Lublin and Majdanek

I booked a train from Krakow to Lublin with Polish Trains just to change things up a bit. I found a cheap rental apartment at some dudes house for about $30 a night that I figured would be find for a couple of nights, and it was. Lublin is all about promoting its historical Old Town, Botanical Gardens and other assorted sites. I had one goal when coming here, and that was to visit, explore and learn about the Nazi Concentration/Extermination camp Majdanek. Most people are familiar with Auschwitz but The Nazi's had six (6) extermination camps which were all in Poland. They were Chełmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Majdanek and Auschwitz-Birkenau. Extermination through labour was also used at the Auschwitz and Majdanek death camps. -- Wiki

This probably looks great at night

Treblinka, Sobibor, Belzec and Chelmno camps are mostly memorials as the camps were destroyed after the war for various reason. Majdanek and Auschwitz-Birkenau still contain many original and in some cases rebuilt areas of the camps. I have a ticket to visit and learn about  Auschwitz-Birkenau on May 10th so I will be returning to Krakow, but for now I needed to get settled before I set off into Lublin.

Now much like Krakow I still felt like crap and had no energy to try and figure out the tram system. So a 5 dollar Uber later I found the property I was staying at. I was met by Juroslav the owner who was very proud to show me to my room, and it was definitely old school Eastern European. I mean it was fine, simple, clean, quiet and safe so you do what you do, toss in your pack and go find the grocery story for a few snacks and cold beer. Here is the Booking Link and you can see that the property is well maintained. I said fuck it, I ate my sandwiches, drank a few beer in the sun on the front patio and went to bed by nine, still being bothered by whatever bug was wearing me down. I have a long trip ahead so off to bed I went.

Pylon Gate Memorial

Up and early on day two, feeling quite eager. I needed to stretched my legs a bit so I found a coffee shop about 20 minutes away and then called an Uber to take me Majdanek. Remember, be careful what you wish for. 

As you enter you are greeted by the symbolic Pylon gate, which is 11 meters tall and 35 meters wide and stands where the gate entrance to the camp was. The design itself is to represent "mangled bodies." The people are not playing around. 

I walk past the gate, and stood a bit dumbfounded with the full view of the camp in front of me, it was shockingly immense. The camp is 270 hectares, or 507 NFL football fields and I stood for a few minutes just trying to absorb it all. Majdanek does not get the crowds like Auschwitz-Birkenau. On my visit there were a few older couples, a school group of about twenty, a family of five and a smattering of others but no more than 50 people.

I am not go to write about the history of Majdanek, there are incredible resources online for that. I am going to share a few observations and one moment that stopped me in my tracks.

First, this camp is a living museum and layed out with incredible signage and information relating to the specific spot I visited. It could be a simple guard tower to an area where kids were separated from their families. Once housing bunker contained a large enclosed racks, the length of the bunker, of shoes from the victims.

This photo shows two stacks and there were six of the same inside this one bunker. I found myself staring and I know I blurted out "holy fuck" because the couple beside me suddenly turned towards me. The crematorium was still there (no photos needed).

After about two hours at the camp and while walking back from the crematorium, there was a family of five about 20 feet in front of me. It was quiet and they were just looking around. I was lost in thought when suddenly the young daughter of about 8 or 9 started screaming and jumping around from what looked like a bee or some other insect. She screamed again and it was then that my mind suddenly switched gears back in time. If this was one young girl screaming from a bee, what did it sound like when hundreds, if not thousands of young girls were screaming at the same time while being separated from their families, or walking the path to the crematorium or from being beaten. I actually stopped (I am not writing this to be dramatic) and sat down on the bench near me to try and adjust to those images. This young girl was being chased by a bee and was fine, the young girls of the past, their fate was much different.

I am going to finish this post with a photo that I posted on FB for the ones who are following me along with my travels. This is in the Lublin town square and it was a great spot to stop for a coffee after the morning I just had.

Here is the truth about this photo. I was walking around not realizing I was in a bit of a daze until I sat down and the young girl came to take my order. I just stared at her for a few seconds without realizing it and did not respond. She smiled sadly and asked "did you go to the camp?"  I know I just shook my head yes and then finally said "cappuccino please." ( I have not even tried to learn any polish). She returned with my beverage and placed it in front of me and asked where I was from? I said Canada and she calmly replied, "I am sorry for your day, this coffee is free. Thank you for coming to Lublin." I said thank you not really processing what had just happened and  sipped my coffee wondering how different this square would would have looked some 80 - 85 years ago.

True Story.