My Photos
Warsaw
The Warsaw Ghetto boundary markers are memorial plaques and boundary lines that mark the maximum perimeter of the former ghetto established by the Germans in 1940 in occupied Warsaw, Poland. The markers were erected in 2008 and 2010 on 22 sites along the borders of the Jewish quarter, where from 1940-1943 stood the gates to the ghetto, wooden footbridges over Aryan streets, and the buildings important to the ghetto inmates. This Plaque is on the fragment of the ghetto wall at 62 Złota Street
The tenement house at 14 Waliców Street – a historic tenement house located in Warsaw's Wola district, in the Mirów housing estate, at 14 Waliców Street. In this tenement house lived Władysław Szlengel – a poet of the Warsaw ghetto.
One of the most enduring images of the Warsaw Ghetto is that of the footbridge constructed over ul. Chłodna to connect the large and small Ghettos. Commemorating this today is a pair of metal poles connected via optical fibres which, after the sun sets, project the shape of the footbridge over the road via light.
Designed by Tomasz de Tusch-Lec and installed in 2011, the memorial also has viewing windows inside the poles where visitors can flip through images of life in the Warsaw Ghetto. The pavement outline symbolises the ghetto’s borders, which can be found on the sidewalk as you travel down ul. Chłodna.
Adam Czerniakows home. Adam Czerniaków (30 November 1880 – 23 July 1942) was a Polish engineer and senator who was head of the Warsaw Ghetto Jewish Council (Judenrat) during World War II. He committed suicide on 23 July 1942 by swallowing a cyanide pill, a day after the commencement of mass extermination of Jews known as the Grossaktion Warsaw
Warsaw Uprising Museum - There are exhibits over several floors, containing photographs, audio and video, interactive displays, artifacts, written accounts, and other testimonies of how life was during the German occupation of Warsaw, the uprising, and its aftermath.
Warsaw Uprising museum external with the Memorial wall.
The Warsaw Jewish Cemetery is one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Europe and in the world. Located on Warsaw's Okopowa Street and abutting the Christian Powązki Cemetery, the Jewish necropolis was established in 1806 and occupies 33 hectares (83 acres) of land. The cemetery contains over 250,000 marked graves, as well as mass graves of victims of the Warsaw Ghetto. Although the cemetery was closed down during World War II, after the war it was reopened and a small portion of it remains active, serving Warsaw's existing Jewish population.
Umschlagplatz (German: collection point or reloading point) was the term used during The Holocaust to denote the holding areas adjacent to railway stations in occupied Poland where Jews from ghettos were assembled for deportation to Nazi death camps. The largest collection point was in Warsaw next to the Warsaw Ghetto. In 1942 between 254,000 – 265,000 Jews passed through the Warsaw Umschlagplatz on their way to the Treblinka extermination camp during Operation Reinhard, the deadliest phase of the Holocaust in Poland.
In 1988, a memorial was erected in Warsaw to commemorate the deportation victims from the Umschlagplatz. The monument resembles a freight car with its doors open. It is located on the corner of Stawki Street.
Ulica Miła 18 (or 18 Pleasant Street in English) was the headquarters "bunker" (actually a hidden shelter) of the Jewish Combat Organization (ŻOB), a Jewish resistance group in the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland during World War II.
On 8 May 1943, three weeks after the start of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, when the bunker was found out by the Nazis, there were around 300 people inside. The smugglers surrendered, but the ŻOB command, including Mordechaj Anielewicz, the leader of the uprising, stood firm. The Nazis threw tear gas into the shelter to force the occupants out. Anielewicz, his girlfriend Mira Fuchrer and many of his staff committed mass suicide by ingesting poison rather than surrender, though a few fighters who did neither managed to get out of a rear exit and later fled from the ghetto through the canals to the "Aryan side" at Prosta Street on May 10
The Monument to the Ghetto Heroes is a monument in Warsaw, commemorating the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943 during the Second World War. It is located in the area which was formerly a part of the Warsaw Ghetto, at the spot where the first armed clash of the uprising took place. The monument was built partly of Nazi German materials originally brought to Warsaw in 1942 by Albert Speer for his planned works. The completed monument was formally unveiled in April 1948
POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews is a museum on the site of the former Warsaw Ghetto. The Hebrew word Polin in the museum's English name means either "Poland" or "rest here" and relates to a legend about the arrival of the first Jews to Poland. The building, a postmodern structure in glass, copper, and concrete, was designed by Finnish architects Rainer Mahlamäki and Ilmari Lahdelma.
