Saturday/Sunday October 6-7, 2018
We were flying to Krakow, Poland on British Airways with a change of planes at Heathrow Airport in London. Since I was flying internationally, I got to the airport a good 3 hours before my flight. I simply wanted to make sure I could get my bagged checked and have plenty of time to get set before my flight. I had not slept much hoping to be able to get a long night of sleep on the plane as we flew from Phoenix to London Heathrow.
We boarded on time and finally were on our way. I settled into my window seat and felt asleep almost immediately. Surprisingly and despite my seat neighbors having no sense of personal space, I slept really good for almost 7 hours. When I woke up the sun was up and we were over England. After a pretty meager British Air breakfast we landed at Heathrow.
Heathrow is a very large airport. I had never flown there. To get to our terminal, we had a to take a bus. We had to go through another security check before we could get something to eat and make our way to our gate. Surprisingly the security screening was relatively easy. Once through, we had another 3 hours to wait until we would board our plane to Krakow. They don’t tell you your gate until 1 hour before your supposed to leave. So I went and had a light lunch snack at Wagamama with Karen and Gary Goldberg.
The terminal we were in was like a giant mall with airport gates scattered about. They had some of the highest end retailers I have ever seen in an airport. Finally after a lot of wandering around and waiting they finally posted our gate and we all headed over to wait to board our flight. We boarded our plane to Krakow on time. Unfortunately, we got delayed due to some issues with the luggage. We ended up taking off about a ½ late.
We finally got to Krakow airport at 9:00 p.m. on Sunday night. We got off the plane and went through the passport line in only about 10 minutes. I couldn’t believe how easy it was. By the time we walked over to the carousel my bag was coming off. Phoenix Skyharbor airport cannot get our bags off that fast. Despite feeling tired from the trip, I was really excited to finally be in Poland. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep much that first night.
We met our guide and got on the bus for a short 25 minute drive from the airport to the center of the City. Our Polish guide Tomasz Klimek gave us a brief overview of the history of Krakow as we travelled to the hotel. First he told us that Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596. He let us know that Krakow was not destroyed during WWII and in fact only a few buildings were harmed. The reason it was spared was because the Nazis decided that Krakow was an urdeustche Stadt (Ancient German City). Also Krakow had surrendered without a fight, twice in fact (1939 to the Nazis and 1945 to the Red Army). In 1978, the area of Krakow where we would be staying was designated as one of UNESCO’s first ever sites for its new World Heritage List, including the entire Old Town including Krakow's Historic Centre. As he concluded, he said that while Warsaw is the capital of Poland, Krakow is it’s heart and soul.
After checking into our hotel (Sheraton Grand), most of us went down to the hotel’s sports bar. I was surprised to see the Vikings/Eagles game on the TV. I grabbed a Żywiec beer and ordered some fish & chips and settled in to watch the 1st half of the game. After we ate, we all headed back to our rooms to get some rest. I think the beer helped me get to sleep. I ended up getting a good night of rest.Monday October 8, 2018 – Krakow, Poland
What a first day! It was both historic and interesting to learn of the 1,000 years of Jewish History here in Krakow. Our guide Hillel Meyer told us we would be taking a journey over the next few days. This would not just be a trip or vacation. We would all be travelling our own journey of exploration and feeling - he was not wrong. The journey started after breakfast at the hotel in the Kazimierz Jewish Quarter of Krakow. A large portion of the Jewish population of Krakow moved to this district at the end of the fifteenth century and it served as the main cultural center of the Polish Jewry up until September 1939. At the time of the war Jews made up 25% of the population of Krakow or about 60,000 Jews.
Our tour started at the Altschul or Old Synagogue which is the oldest synagogue in all of Poland. It was built sometime in the 1400’s. There is not good source to be able to be exact on the dates. But the origin of the building as it stands today was built around 1570. During WWII, the Germans used it as a storage building or magazine. After the war it wasn’t used as a place of worship. Today it used to teach the life cycle of the Jewish People. As a fan of American History, it was interesting to learn that Tadeusz Kosciuszko spoke from the Bima of this shul to gain support for Polish Independence from the Jews in 1794. He, of course, is known in the United States as one of the key people who helped he Americans win independence from the British by helping with tactics and reinforcement of fortifications along the East Coast including West Point.As our day progressed I would find that although there were many positive stories about the Jews and Poles getting along, there would always be a dark story associated with the place starting in 1939. As the guides were telling us about the history of the synagogue, I noticed a stone cube with the word “Hitlerowcy” engraved on it. When they finished, I asked what the cube represented. Tomasz told us that it was a monument to 30 Polish hostages executed by the Nazis in 1943 against the wall of the synagogue for helping Jews. The names of the 30 victims are listed on the monument. It was the first of many sad realizations that despite the long history of harmony between the Jews and the Poles, their story would take a turn for the worst after the Nazis arrived.
