Gdansk (Danzig) Poland

This small city has been an important harbor for centuries. Damage to the old walled and gated section of the city during WWII was repaired beautifully.

We entered the old section through this beautiful old gate.

You can look down the street and see nothing permanent that is not of the old style. The row houses are narrow and 5-6 stories high. There are cobbled streets and alleys, stone porches and railings, and carved statuary and gargoyles. This is a major center for Baltic amber and the jewelry is gorgeous. Most of the first floors are businesses, many restaurants are under the raised porches and hotels and houses are above.

We spent the morning at Stutthof Concentration Camp. There were few signs in English, but the pictures, prisoner art, and displayed items were very moving and told the tale. We also had a very good guide.

We saw the barbed wire and guard towers, the ovens and the gallows. We saw the barracks for prisoners and the superior housing provided for the guard dogs. The commandants villa at the entrance as well as the administration building looked so normal. We saw some of the of the 110,000 inmate records and some of the 490,000 shoes found on the site.

The ovens still have flowers left in remembrance daily.

There is no way to determine how many people died in this camp because towards the end of the war, the people were brought in cattle cars by train and taken directly to the “shower” room where they were gassed with cyanide. Their passing was not recorded.

There is also no way to describe the horror of the reality.

The site is free and upkeep is volunteered by German young people. Nothing we saw was news to us, but seeing the reality was very moving. There is a sign at the exit that roughly translated says “Tell the next generation lest they forget”.

I know I won’t forget.