Poland - Lublin

After the Ukrainian border debacle, I managed to jump on the day's only train to Lublin just as it was starting to pull away. My friend wouldn't be there until later, but he sent a friend of his to pick me up at the station, who showed me around town and even took me to dinner, which was nice. That night, once all together, we engaged in much drinking before the rather somber events of the next day.

The monument to the victims

Lublin itself is a nice, medium-sized university city, with attractive streets and quite a few things to see, but undoubtedly the main attraction is the former Nazi concentration camp, called Majdanek.

No chance of escape

Majdanek was one of the largest Nazi concentration camps, but thankfully was never finished to the full size it was intended. Later in the war the camp became a centre of extermination, mainly for Jews but also victims of other nationalities.

Inside the gas chamber

I have already been to Auschwitz before, so I knew what to expect, but still a few things shocked me, including the crushed-up Jewish gravestones used to build the access road. At the end of the camp is possibly the worst thing I have ever seen - under an enormous, open-air concrete mausoleum is a huge pile of ashes of the camp's victims. It is an absolutely horrible sight to see.

Cramped bunks

Much of the camp survives as it was during the war, and interestingly the camp, unlike many others, is not hidden from sight at all. There was no special 'security zone', there are no natural barriers such as forests in the way - the camp is slap bang right next to Lublin and is now actually surrounded by suburbs.

These sheds housed thousands of inmates

Aside from the camp I actually had a great time in Lublin, including a night bowling where I found I was nowhere near as bad at it as I remembered and a couple of great meals in traditional Polish restaurants. It was really nice to hang out with actual Polish people rather than backpackers for a change, and get to really experience the place.