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The entrance to the Auschwitz
death camp. The sign says
"Arbeit Macht Frei" which means "Work
Makes Free."
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Blog Note: My purpose in reposting this series of blogs about our travels in Eastern Europe in 1990, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Soviet Union, is to show the joy of the Eastern
European peoples as they emerged from the Marxist system into freedom.
My hope is that at least a few Americans will be warned as our present
government seeks to lead us into that darkness.
We passed quickly through customs and security in Warsaw with no questions asked. The taxi to the Noveltel cost 80,000 zlotys, which fortunately turned out to be $8 U.S. The Noveltel was new and nice, and (at last!) a double bed.
Friday, March 23: We arose to find that the water
was off all over Warsaw.
So no shave and no bath. We cleaned up as best we could with our portable pack
of Wet Ones. At the airport, the security people didn't want to let me through with
my little two-wheeled cart loaded with equipment bags. They couldn't understand
that I was hauling the carry-ons for three people. Louise and Paul had already
gone through, but I was able to get them to come back and take some of the
items. And we were off to Katowici.
I have often wondered what it was
like when the water came back on and all the toilets in Warsaw flushed at the same time. I'm glad we
were gone.
We were met in Katowici by Ferdinand
Karel, founder and pastor of the Bethany Church of God, and two of his
associates. After checking into the University Hotel we made a brief stop at
the church for the first good coffee since. . .I can't remember. West Berlin, maybe? And it wasn't just good -- it was great
coffee. As it turned out, we needed something to fortify us.
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The church at Katowici is hidden away behind gates
and
other buildings in a courtyard in an industrial section of town.
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After the coffee, we drove about 25 miles to Auschwitz.
I would not have missed it, but
I'm not sure I would go again. It is a monument to all the evil in the depths of
our fallen human nature. How anyone could see what one of the most civilized
nations on earth did to fellow human beings in an organized and systematic fashion
and still believe in the perfectibility of man apart from God is beyond all
sense and reason.
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Barracks blocks at Auschwitz.
The electric fence wires
carried sufficient voltage to kill anyone who
touched them.
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Prisoners were crowded into these bunks with
only lice-ridden straw for a mattress.
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The crematorium, where bodies were
burned by the hundreds of thousands.
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Other photographers have done a far better job than I of showing the horror of Auschwitz, but I've included a few photos to give you a sense of the place.
After Auschwitz, we went back to
the church, where we were encouraged by the simple goodness of Polish believers. We were fed a good Polish dinner by the pastor's wife Lydia, an
absolute, but gracious, tyrant of the kitchen.
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Ferdinand and Lydia Karel
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Later, we photographed a home Bible study group in a suburban high-rise. They served cake and tea afterwards, so we took some to be polite. Then it was back to the church, where Lydia had another meal prepared.
This brings up a subject I haven't
mentioned before: I call it "the Hospitality Trap." Everywhere we
went, we found gracious, hospitable people who wanted to share with us the best of their food.
We couldn't eat it all, but neither did we want to disappoint them. It's
difficult. Fortunately, as is normal in the kind of traveling we were doing, we
missed enough meals that we didn't come home 20 pounds heavier.
I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week.
Soli Gloria Deo
For the glory of God alone
Tags: photography, Dave Jenkins, David B. Jenkins Eastern Europe, Pentecostalism, Poland, Warsaw, Katowici, Church of God, Auschwitz, Olympus OM cameras, Leica cameras, Fujichrome film, 3M640T film, film cameras
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