This post is also available in Russian 🐻
If this post had happened a few days back, it would have had a very different tone. But it is what it is, and I only hope reality is a much less dramatic penman than me.
Kraków is the reference sample of a peaceful place. Though stuck between a rock and a hard place for over a thousand years, it sure has had its share of cataclysms.
This city is old enough to have material traces of countless tribal clashes, dynastic rivalries, invasions, internal conflicts, partitions, insurrections, and massacres.
There are buildings still standing that survived the Tatar invasion, and people still alive who had to cross Adolf Hitler-Platz while attending to their daily routines.
Some scars are more pronounced, like the infamous former Jewish Ghetto or the Płaszów Concentration Camp — both happen to be minutes away from my apartment.
Others are more subtle and often overlooked, like one of the castle gates erected by Hans Frank’s order, or a huge hillside villa built for another high-ranking SS officer.
Many other places across Europe got completely reset at some point in history, so Kraków is very lucky to have kept all these memories, no matter beautiful or ugly.
I love living in a place that has a long memory and doesn’t need any reminders of how bleak history can be, that has had its splendor and seeks peace and quiet.
May things stay exactly as they appear in my photos — static, repetitive, and somewhat boring — the reference example of peaceful life. There’s no room for new scars.
