Thursday 19 February 2015

1) POLAND & HOLOCAUST

Poland was home to Europe's largest Jewish population (3.3 million) before war, but unfortunately also the epicentre of the Holocaust. It is estimated that 3,000,000 of the 3,300,000 Jews who lived within Poland’s pre-war borders perished in the Holocaust! In this blog, I will discuss the major sites and holocaust monuments associated with the Polish Jewry in the areas of Warsaw, Krakow, Plaszow, Lublin, Zamosc, Wlodawa, Lodz, Gdansk, Stutthof, Poznan. A special focus will be given to the six notorious extermination camps in Auschwitz, Treblinka, Majdanek, Sobibor, Belzec and Chelmno. The memorial in Westerplatte where the Second World War began, will also be covered in the blog.

WARSAW
Remains of Warsaw Ghetto Walls. Pre-War Jewish Population (1939): 375,000. Post-War Jewish Population (1945): 10,000.
KRAKOW
Izaak Synagogue of Krakow (1644), Pre-War Jewish Population (1939): 68,482. Post-War Jewish Population (1945): 2,000.

PLASZOW
A rare front view of Amon Goeth's House, the infamous commandant of Plaszow Concentration Camp (Schindler's List). Plaszow held 25,000 inmates in 1944.

LUBLIN
Was once the Headquarters of Operation Reinhard-the place where deaths of 2 million people were planned. Pre-War Jewish Population (1939): 40,000. Post-War Jewish Population (1945):300.

LODZ
Radegast Train Station Memorial-close to 150,000 people were deported to Chelmno and Auschwitz from here. Pre-War Jewish Population (1939): 223,000. Post-War Jewish Population (1945): 850.

GDANSK
Frank Meisler's Kindertransport memorial commemorating the 10000 children who were rescued from Nazi territories to UK, 100 were from Gdansk. Pre-War Jewish Population (1939): 3,500. Post-War Jewish Population (1945): 22.

STUTTHOF
An estimated 65,000 people died in this concentration camp.

POZNAN
Jewish Cemetery in Głogowska 26a, Poznan with the grave of the famous Rabbi, Akiva Eger. Pre-War Jewish Population (1939): 3,000. Post-War Jewish Population (1945):Vanished.

WLODAWA
Włodawa Great Synagogue (1764–1774). Pre-War Jewish Population (1939): 6,706. Post-War Jewish Population (1945): Vanished.

ZAMOSC
Zamosc Synagogue (1610-1618). Pre-War Jewish Population (1939): 15,000. Post-War Jewish Population (1945): 5,000 escaped.

WESTERPLATTE
Shots fired here on 1 September, 1939 was the beginning of Second World War and eventually the Holocaust.

THE EXTERMINATION CAMPS (POLAND)

Out of the 6 million Jews who perished in Holocaust, more than 3 million died in just six sites known as the 'Extermination Camps'. All of them functioned inside Poland, the epicenter of Holocaust. An estimated 3 million Polish Jews died in the catastrophe which accounts to 91% of the Jewish population in Poland at the time of World War II! 

 Estimated Death: 1,100,000

  Estimated Death: 800,000

  Estimated Death: 80,000

  Estimated Death: 250,000

  Estimated Death: 600,000

 Estimated Death: 320,000