Kraków, part III - Fabryka Emalia Oskara Schindlera, part (ii)

Bust of Oskara Schindlera

Part 2. It was a very sobering experience. Most WWII museums are. There was something oddly static about this museum, the sensation of homeostasis. I didn't mention this in the Warsaw Uprising Museum entry, but that museum was very...lively. It was a multimedia, interactive museum, and there were sound effects of gunshots and bombs, which were meant to evoke the sensation of being caught in Warsaw during the war, though of course it was a facsimile. Nothing can ever evoke the real thing. Warsaw Uprising Museum was a very uncomfortable experience - it was designed to be an assault on the senses, whilst Fabryka Emalia Oskara Schindlera was a far more tranquil exhibit, which, I think, was also meant to reflect the fact that Schindler eventually turned his factory into a safe haven, a bubble of peace amid fire and sorrow and war and desperation.

Mannequins + painted faces + Adolf Hitler all in one is probably one of the most unsettling things I've ever had the misfortune to see

I thought he was very handsome

And I liked their smiles.

Oskara Schindlera's desk

Postcards from the other side..

Adolf Hitler Plats? Stomach churning.

This is also very creepy.

I walked back, with a slightly heavy heart, but I was also happy, because of the glimmer of humanity amidst such atrocity. The skies were grey and gloomy, and I remember thinking - how apt. I passed a supermarket express and got, as I always do, a vanilla milk, which I sipped on slowly as I paced my back back to the hostel.

More to come? More to come, and better weather.

Wisla/Vistula River