Europe Trip 2025 - Konzentrationslager Lublin (Majdanek)

Until 2025 I think I have visited three Nazi Germany concentration camps, on school trips: Auschwitz near Kraków (1.1 million killed), Stutthof near Gdańsk (65 thousand killed), and Sachsenhausen near Berlin (30-50 thousand killed by SS, 12 thousand by the NKVD). During the war, they all were located in Germany proper, in case of Auschwitz in an area annexed by Germany in 1939. I've been a teenager (or a young adult) when I visited those.

This year, I visited a concentration/extermination camp that during the war was located in General Government, still part of Greater Germany, with German as the official language, etc., but populated (temporarily according to Nazi plans) mostly by Poles. 

Why am I bringing this up? Because, I've seen way too many times Holocaust distortion from those who should know best how dangerous the lies can be. Be it on Quora, Mastodon (some really vile people, and most recently a young Israeli convinced that there was Nazi Poland during the war, just like there was Nazi Germany), Times of Israel, Twitter/X or even The Australian. That last one was a full page article by a Yad Vashem published author Jan Grabowski (with some edits done by The Australian - without any indication what was added/deleted/changed) in The Weekend Australian published August 17-18, 2024: "Poland's Shoah distortion is an insidious threat to collective memory", "Poland has nothing to do with the camps, we are being told.". This is the continuation of the lies that show up as "Poles were worse than Germans", "Death camps were built in Poland because Poles wanted them", "We all know which side of the border Auschwitz was", "Polish death camps", etc. to assign part of the blame for the Holocaust to Poland. And it works. According to recent surveys, done in Israel and in Germany, Poles (Israel) or Polish "collaborators" (Germany) are seen as equally responsible for the Holocaust as Germans by about half of the people. This is the true distortion of the Holocaust memory.

Already the first paragraph shows how to lie big. Out of the 3.3-3.5 million Polish Jews, about 350 thousand survived the war, mainly those who happened to live in the eastern part of Poland, which was annexed by the Soviet Union, but also about 50 thousand in camps, and 30-60 thousand hiding among non-Jewish Poles. There were many places in Europe where the Holocaust was more "complete" - Judenfrei. In pre-war Germany, most of those who survived did so, because they were allowed to by the government. The same government did not give Polish Jews that option. Only 666 Germans are recognized as "Righteous Among the Nations", even though they did not face a death penalty for helping Jews vs. 7,318 Poles. The truth is that anywhere the SS had control (or Ustase, or UPA), and was told to kill Jews (or Roma, or Serbs, or Poles), they did so, on their own, or with the help of others, either coerced, bribed, or voluntarily. 

The level of anti-Polonism is off the charts here. There is no taboo in Poland about collaboration - Grabowski's books are published in Polish.

Accuse others of what you are guilty of.

The distortion is institutional and intentional. This Yad Vashem post is from 2025, btw "Jude" is "Jew" in German, not Polish:

...

Enough.

The camp I visited was officially called Konzentrationslager (KL) Lublin, but it is also known as Majdanek. You can get there easily by public transport. The number of people killed in this camp is estimated at 78 thousand, mostly Polish Jews. This is the camp that was visited by the tour group in the Jesse Eisenberg's movie A Real Pain - Kieran Culkin got an Oscar for the performance, worth watching.

The first impression is that it was huge. Most wooden barracks are gone. Some have been preserved or reconstructed. The camp, like Auschwitz and Sachsenhausen, was used by the NKVD after the war, before becoming a museum.

Left: 1944 during operation. Right: 2025.

Mass execution ditches and the building of crematorium.

Bunk beds for the lucky ones - those who were not killed on arrival.

A gas chamber. The blue tint is the mark of Zyklon B.

People from as far as France were transported to KL Lublin, although the victims were primarily Polish Jews.

Then and now photos of Lublin: 

Litewski Square during occupation.

Same place now.

Lublin Ghetto

Same place now.

Then...

...now.

The castle and Podzamcze then...

...and now.

Then...

...and now. I think this place is also featured in A Real Pain.

...and finally, in reference to the first part of this blog:

"Taboo" my a*s.

The list of people executed by the Polish Underground, "In the name of the Polish Republic". Crimes: informing Gestapo, spying for Germans, cooperating with Germans, torturing prisoners and demanding bribes, blackmailing and denouncing Jews, selling weapons provided by the Underground.

