May 28, 2025 – Biłgoraj to Zamość – 55 kms – Hotel Sukcesor
May 29, 2025 – Zamość – Hotel Sukcesor
Gordon: We are enjoying our first rest day in the attractive small city of Zamość. With the assistance of an Italian architect it was built from scratch as a model Renaissance city starting in 1580. Through good luck it has survived relatively intact to the present day. Zamość was given a UNESCO designation as a good example of a planned Renaissance city outside of Italy.
Yesterday we enjoyed a pleasant ride through a heavily forested national park. We had lunch by a wetland area, where we were treated to the raucous calls of the common European crane, as well as a chorus of frogs and other birds. It was magical.
However, as we move through this charming natural and cultural landscape we keep bumping into places of horror. Yesterday we noticed a small graveyard with a monument as we passed through the small village of Sochi. Further investigation disclosed that this was the site of mass murder by the Nazis in 1943. Enraged by Polish partisan activity in the area, the Nazis killed most of the residents of the village in a single day.
Here in Zamość, one of the old city fortifications, called the Rotunda, was used by the Nazis as a transit facility and place of execution. Six to eight thousand people were executed in this modest circular fortification, with many others passing through on their way to extermination camps. The pre-war population of Zamość was almost 50 percent Jewish; shortly after the end of the war it was five. While many of the victims of the Rotunda were Jewish, many other residents, particularly teachers, lawyers and other community leaders, also perished here.
The suffering endured by the residents of this region during the war challenges comprehension, particularly when you realize that it occurred within the lifetime of our parents. I can’t imagine picking up the pieces at the end of the war and going on with your life, particularly if many members of your family and surrounding community were lost during those few years.
Thank you for the sobering yet poignant recounting of the history of Zamosc, of which I was unfamiliar. Indeed it is hard to comprehend how this could happen within the last century until we then remember Rwanda, Kosovo, Cambodia and so many other examples of man’s inhumanity to man. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Yes, of course you’re right, Hu. It isn’t necessarily to go back to the our parents’ era to find appalling examples of man’s cruelty to others. I’m sure I would be similarly moved if I visited monuments to the victims in Rwanda, Kosovo and Cambodia. The butchery in Poland is, however, distinguished by its scale. An estimated six million Poles died during the War (half of them Jewish), which I believe was about 20 percent of the population. And much of the killing was so deliberate and organized. In any event, the important lesson to be learned from all of these tragedies is to be vigilant to try to prevent their reoccurrence in the future.
Humans need to learn from history and news.
It is impossible without accounts such as yours yto remind us.
Good work.
Thank you Peter. Although we are all familiar with some of the facts surrounding the Holocaust it is more powerful to actually visit the sites. Yesterday we spent several hours at Majdanek, one of the major extermination camps. The scale of the death and inhumanity was staggering.
And it is not far from Ukrainian border, where innocent people are dying every day.
My Mum’s first potty was made by my grandfather out of an artillery’s shell. The family legend says that it was exceptionally beautiful.
Isn’t it just another little (but true) story to prove that war is a truly shitty business?
Yes Ewa it truly is. My heart breaks for those caught up in it right now.
Somehow, I can’t help but notice the certain similarity between the two photos: that of the first communion children in white albas and those white crosses. Both are about innocence sacrificed.
On another note: it is so fresh for me to see Poland through your eyes. I see things I would not have seen otherwise. Thank you and can’t wait to see both of you very very soon. 💚🌷