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Jewish Heritage of Poland
Small Group Tour: September 8-18, 2007
Jewish communities have existed in Poland since the tenth century. At the beginning of the 20th century, Poland's Jews were 3.3 million strong and the center of Eastern European Jewish culture. The Holocaust brought the annihilation of nearly 90% of Polish Jews. Today Poland is an anomaly in Eastern Europe. Warsaw is alive with an explosion of Polish-Jewish culture everywhere. Jewish records and books are in every store, Jewish lectures, music concerts and Yiddish theater are common. Poland is an affirmation that some twelve thousand Jews and Catholics are rediscovering an important part of their history.
Detailed Itinerary
PLEASE NOTE: The tour is designed to observe Shabbat, except for the arrival day (could not be avoided). Therefore those who prefer not to travel on Saturday may arrive on Friday. The flight will arrive in mid-day, so you will be at the hotel before sundown.SA Day 1 Arrival in Warsaw. Met and transfer to hotel. Afternoon is at leisure to explore the city on your own or to relax after overseas flight. Welcome dinner. (B, D)
SU Day 2 Warsaw Full day tour Once a vibrant and glorious capital, Warsaw suffered heavy damage during World War II, and the Germans virtually destroyed it after the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. Its rebirth and rebuilding since the end of the war is inspirational, as you'll see on your visit to the historic reconstructed Old Town, surrounded by 14th-15th century walls. Located on the left bank of the Vistula, the Queen of Polish rivers, Old Town's narrow winding streets, charming houses, churches, and the cobble-stoned old marketplace will enchant you. And, you'll enjoy the fact that the Old Town is closed to all traffic except pedestrians and horse-drawn cabs.
The morning includes a tour of the Jewish sights in Warsaw: the Okopowa Jewish Cemetery with over 150.000 tombstones, sites connected with the Ghetto Uprising in 1943-the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial, the Jundenrat Building, Anielewicz's Bunker and Umschlagplatz. Visit to the Noyk Synagogue and the Yiddish Theatre. A meeting with representatives of the Jewish congregation is possible to arrange. In the afternoon , a visit to the Orphanage for Jewish children in Warsaw managed by Janusz Korczak [Henryk Goldszmit]. You can see a special exhibition and children's works dedicated to Janusz Korczak. After the tour, walk around Old Townat leisure . Visit the Royal Palace at the end of the day and travel to the opposite end of Royal Road to beautiful Lazienkowski Park if time permits. In the early evening, you can attend a Chopin piano recital , enjoying the music of Poland's best-known and most beloved composer. Optional, ticket cost is extra. (B)
MO Day 3 Warsaw Day Excursion (300km) Drive to Tykocin in Lasy Lopuszanskie area (east of Warsaw), to visit an early Baroque masonry synagogue, built in 1642 and beautifully restored between 1974 and 1978. Next door is the old Talmudic House. Lunch at a local restaurant in Tokocin. Afternoon visit to Treblinka, a site of a former Nazi concentraction camp where 800.000 Jews lost their lives, now a monument- mausoleum and a symbolic cemetery. (B, L)
TU Day 4 Warsaw/ Lodz/Warsaw A full-day excursion to Lodz where about 240.000 Jews used to live before the war. From among them came great factory owners (Poznanski, Sielberstejn), merchants, bankers, writers etc. The visit includes: Poznanski`s beautiful big palace with exhibitions of mementos of Artur Rubinstein, a great pianist of Jewish origin, and Jerzy Kosinski, famous Polish writer who spent most of his life in the United States. Next a visit to the exhibition of The Ghetto in Lodz; a visit to the 19th century Jewish cemetery- the biggest one in Europe, and a walk in the Old Town where the Ghetto was situated, passing schools, hospitals, factories and Jewish palaces. We also visit Piotrko�Lw Trybunalski, first documented in 1217, a seat of the royal tribunals in 1578 and a large Jewish settlement, known as Petrikev in Yiddish, with a thriving and famous Hebrew printing and publishing industry until the Holocaust. Dinner at a local restaurant. (B, D)
WE Day 5 Warsaw /Kazimierz Dolny/ Lublin A morning drive to Kazimierz, an ancient and highly picturesque Renaissance town, set above the Vistula river, known for its Jewish background. A visit to the 18th century synsgogue and Jewish cemetery from 1851. Lunch at a local restaurant in Kazimierz Dolny. Continue to Lublin, one of the former centres of Hasidism. A visit to the Talmudic Academy of Lublin, Yeshiva and the Old Synagogue. A visit to Majdanek - a former concentraction camp established in October 1041 where 200.000 Jews were murdered. overnight acomodation, Zamojski Hotel, in Zamosc - a town near the eastern Polish border with Ukraine. (B, L)
TH Day 6 Visit pre- war Jewish towns: Hrubieszow - Tomaszow - Bilgora. Overnight Prezydencki Hotel in Rzeszow. (B, D)
FR Day 7 Visit to Lancut - then drive to Tarnow-overnight Kracow
In Lancut we see the old synagogue, orginally built in 1761 and restored after the war, which now houses a regional museum and an exhibition of Judaica. Lunch at a local restaurant in Lancut and on to Tarnow to see the remnants of the 17th century synagogue and the Jewish cemetery. Continue to Kracow, arriving before sundown, for overnight at Holiday Inn. Optional 15-20 min. walk to synagogue for evening service. (B, L)SA Day 8 Kracow Morning walking tour; afternoon free independent time.
