By Evan Bone
Our Jewish history walking tour with our guide, Pawel, took us all around the beautiful city of Warsaw with fascinating pieces of information at each turn.
Pawel began the tour by explaining his purpose in becoming a tour guide and in learning so much about the history of Jews in Poland and the history of Poland in general; he hoped that by studying the history he could rediscover Jewish-Polish identity, which is his own identity.
The journey we would go on would expose to us the complexities of Jewish-Polish identity especially within the city of Warsaw. Our first major stop was at the Old Town of Warsaw with it’s beautiful reconstructed buildings. The reconstruction of the Warsaw Old town is symbolic of the struggle of Polish-Jews who’ve maintained their identity despite constant outside pressure.
We visited various spots around town that were apart of the Warsaw Ghetto including remaining bits of the wall that separated the ghetto from the rest of the town. We visited various other memorials commemorating the heroic acts of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
Along this journey the resilience and courage of Polish-Jews stood out to me. Despite a long history of persecution, subjugation, and oppression Polish Jews found a home in Poland and resisted oppression with great courage and heroism.
The experience was eye-opening and I’m deeply thankful to our tour guide Pawel for his endless knowledge and kindness.
