The main square in Krakow (the "Rynek Glowny") on Sunday afternoon. The blue-and-white flag is the official flag of the city of Krakow, and it was displayed everywhere because Sunday was the day of the city festival. In spite of the rain and cold, people were out and about, and at one point a big parade came through the square.
On Saturday, we drove to nearby Bytom for the flea market, where Tomek was shopping for Jewish antiques. On the street next to the market, these guys were passing around a bottle of vodka and a shot glass.
The main square of Oswiecim (pronounced "osh-VEEN-chem"). There is a lot of construction going on in the town these days, and the stone streets are new. In 2000, a discotheque opened in Oswiecim not far from the Auschwitz Museum to world outrage. It was ultimately closed, but today on the same site construction is underway for a large shopping mall.
About two miles from the Auschwitz Museum and the Birkenau memorial site is the Auschwitz Jewish Center, the small museum and restored synagogue where I did research and worked as a guide in 2004. Tomek is the director of the Center, and Ola manages the accounts and works as the office manager. It was here that I met Tova for the first time when she was visiting Oswiecim and came by to see the Center. She was the first and only person I encountered during my time there who had a jubilant reaction upon coming through the door and seeing the enlarged images of pre-war Oswiecim. "This is my city," she said that day, throwing open her arms. "This is my Oswiecim!"
Tova and I had planned to walk around the small city center and visit the site of her childhood home, her father's furniture store, and other places she remembered. Every time she visits Oswiecim, she also goes to the Auschwitz Museum and lights candles for the members of her family who perished there. She plans to stay three weeks, so I'm hoping her health will continue to improve and she'll be able to get out of the house and visit some of these important places of memory.
With Tova in her friend Jadwiga's home in Oswiecim. Ola and I visited with Tova again today, and she seemed to be doing better. When we arrived, she was working on her speech for the opening reception tomorrow night. She remarked again, "Maria, you were right, I shouldn't have come," and reiterated the thought in Polish to Ola and her friend. She seems happy to be here in Poland, though, so I'm not sure why she keeps saying this. Also, I never made any big effort in Jerusalem to talk her out of coming; I just wanted to be sure she had spoken with her doctors about it and followed their advice. As Ola and I were leaving, Tova's doctor was arriving for a visit, so I am confident that she is taking care of herself, and also letting others take care of her.
