When I was in Poznan in June I found myself sharing a table on a busy restaurant patio with a father and son visiting from Germany. We talked innocuously about the sights around town and their thoughts on the city, and then the older man suggested it was time for Poland to "get over" their bad feelings about the war. I'm guessing he felt comfortable saying that because I'm a foreigner, but I was still surprised -- first of all, because I'm not sure a German should be the one to suggest that, and secondly because I find the Polish to be highly practical folks who don't dwell on the heaps of misfortune that have been visited upon them. Where's the former Communist headquarters in Warsaw? Well, it's that building unironically housing a Ferrari dealership. A building in Poznan that was designed by Hitler’s architect to be his headquarters in Poland now serves as a regular office building. This sort of thing happens all over; sites that were once mass graves or prisons are now parks or municipal buildings. Life goes on.
In Warsaw it’s the same way. There are few sights connected to what happened 75 years ago. Only recently was it decided that markers should be placed along the sidewalk where the ghetto wall stood. There’s a few places where you can still see pieces of the wall itself, but they aren’t blown-out memorials or major attractions, they’re usually part of someone’s courtyard. While I was checking out a café in my neighborhood I just happened by a small memorial dedicated to the Warsaw uprising, a simple plaque and that was it.
The only street that remains intact from that time period is ul. Próżna (pictured at the top of this post), and today it’s just a block of broken-down tenement buildings with large photos of Polish Jews. It’s part of a 2008 exhibit called “I can still see their faces” to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the ghetto uprising. Considering everything that happened, I think they've earned the right to dwell. But they don't.
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