The Kreishauptmann (District Chief) of Przemyśl, Dr. Friedrich Anton Heinisch to Ukrainians and Poles (printed in German, Ukrainian and Polish): I. On Monday, 27.7.1942 begins the removal of Jews from Przemyśl and surrounds. II. Any Ukrainian or Pole trying to prevent the removal of Jews, will be shot. III. Any Ukrainian or Pole caught stealing from Jewish apartments, will be shot. IV. Any Ukrainian or Pole trying to hide a Jew, or help him to hide, will be shot. V. Acquisition of Jewish property for money, or for free, is forbidden.

Some Jewish newspapers were printed in Poland in Yiddish. This one is from 1 September 1939. Jews constituted about 10% of  Polish citizens, and the Polish Army in 1939.

The Wawel Castle during German occupation.

Execution of Poles in Konin, 22 September 1939.

Nazis tried to deceive Germans, Jews, Poles, Ukrainians, and whoever would try to get to the truth in the future...

Europe Trip 2025 - Lublin

Lublin (pop. 336k) was beautiful, again.

Listening to a street musician while waiting for food:

Old town

Lublin Castle

The keep

Wrocław has dwarfs Lublin has goats.

Walking towards the Kraków Gate

Europe Trip 2025 - Poland - Remnants of war and urban decay

In 2025 Poland's economy is set to be the 20th biggest in the world: 

Poverty rate is in the low range for OECD countries:

Unemployment rate is one of the lowest in OECD:

The real minimum wage in PPP is decent:

The motorway network is approaching the status of being complete:

Green - complete.

The first new high speed rail (HSR, max 320 km/h operational speed, max 350 km/h design speed) is being built, with the planned opening of the first section between Warsaw and Łódź in 2032 and the rest of the 480 km Y line connecting Warsaw, Łódź, Poznań and Wrocław by 2035.

Still, there is a lot to do to. The scars of the 1939-1945 war are still visible on some buildings in Warsaw:

9 Dymińska street - bullet holes.

224 Grochowska street - see the shell explosion pattern.

21 Hetmańska street - bullet holes.

There is a lot of dilapidated buildings, uneven pavements, missing footpaths, abandoned lots. Drivers park on grass and footpaths and destroy them. It's too easy to buy alcohol (you can buy it at any time of day or night at regular food shops and even at petrol stations) and it is too cheap (you can buy 0.5 litre beer bottle for about 2.5 PLN - 1 AUD, and a 0.5 litre bottle of vodka for 25 PLN). 

There is too much graffiti and grime. Some buildings need a wash. The iconic Palace of Culture was almost white when it was built in 1955: 

1958 photo by John Shultz

 

Now it's dirty grey:

Abandoned building:

11C? Żółkiewskiego street

Katowice were a beautiful city with tree lined streets and squares on some pre-war postcards. Since the fall of communism they lost 20% of population:

Łódź lost 24% of population since the fall of communism. This city has probably the biggest task of all Polish cities to renovate, but I believe it will pull through. Its advantage is being in the middle of Poland and close to Warsaw. In 2032 it will get a high speed rail connection to Warsaw, with travel time of about 40 minutes. 

Kraków, despite growing population, and a public image of a beautiful city, there are places like these:

Kazimierz district

Wrocław, despite being a beautiful and cared for city in general, also has many ugly places:

The graffiti at the base of the building and the van parking on grass.

So many cars, and even a smokestack.  

An alcohol shop where an apartment building should be.

Cars make grime, grime stays on facades.

How are these chain spikes legal? They are at a small child's eye level.

Most of this street is for cars. No place for trees, bikes, benches.

Someone is fighting ugly graffiti with street art. The message says: Don Quixote is the patron of people fighting the plague of illegal graffiti.

Inside one of the old buildings.

Dirt and lack of maintenance.

Abandoned shop.

Abandoned historical building.

Street art being destroyed by graffiti.

Hopefully this one will get renovated soon.

Lublin, a beautiful old town, but not all of it has been restored yet:

And then when you step outside:

What is the history of this building? Is it missing its second half?

Abandoned, but secured. Hopefully, it will become something useful again soon.