Day 3 (Tues, Aug 28): Poison

Poland Aug 31, 2018

Sometimes, man can be pure evil. War definitely brings that out in people. Soldier against soldier is one thing. But, soldier against civilian?

I learned that at a young age (5-11), being acutely aware of Hitler's actions since I lived in Germany, and we traveled a whole lot.

Hitler's actions decimated so many different cultures. He tore families to shreds. He stripped individuals of absolutely every single thing they owned or held dear until they were nothing but a skeleton with skin.

All of Poland had various amounts of damage throughout WWII, but Warsaw took the brunt of it. Being the capitol, it was one of the first places Hitler made a beeline for. Control the capitol, control the country. In accord with the Nazi agenda, Jewish ghettos were cordoned off. Non-Jews forced to leave. Jews forced to stay. At first they housed 300,000 people, but over the years that grew to over 500,000 people, all crammed into every available space only 1 square mile in size. Slowly, Hitler transferred them to Auschwitz.

(Zoom in on that second photo--it's of the people quietly walking to the trains.)

The Nazis told them they were being relocated--going to live in a different place with their families. So, being terribly overcrowded in the ghettos, the people walked without a fight, and climbed onto the trains. It had to be better than starving or being beaten to death, right?

Only later did word filter through that their neighbors had been marched to their deaths in camps. Well, if they had a trade, or were sturdy and strong, they were lucky enough to slowly starve doing forced labor.

In 1944, the Polish had had enough! An uprising was called. If they were going to die, may as well die fighting. In response, Hitler ordered his army to burn Warsaw.

Over three months, the entire city center was demolished. Completely and utterly leveled. Only a handful of lucky buildings and trees were left standing.

There is a point to this history lesson. Once the Soviets "freed" the people of Warsaw, they picked themselves up by their bootstraps. Things were by no means perfect under Soviet occupation, but they were definitely easier. They had food, healthcare, and weren't being beaten and tortured nearly as much.

During this time, the people were given the code to rebuild Warsaw, or move the capitol to another city. Their choice? Rebuild! Without assistance from the Russians, the entire city of Warsaw was rebuilt as closely as it could be to pre-war designs and styles. Paintings and photographs were used to design the new buildings.

Photos: All of the above photos - except the ones of the white church interior - are of the Old Town (Warsaw). A good portion of the buildings are painted or have painted reliefs on them, usually various linear designs, but sometimes they included animals or flowers.

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But, as you can see from the photos above, the damage caused by the Nazi razing only extended so far. The Old Town still stands! Beautiful buildings. It's an amazing little section.

We actually began our day with Mass at St. James Church, the first church St. Faustina saw after running away from home in order to dedicate here life to God.