We then walked over to the Rema Synagogue of Rabbi Moses Isserles (the “Rema”) who was teaching at this synagogue in the 1550’s. Isserles is a renowned Talmudic and legal scholar. He was also know as a famous Kabbalist, and studied history, astronomy and philosophy. He taught that “the aim of man is to search for the cause and the meaning of things”. He also held that "it is permissible to now and then study secular wisdom, provided that this excludes works of heresy... and that one [first] knows what is permissible and forbidden, and the rules and the mitzvot". The synagogue had been recently renovated as was beautiful.The Rema’s grave is the most visited tombstone in the cemetery. It was one of the few graves that survived the Holocaust unscathed. On his tombstone is in scripted the words. “From Moses to Moses, there was none like Moses.” This was meant to show the lineage from Moses to Moses Maimonides to the Rema who was heavily influenced by Maimonides. Jews visit his grave because they believe that they can be spiritually guided and protected from the Rema.
As I said, there is always a dark side. When we had finished visiting the Rema’s grave, we started to walk through the cemetery. As we proceeded, Tomasz told us that at one time during early pogroms the community tipped the gravestones on their side and covered them with soil. This would allow them to protect those graves from being looted and disrupted. This was somehow forgotten when the pogroms had stopped. Later on the community placed other graves on top not realizing that they were covering 16th century Jewish grave sites.
During WWII the Nazis demolished the cemetery carrying off the tombstones that were there to be used as pavers and or sold off. They then used the cemetery as a dump. After the war, when it was finally being tidied up and inventoried, the workers realized a huge portion of the cemetery was empty, without any traces of the removed graves. To figure out why an excavation was carried out, which led a unbelievable discovery - around 700 gravestones were found dating back to a period between the second half of the 16th century and the first half of the 19th century, covered by a thick layer of dirt. They decided to put the old cemetery back into its previous state. As the work progressed, they decided to leave a portion of it as it was so that we can see both levels of the lives of the Jews of Krakow through the centuries.Before leaving, we visited the grave of Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller. Heller was was a Bohemian rabbi and Talmudist, best known for writing a commentary on the Mishnah called the Tosefet Yom-Tov (1614–1617). Heller was one of the major Talmudic scholars in Prague and in Poland during the "Golden Age" before 1648.
As we started to walk towards our last stop, we passed a monument erected to the memory and legacy of Jan Karski - a member of the Polish underground army, known to the history books as the "man who tried to stop the Holocaust." During World War II, Karski smuggled himself into the Warsaw Ghetto and Nazi concentration camps with the express intent of witnessing and recording the horror being perpetrated against the Jews. His goal was to report it to the West in hopes of getting them to intervene. In 1942 he went to London to meet with the London-based Polish government-in-exile, as well as the Allied leaders, including UK Foreign Secretary Antony Eden and US President Franklin Roosevelt. Sadly everyone ignored him. Karski lived until 2000. He always wondered to the end of his life could if he could have done anything more to have stopped the Holocaust. In my view, he put himself in harm’s way and tried to stop it. Unfortunately the world didn’t care enough to listen. What more could he have done.
Our next stop was at the Kupa Synagogue which was opened in the 17th century thanks to donations from the local community. It was known as the Poor People's Synagogue, as poorer members of the community worshipped there. This synagogue has some extraordinary artwork and paintings. The ceiling of the synagogue has many intricate designs and paintings. They include images of musical instruments as well as paintings of Jerusalem and the Great Flood (Northern side), Jaffa and the Wailing Wall (Eastern Side), Tiberius and the Mamre Oak (Southern Side) and the towns of Hebron and Haifa (Western side). What was interesting is the depiction of these places since the artist never actually visited Jerusalem. The balconies of the women's galleries that surround the ground floor also have signs of the Zodiac and their Hebrew names painted on them.
During the Nazi occupation the synagogue was severely damaged and its furnishings destroyed. Although some prayer services took place after the war these soon stopped. Even though the synagogue was used for other purposes, it neglected for years. A thorough restoration took place in 2000-2001 which not only restored the paintings of the synagogue but also uncovered some of the synagogues older features such as murals on the walls. The murals we actually the prayers the worshipers would recite during services. It was a fascinating look into how Jews worshiped in the 17th Century.
Our last stop before lunch was at the Temple which is the first Modern Orthodox synagogue in post war Krakow. The building now houses a new Jewish place of worship and the JCC. The building was originally built back in the 1860s. It was ruined during WWII by the Nazis when they used it for an ammunition storage facility. It is now not only a major place of worship, but also a booming center of Jewish culture, which hosts numerous concerts and meetings, especially during the Jewish Cultural Festival held every year. The amazing thing is how there is no security. Anyone can come in an join in any of the events. We don’t even have that luxury here in Scottsdale.
