In a Tizzy

It’s been three days of content for the course and as I write this we are preparing for a travel day that will be wrapped up with a seminar in Auschwitz, our next destination and residence for 12 days.

The city of Warsaw is beautiful, and it is difficult to comprehend how much of it has been destroyed and rebuilt when you look at the style of the buildings and the composition of the streets and towns. Some of them look very classic while others are more modern. We started our learning in Warsaw inside the Jewish Historical Institute, which is one of the only buildings that in part survived the Warsaw Uprising destruction. Burned portions of the floor in the entrance hall remain visible and a part of what the institute stands for.

While in Warsaw, we are staying in Pokoje Goscinne Zwiazku Metalowcow – a place that definitely struck us as decent-but-not-great upon our arrival. However, we received a small lecture and saw a documentary about the building, and learned that it was a part of a bigger story of Hotel Polski, a story that isn’t clear on where the “good” and the “bad” people are, and who ran it (despite the article’s position). This certainly increased my appreciation of the space! I do still itch quite a bit, but that’s okay.

We have aleady visited multiple sites, as Warsaw is an epicenter of Holocaust activity. We have visited Szucha Gestapo Prison (an interrogation and torture chamber), Muzeum Więzienia Pawiak (a prison where mostly Jewish individuals were held captive and where death was usually imminent, and the Polin Muzeum (where we received a special-guest curatorial tour of the Holocaust portion of the exhibit from Jacek Leociak). There have also been a handful of walking tours to acquaint us with everyday aspects of the city (such as where to get food, drinks, and produce) as well as historical aspects of the city to help us understand where we are situated and what has occurred in the space.

I will update with photos and more details on my experience later on! For now, as usual, we are on the move and are all feeling quite tired but ready for more learning.