Polish Invasion

I feel sorry for the Polish - over the centuries they have been invaded by the Swedish, Germans (several times), French, Austrians, Russians (several times) and now they are suffering another invasion, this time by hordes of tourists in the search for the most holiest of grails, cheap beer.

This place is “going off” – the collective young of Europe have gathered in Krakow to party. And why not, the place is beautiful, the summers hot but not stifling, the food and beer is extremely cheap, and every night is party night.

On a more serious not we toured Auschwitz and Birkenau to better understand one of the worst atrocities of the past hundred years. Mind blowing is the industrial scale of genocide achieved by the Nazis who had slaughtered peoples of all faiths, groups from at least 20 nations, sometimes transporting them without food and drink over a thousand kilometres from all corners of Europe just to work them to death or incinerate them.

More telling was the fact that we were reminded that Auschwitz was not the biggest, first or the last holocaust brought by humans. Genocide and ethnic cleansing happened at scale before World War II, for example the confiscation of the 1933 Ukrainian and Kazakhstan harvest by Russia which left millions to starve. Nor have we learnt any lessons for cleansing has been allowed to continue throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in Kosovo, East Timor, Chechnya, Rwanda, and many other places.

Back in Krakow life goes on. The festival of regional dance and song continues in the main square Rynek Glowny with the multitudes enjoying a polish sausage and a sing-a-long. Others wander through the local markets selling jewellery, wooden toys and dragons (a symbol of Krakow).

Hundreds of outdoor bars and restaurants fill all sides of the square competing to offer the cheapest beer or the most dishes of potato, and hourly the trumpeter climbs the tower of St Mary’s Basilica and bugles a simple tune.

Life is pretty good in Krakow.