Katowice – das Ruhrgebiet Polens
After our short stay in Cracow we went further to Katowice. Because we were much more convinced of the train rathr the bus, we decided to use an IC connection for this route as well. What we found very positive in Poland in dealing with the Corona crisis was that they only sold as many tickets as there were seats on the train. So we were automatically assigned a seat reservation and it could be ensured that the trains were not overcrowded. In total we paid less than 8€ for two people for almost 2 hours of travel!
We had heard in advance that Katowice reminds us a bit of cities from the Ruhr area in Germany, but it still has its own special charm. Just take a look at the gallery below to get your own impression. We walked through the city and headed for the Spodek-Arena (Spodek means "UFO" in Polish), where Tomek's dad already played handball! We stayed two nights in Katowice, but on the first day we had actually seen everything of the city.
So we had planned the second day in Katowice for a very special experience: What we couldn't miss during our trip to Poland was a visit to the memorial Auschwitz-Birkenau. Only 45 minutes from Katowice is the Memorial and we took a 3.5-hour tour of both camps with a guide.
It is a really sad place, but all the more important to visit this memorial. What you see there really gets under your skin and was an important experience for us! In one of the houses there were photos of the prisoners hanging around, which was very oppressive for both of us. You could really see their fear and desperation in their eyes. What had to happen to all these people in such a cruel way and with what background is simply impossible to put into words. So I find it very difficult to write this passage. But one thing is very clear: We cannot believe that there are still people who deny the Holocaust and all the cruelty and who have similar ideas! Something like this must never ever happen again!
Regarding the current Corona situation, we noticed during this trip that local restrictions can change quickly and that you cannot always rely on what is written in the newspapers. The day before we visited the concentration camps, we bought the tickets online and I wrote my family that this was planned for the next day. Thereupon we received a photo from my father, which he photographed from the daily newspaper exactly on that day. Is says "The national soccer players Leon Goretzka and Joshua Kimmich support with their action "We kick corona" the Holocaust Memorial Auschwitz, which is currently closed because of Coona, with 75000 Euro for education work."
Luckily the memorial was open, otherwise we would not have been able to buy the tickets and we went there anyway.
After this sad day we drove back to Katowice to catch the train to Wroclaw (in german "Breslau")
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