Morning exploration of Kracow, the seat of Poland's oldest university and, until 1596, the capital of the country. In 1978, it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. Kracow survived World War II with little damage, and the city center stands today much as it did during its medieval days. This city has a very special ambience, it often gets compared to Prague, but the advantage over Prague is that it is much less touristy. Still not that commercialised as other European destinations. Bargain shopping abounds here: amber, silver and wooden craft or embroidery of high quality.The city sightseeing will include: Market Square, the center of Kracow life for more than 700 years, the biggest market square in Europe, 200/200 metres. Admire the elegant plaza ringed with churches and regal medieval buildings, and with the enormous Draper's Hall as the focal point. The former cloth hall has been converted into a huge market with stalls offering handcrafts and souvenirs. Then walk along the Royal Route to Wawel Castle and Cathedral, where the former Cardinal Wojtyla (now known as Pope John Paul II) preached. Standing atop Wawel Hill on a bend in the Vistula River, the beautiful Gothic-Romanesque castle complex commands a view of lovely cityscapes punctuated with many exquisite chapels, and its bell tower contains one of Europe's greatest bells. (B)
SU Day 9 Kracow: 3/4 day tour, 5 hrs
A visit to Kazimierz - a former Jewish district, including Schindler's Route. The period of rapid growth of the Hebrew population in Kazimierz in the second half of the 15th century witnessed the foundation of Poland`s oldest Judaic shrine, the Old Synagogue. Now, it houses a museum devoted to the history of the Cracow Jews. See the 16th century Remuh Synagogue (the only functioning as a synagogue of a Jewish congregation, with the adjoining Renaissance cemetery, one of the best preserved cemeteries in Europe.Schindler's Krakow : On March 21, 1941 the SS moved the entire Jewish community of Krakow from Kazimierz, the Jewish area, over the Powstancow Slaskich bridge into the cluster of 329 buildings that stood around Bohaterow Getta square in the Podg�rze suburb. Here you'll find the Pharmacy Under the Eagles, whose owner, a Pole named Tadeusz Pankiewicz, decided to stay on in Podg�rze and do all he could for the thousands of trapped Jews living at this last stop on the genocide route. The pharmacy is now a museum, which heartrenderingly portrays life in the ghetto. A small stretch of ghetto wall, built by the Nazis and ironically resembling Jewish gravestones, is still standing nearby along ulica Lwowska. At the end of the street, head up the path on the corner of ulica Limanowskiego and ulica Rekawka to reach the Austro-Hungarian fort,around the back of which is the plaque in memory of the little girl who inspired Oskar Schindler to acts of altruistic courage. When in Krakow, Oskar Schindler lived upstairs at ulica Straszewskiego 7. The Schindler factory and later his living quarters were in Podgorze and still stand at ulica Lipowa 4, now the Telpod electronics factory. We walk south along ul. Wieliczka to reach ulica Jerozolimska ('Jerusalem street'); follow this for 500m to see Untersturmfuhrer Amon Goeth's villa, the only remaining building of the Plaszow concentration camp. The large field on the hill behind the villa formed the camp; all buildings were destroyed by the Nazis at the end of the war. A number of monuments commemorate those who died here - one stands along the path behind the villa, the others can be found on the hilltop, a 10-minute walk up the path. The large official stone memorial on the highest point is accompanied by two small stones, and overlooks a geological reservation, with remains dating back to Jurrasic times, to the west. 200m east of the official monument stands a large wooden cross. No remains of the camp can be discerned, and the hill is now simply an ersatz park for many local residents.
