May 3: Tarnow, Krakow and Birkenau

Today was an amazing day that tested all emotional capabilities. The village of Tarnow was the first stop of the day. Beginning in the Town Square our kids stood on the spot where hundreds of thousands of Jews were rounded up from Central Poland only to be brought to be murdered by Germans taking firing squad practice from the rooftops. The street is called Jew Street obviously because this is where the Jewish blood literally flowed down the street. They then stopped outside of Tarnow at the Gora Forest (Yaar HaYeladim) where thousands of Tarnow’s Jews were brutally murdered by the Nazis in an area which to outsiders looked so beautiful and where they take promenades and walks. Before the war, 25,000 Jews made up half of the city’s population. Our kids read poems written by children who lived and died during this era and planted trees as a memorial as well. You will see this in the pictures as they try to make small holes in the ground so they can plant little memorials to our brothers and sisters. Our kids walked through this forest and reflected on the lives that were lost. Lives that represented so much. It was a wonderful feeling to see our precious children exploring the very forest where others had perished. 

They then drove to Krakow which, despite all that happened there, is gorgeous. If you have never been there it is worth going to as it is a beautiful city. Actually many holy people are buried there. Our kids saw decorative shuls and structures that will probably never be replicated. They went to the cemetery where the Remah, Reb Moshe Isserles who codified Jewish law, and Tosfos Yom Tov, Rav Lipman Heller all are buried. They heard amazing stories about these great rabbis who influenced Ashkenazi Jewry in Poland. One shul they stopped at was relatively new in Krakow. Next, they stopped at the outside of the Schindler factory, from the movie "Schindler’s List." Their last stop was at the remaining part of the ghetto wall from the Nazi occupation in this part of Poland.

Back at the hotel they met a Righteous Gentile, a woman whose family risked everything to save Jews during the Shoah. They said it was an amazing story to hear and our kids were not only totally focused on what she told them but were focused on what had come before.

 

Zipora Schorr