I decided to grab lunch in the market square which was the old kosher slaughterhouse. I grabbed a zapiekanka. It was an open-face sandwich made up of half of a toasted baguette covered with mushrooms, chicken, cheese, green onions and tomatoes. It was delicious. I love trying new things and especially something that is totally local.
When I finished the Rabbi and I decided to walk around the area. We stopped into the Izaak Synagogue, formally known as the Isaak Jakubowicz Synagogue. It was built around 1644. Today it is a Chabad place of worship. The synagogue was named for its donor, Izaak Jakubowicz who was also known as Isaac the Rich, a banker to King Władysław IV. On December 5, 1939, the Gestapo came to the Kraków Judenrat building and ordered, Maximilian Redlich, the Jewish official on duty that day to burn the scrolls of the Torah from the synagogue. When Redlich refused he was immediately executed. The Nazis then destroyed the interior and left it. It was used for various things until the fall of Communism when it was finally renovated and returned to an active ultra-orthodox shul.
We then met up with the rest of the group to get on the bus to head over to the Oscar Schindler Factory Museum. It is housed in the former administration building of Schindler’s enamel factory. Besides having a chance to see Schindler’s desk, the museum was an amazing place overall. As you travel the floors of the building the displays tell the story of the City of Krakow from prior to the invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 through the Nazi occupation and what happened to the Jews of Krakow. It was a very moving experience as I could feel the ghosts around us.
We left the museum to walk over to the Jewish Ghetto of Podgorze which we had learned about in the museum. We crossed the street and walked into a large open square which had 33 chairs made of iron and bronze. Tomasz then explained that we were standing in the center of the old Krakow Ghetto. The main gate to the ghetto once stood where the present entrance to the square is, coming up from the Wisla river. In March 1941 the Germans locked up all the Krakow Jews inside the recently-built ghetto. There were over 20,000 people living within the ghetto walls, where previously only 3,000 people had lived. This spot was where the end of the story of the 65,000 Jews of Krakow would begin as they were gathered up and shipped off to the camps. The square was originally known as the Krakow Umchagplaz and now is known as Ghetto Heroes Square.Hillel had a yahrzeit candle with him. So we gathered around one of the chairs and Rabbi Schneider lit the candle. After a moment of reflection, the group put their arms around each other and we sang,
We wrapped up the day at the Galicia Museum. There we had a chance to look at the photo exhibition documenting the remnants of Jewish culture and life in Polish Galicia, which used to be a very vibrant part of the area. It was a good way to wrap up a day filled with so much history and deep feelings. After a rest in the hotel, we headed to dinner at the Hawelka restaurant in Krakow’s historic Market Square. The square dates back to the 13th century and is one of the largest medieval town squares in Europe. It was so beautiful lit up at night. Our dinner was fantastic. After dinner I walked back to the hotel with Rabbi Schneider back through the square. What a nice way to end a long day.
Oct 1 – 3.10 miles (30:00, 9:40 pace)
Oct 2 – 5.30 miles (45:39, 8:47 pace) – Speed Work
Oct 3 – 6.20 miles (58:24, 9:25 pace)
Oct 4 – 6.20 miles (55:26, 8:56 pace) – Tempo Run
Oct 5 – 5.10 miles (47:01, 9:13 pace)
Oct 6 – 15.10 miles (2:25:47, 9:39 pace)
Oct 9 – 3.10 miles (28:29, 9:12 pace) – Krakow, Poland
Oct 10 – 6.10 miles (56:00, 9:11 pace) – Krakow, Poland
Oct 11 – 4.10 miles (35:34, 8:40 pace) – Tempo Run, Warsaw, Poland
Oct 13 – 8.10 miles (1:12:39, 8:58 pace) – Berlin, Germany
Oct 15 – 3.20 miles (27:35, 8:37 pace) – Berlin, Germany
Oct 16 – 6.10 miles (59:33, 9:46 pace) – Prague, Czech Republic
Oct 19 – 7.60 miles (1:08:11, 8:58 pace)
Oct 20 – 9.10 miles (1:27:04, 9:34 pace)
Oct 22 – 6.20 miles (52:49, 8:31 pace) – Speed Work
Oct 24 – 5.10 miles (42:06, 8:15 pace) – Tempo Run
Oct 25 – 7.20 miles (1:05:59, 9:10 pace)
Oct 26 – 6.20 miles (57:36, 9:17 pace)
Oct 27 – 16.10 miles (2:33:36, 9:33 pace)
Total Miles: 129.2 miles
2018 Total Miles: 1,549.7 miles