Afterwards, visit the newly opened Galicia Jewish Museum. Dinner at a Jewish restaurant with Klezmer Music Concert. (B, D)
MO Day 10 Oswiecim (Auschwitz) /Kracow
Drive to Oswiecim- the largest Nazi Death Camp, better known to Americans by its German name of Auschwitz-Birkenau, where 4 milion people, mostly Jews, perished. The organisation and building of the camp was started in 1940. The State Museum of Auschwitz-Birkenau is set on the site of the largest of the World War II concentrationand extermination camps, memorializing Jews, Gypsies, Poles and other victims of the Nazi regime who died here. (B)TU Day 11 Kracow Breakfast at hotel and departure transfer to the airport for flight home (direct flts to Chicago and New York; for other US cities, fly to Frankfurt or Warshaw) or contine on to Vienna-Prague with us.
Price: $2200 per person, dbl occ, based on min grp size of 10; single room supplement: $400 $45 for optional piano Chopin music at the Neoclassical Raczynski Palace in Warsaw, includes a glass of sparkling wine served at intermission, transportation and guide's assistance.
Additional night in Warsaw including airport transfer: $75 pp, $135 single rm
Includes: accommodations, dbl occ; meals : breakfast daily, three lunches-day 3, 5, 7 and four dinners- day 1, 4, 6, 9 - dinner with Klezmer Music Concert, sightseeing with local English speaking guides, entrance fees, professional tour escort, land transport by ac mini coach , porterage of one piece of luggage per person at the htls
Does Not Include: International flight (we offer consolidator discounted fares), Tips, Insurance (available as an option), Personal expenses such as phone, laundry, drinks
Hotels:
Polonia Palace Hotel **** in Warsaw Modern hotel, located within easy walking distance to shopping districts. The hotel recently re-opened after 24 months of renovation. Rooms with: air conditioning, oversized bathrooms, sound proof windows, high speed internet acess, fax/modem, mini-bars, direct-dial telephone, radio, satelite & pay TV, hairdryers, safe boxes. Additional hotel amenities: 24 hr fitness center with sauna and solarium, restaurant with Polish and international cuisine, cafe, bar/lounge with live music.
Zamojski Hotel *** in Zamosc The Zamojski Hotel is situated in the city centre - "The Pearl of Renaissance", within the premises of the old fortress Zamosc, in the neighbourhood of city hall which had been the former Zamojski Academy and Zamojski Palace. All rooms are equipped with TV Sat, direct dial telephone, room service. Hotel's restaurant serves delicious dishes of traditional Polish cuisine. The hotel's facilities include a business centre, currency exchange office, arts gallery, fitness centre, hairdresser and car park.
Prezydencki Hotel *** in Rzeszow The Prezydencki Hotel is located in a quiet part of Rzeszow. All rooms are equipped direct telephones, fridge and TV Sat. Guests have at their disposal a sauna, a hairdresser, a restaurant, a minibar, a shop with cosmetics and press, newsstand and a conference room with the possibility of internet access. The hotel is the two times winner of Zloty Klucz (Golden Key) award in competition as the most hospitable hotel in Poland.
Holiday Inn Hotel **** in Cracow Modern hotel, located in the very heart of picturesque Krakow, on Wielopole street just a few minutes walk from the City Square. It offers: 154 rooms and suites. Rooms with: bathroom with a hair dryer, cable and satellite TV, additional film offer, safes, mini-bar, coffee machine, IDD telephone system with fast internet access, air-conditioning, Other facilities: conference, business and fitness centre, restaurant, elevator, underground parking space. Airport - 30 min. by taxi, railway station - 10 min on foot. --
Prague-Vienna-Slovakia-Budapest-Romania-Bulgaria.
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