying babies on the flight (who alternated crying, so it was continuous—I am not lying—for three hours), sleep was hard…no, impossible…to come by. We finally made it to Kraków, but since our hotel rooms were not ready, we dropped off our bags, and began a several hour walking tour in 90 degree Kraków, with a break for a kosher lunch, where we were introduced to our three guides. Tomek, the Director of the Auschwitz Jewish Center in Oświęcim; Maciek, who calls himself “Junior” as opposed to Tomek, who is “Senior”; and Dara, a former AJC fellow and currently on a Fulbright scholarship to research in Poland. After lunch the trekking continued, and late in the afternoon, after climbing Kraków’s Wawel Hill, and not having slept for 30 plus hours, we were a motely, mopey crew despite Maciek’s encouragement and good cheer.

I had to get my tired act together to meet that evening with Jan T. Gross, author of Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne and Fear: Anti-semitism in Poland after Auschwitz and academic celebrity (for better or worse) in Poland after voicing not only Polish collaboration, but instigation, in the Holocaust. I walk into our determined meeting place, and, much to my surprise, half my group is there (of all the cafes in Kraków!) having a much-anticipated Polish beer. Thus when Jan walked in, I was able to introduce him to our group (we all had to read Fear for our group readings). We were able to catch up for a bit before being told that there was a Yiddish “flash mob” happening outside on the Plac in a few minutes. We all herded out of the café, including Jan, to watch a Yiddish band pick up their instruments and play, while 20 or so people balanced half-filled water bottles on their heads, formed a line with one hand on the shoulder of the person in front, and proceeded to follow the band around the square. Here I was walking around with Professor Gross—whose works have led to so much change in how the Holocaust is taught in Poland, enjoying the sights and sounds of Jewish culture in Poland. What an incredible way to end my first evening abroad.