The building opened and the museum began its educational and cultural programs on April 19, 2013, on the 70th Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. During the 18 months that followed, more than 180,000 visitors toured the building, visited the first temporary exhibitions, and took part in cultural and educational programs and events, including film screenings, debates, workshops, performances, concerts, and lectures. The Grand Opening, with the completed Core Exhibition, took place on October 28, 2014. The Core Exhibition documents and celebrates the thousand-year history of the Jewish community in Poland that was decimated by the Holocaust
soldiers entered the 1st Army of the Polish Army, which took part in the fights for Warsaw and participated in the assault on Berlin. The monument, which is the last work of Ksawery Dunikowski, was created in the 1960s at the behest of then-Minister of National Defense, general Marian Spychalski.
Krasiński Palace - The palace was burned down and partially demolished by the Germans during World War II, with the outer shell remaining mostly intact. Today it is a part of the Polish National Library's Special Collections Section (specializing in manuscripts and old prints) from the Załuski Library (only 5% of the former collection remains in the palace, the rest was deliberately destroyed by the Germans after the collapse of the Warsaw Uprising in October 1944).
Warsaw Uprising Monument is a monument in Warsaw, Poland, dedicated to the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. Unveiled in 1989, it was designed by Jacek Budyn and sculpted by Wincenty Kućma. It is located on the southern side of Krasiński Square. The monument has been described as "the most important monument of post-war Warsaw." Gazeta Wyborcza reported in 2012 that it is one of the most visited landmarks for foreign tourists
The Warsaw Uprising, which broke out on 1 August 1944 and lasted until 2 October 1944, was one of the most important and devastating events in the history of Warsaw and Poland. Up to 90% of Warsaw's buildings were destroyed during the hostilities and the systematic destruction of the city carried out by the Germans after the uprising.
The Field Cathedral of the Polish Army, also known as the Church of Our Lady Queen of the Polish Crown, is the main garrison church of Warsaw and the representative cathedral of the entire Polish Army. During the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, the cathedral was one of the churches frequently targeted by the Luftwaffe.
The monument is made of bronze and is about 10 metres (33 ft) tall. It has of two parts near each other. The larger, elevated element shows a group of insurgents actively engaged in combat, running from the artistic vision of a collapsing building, represented by a more abstract composition. The smaller element shows insurgents descending into a manhole, a reference to the use of Warsaw's sewer system by the insurgents to move across German-held territory during the uprising and specifically to the evacuation of 5300 resistance fighters from Warsaw's Old Town to the city centre at the beginning of September 1944, a five-hour journey which started from Krasiński Square
Mały Powstaniec (the Little Insurrectionist) is a statue in commemoration of the child soldiers who fought and died during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. It is located on Podwale Street, Warsaw, Poland, next to the ramparts of Warsaw's Old Town. The statue is of a young boy wearing a helmet too large for his head and holding a submachine gun. Despite being sometimes colloquially called Antek Rozpylacz, it is not representing any specific child. The helmet and submachine gun are stylized after German equipment, which was captured during the uprising and used by the resistance fighters against the occupying forces.
On August 13, 1944, during the Warsaw Uprising, a Borgward IV (heavy demolition carrier) exploded near the St. John's Archcathedral, which destroyed a large part of the building. A part of the original Borgward IV track is immured and can be found wih a place that commemorates the event. These remote controlled "bombs" we used extensively by the German during the Warsaw Uprising. There is a debate with the wording on the plaque. It says the track is from a Goliath but many suggest is it from a much heavier Borgward Sd. Kfz. 301 which could carry nearly a half tom of explosives.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a monument in Warsaw, Poland, dedicated to the unknown soldiers who have given their lives for Poland. It is one of many such national tombs of unknowns that were erected after World War I, and the most important such monument in Poland.
The monument, located at Piłsudski Square, is the only surviving part of the Saxon Palace that occupied the spot until World War II. Since 2 November 1925 the tomb houses the unidentified body of a young soldier who fell during the Defence of Lwów.
The Tomb is constantly lit by an eternal flame and assisted by a guard post provided by the three companies of the 1st Guards Battalion, Representative Honor Guard Regiment of the Polish Armed Forces. It is there that most official military commemorations take place in Poland and where foreign representatives lay wreaths when visiting Poland. The changing of the guard takes place every full hour, 365 days a year.
