By Caron Schwartz
If it’s Tuesday, this must be Kaluszyn
For many of us, planning a spectacular European vacation might include Paris! Barcelona! Venice! Instead, Lenny and I spent two weeks in Poland to trace my family’s roots. We enlisted the help of Genealogy Tour (www.genealogytour.com), a Wroclaw, Poland-based travel company that does the research and provides a trip as customized as you’re willing to pay. There were seven on the tour, Lenny, me, and a family of five adults. Co-owner Tomasz was our driver and guide.
We hit typical must-see tourist hot spots: Warsaw, Krakow, Lublin, Lodz. Concentration camps: Majdanek (sad, austere), Auschwitz-Birkenau (just plain horrifying).
Poland was not what we expected. We knew about the Nazi horror followed by Soviet domination, so we imagined it would be bleak and dreary. What we discovered was a modern European country: clean, safe, young, vibrant.
Cities are juxtapositions of medieval architecture and modern skyscrapers. Road traffic is heavy, but vehicles immediately stop for pedestrians. Ubiquitous bike paths are crowded with Gen Zs and Millennials commuting, riding with their kids, or delivering UberEats. Wide sidewalks to protect pedestrians from speeding ebikes. Public transit is abundant and free for seniors.
We spent a day in Kaluszyn, where my mother’s ancestors flourished for generations before her parents fled pogroms in the early 20th century. Using only my mother’s maiden name, Yedwab, and state archives, Tomasz discovered she was descended from the Yedwab-Czapka dynasty, which translates to “silk-hat.” Grandpa was a tailor, so it makes perfect sense.
Poland’s Jewish population was destroyed by the Nazis and has not recovered. However, Jewish heritage is preserved by the state and Jewish organizations. There are also monuments commemorating the Poles who suffered and died resisting. After the Nazis, Poland was overtaken by the Soviets. In the 1980s, Poland’s Solidarity labor movement was instrumental in bringing an end to the Soviet Union.
Everyone we met was friendly to Americans, and proud to show off their country. And did I mention how inexpensive everything is? With an exchange rate of about three zloty to the dollar, Poland is quite the bargain.