I’ve now traveled through 8 of the former communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe – Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, and Bulgaria. Although I’ve written about most of them individually, I’ve recognized some things they share that I think are interesting: Capitalism has been enthusiastically adopted Continue Reading
Poland
Down to our Last Złoty
Many countries in Europe are part of the Eurozone, a monetary union of 17 European Union (EU) member states (a subset of the total number of 27) that have adopted the Euro as their sole legal currency. Some members of the EU are not members of the Eurozone, including several Continue Reading
Auschwitz III
This is the last of 3 related postings regarding Auschwitz. The first post is available here and the second here. The last selection took place on October 30, 1944. In September Heinrich Himmler, Reichsführer of the SS, ordered the crematoria destroyed before the advancing Soviet Army reached the camp. The gas Continue Reading
Auschwitz II–Birkenau
This is the 2nd of 3 related postings regarding Auschwitz. The first post is available here. As many as 1 million Jews had already been murdered by the Nazis when they made the decision, in January 1942, to systematically kill all the Jews of Europe. This was described by Hitler as the Continue Reading
Auschwitz
This is the first of 3 related postings about Auschwitz. The second post focuses on Auschwitz II-Birkenau, and the last post on my experience visiting the memorial. Auschwitz was established as a concentration camp, a place where criminals, political prisoners, academics, dissidents, prisoners of war, Jews, Roma (gypsies), homosexuals, and Continue Reading
Impressions of Poland
After crossing Germany, we spent time in the south of Poland, visiting a variety of places and driving almost the full width of the country. Here are some of the things about Poland that I think are interesting: The Republic of Poland is the largest of the previously communist countries Continue Reading