Castle Square is a historic square in front of the Royal Castle – the former official residence of Polish monarchs – located in Warsaw, Poland. It is a popular meeting place for tourists and locals. The Square, of somewhat triangular shape, features the landmark Sigismund's Column to the south-west, and is surrounded by historic townhouses. It marks the beginning of the bustling Royal Route extending to the south.
Pawiak tree – a bronze copy of the famous elm, on which the families of victims placed epitaphs. Alongside the fragment of the gate, the tree was the only surviving post-war testimony to the existence of the prison.
During World War II, people were sent here in round-ups, often women and children, but also members of the resistance movement. Located in the very centre of the city, the prison was witness to mass murders that shook occupied Warsaw. It is estimated that about 100,000 prisoners passed through Pawiak, of whom nearly 37,000 were shot, and about 60,000 sent to concentration camps and forced labour. On 21 August 1944, the Germans blew up almost the entire prison complex.
Palace of Culture and Science - One of the highest and most recognisable building in Warsaw can be seen from almost every part of the capital. Where did it come from? It was opened in 1955 on the initiative of Joseph Stalin as a “gift of the Soviet people for the Poles”. Built by Russian workers, for a long time, it was considered to be a symbol of socialist power and the pride of People’s Poland – it was where conventions of the Polish United Workers’ Party took place. Since its very beginning, its monumental interiors have hosted numerous concerts, exhibitions, fairs and shows. Currently, the palace is home to theatres, a cinema, museums, trendy pubs and the main Warsaw Tourist Information office.
Janusz Korczak memorial - Janusz Korczak, the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit (22 July 1878 or 1879 – 7 August 1942), was a Polish Jewish educator, children's author and pedagogue known as Pan Doktor ("Mr. Doctor") or Stary Doktor ("Old Doctor"). After spending many years working as a principal of an orphanage in Warsaw, he refused sanctuary repeatedly and stayed with his orphans when the entire population of the institution was sent from the ghetto to the Treblinka extermination camp during the Grossaktion Warsaw of 1942.
On 5 August 1942, German soldiers came to collect the 192 orphans (there is some debate about the actual number: it may have been 196) and about one dozen staff members to transport them to the Treblinka extermination camp. Korczak had been offered sanctuary on the "Aryan side" by the Polish underground organization Żegota, but turned it down repeatedly, saying that he could not abandon his children. On 5 August, he again refused offers of sanctuary, insisting that he would go with the children, asserting his belief: "You do not leave a sick child in the night, and you do not leave children at a time like this"
Every bit as disturbing as Pawiak is the former Gestapo HQ, found on Al. Szucha 25. Built between 1927 and 1930, the building's original purpose was to serve as a centre for religious beliefs. In 1939 it came under control of the Nazi regime, and for the next five years became one of the most feared addresses in Poland operating, among other capacities, as a brutal interrogation centre. The imposing building, currently housing the Ministry of Education, was left untouched by the carnage of war and now also holds a small but sobering museum within its bowels.
The bullet marks scarring the walls tell their own harrowing story. Although the torture cells have long since been blocked off, the English language tape that the curator plays paints a vivid and repulsive picture. Prisoners were subjected to savage beatings, attacked with dogs and electrocuted. Those who didn't cooperate would, in some cases, be forced to watch their own families being tortured. The office where prisoners would have been 'checked in' also remains, complete with a faded portrait of Hitler and battered issues of Wehrmacht magazine lying around. Manacles, bullwhips and other sinister instruments can also be seen stacked on the bookshelf.
In order to preserve the memory of the perished Jewish quarter, the Jewish Historical Institute and the City Monument Protection office took the initiative to feature in the public space of the Polish capital its most characteristic points on its former boundaries. The markers were designed by Eleonora Bergman and Tomasz Lec in cooperation with Ewa Pustoła-Kozłowska and Jan Jagielski. Each marker consists of three elements: a bronze plaque, a plaque made of acrylic glass and cement strips 25 cm (10 inches) wide with the cast iron bilingual sign placed in sidewalks and lawns showing the exact location of the ghetto walls.
The markers were erected in 2008 and 2010 on 22 sites along the borders of the Jewish quarter, where from 1940–1943 stood the gates to the ghetto, wooden footbridges over Aryan streets, and the buildings important to the ghetto inmates. This one is from the walls lining both sides of Chłodna Street and the wooden footbridge which from January to August 1942 connected the small and big ghettos.