Warsaw

June 20th

Yesterday we caught the intercity train from Torun to Warsaw but we were not quite so lucky as on the train from Gdansk to Torun.Train 51112 was not so new and not so smooth but it was O.K.  It was a very warm day and air conditioning.was by opening the window.

Our hotel in Warsaw is the Polonia Palace originally opened in 1913.

In 1945 most of Warsaw was in ruins but our hotel (middle background) seems to have survived.

 As Polonia Palace looks today.

The foyer of the hotel which is always full of people unlike the other hotels where we have stayed.

 One of Stalin's wedding cake buildings..

 Unofficial market near Warsaw Central station.

Monument to Chopin in the Lazienki  Park in Warsaw where he was born  and lived until he was 10.

 Statue of King John lll Sobieski who defeated the Ottomans in the battle of Vienna in 1683.

Another Polish king in front of a (re-built) palace in the old town.This king, Sigismund was also king of Sweden and he moved the capital  from Krakow to Warsaw in 1596 because Warsaw was closer to Sweden and also closer to Lithuania which was another part of his realm..

 

Market stalls in the main square of the old town.The facades of the buildings in the background largely survived the war unlike most of the old town.

St John the Baptist chapel in the Cathedral also dedicated to St John.

Memorial to the Ghetto uprising in Warsaw.

A memorial to the "Little Helpers" (children) of the second uprising in 1944 set in part of the original city wall.

Le petit train for tourists.

Street sculpture in Torun.

The Jewish population of Warsaw before the Second World war was over 300,000. most of them were not assimilated and did not have Christian friends to help them when they were forced into the ghetto. In 1942 mass deportations to Treblinka started. Although Treblinka only operated for about one year about one million people were murdered there.

In 1943 there was an uprising in the ghetto and although the Jews fought bravely it was  hopeless  and very one sided.

In 1944 the Poles tried to oust the German army. They were unsuccessful and a lot of Warsaw was destroyed.