Poland

Following are three galleries comprised of images taken from my trips to Poland.  Images here are broken out into three groups; Scenics, Black and White, and Wildlife.  Scenics consists of images of landscapes and city-scapes, particularly of old or historic structures.  The Black and White gallery has the same subject matter as Scenics except that I converted the images to black and white.  And wildlife consists of different animals I've seen in Poland.  Most of the buildings shown here come from just a few places and they aren't the typical tourist destinations.  In fact, I still haven't photographed in Warsaw or visited Krakow.  Instead, these images come from places like Siedlce, Mordy, and Nowogrod.  In the wildlife section, I've included a couple of images of traditional Polish horses called Koniec.  They aren't wild animals but rather are captive and are the only captive animals on this website.  But since they're horses I figured that was ok. 

Poland is a country with a fascinating and tragic history.  For example, the image titled "Tribute" shows a boarded up building that once belonged to Adolf Ganiewski.  He was a photographer in Siedlce before World War II.  Born Jewish, he had been baptized when married.  But he was sent to the Siedlce Ghetto and eventually shipped off to the death camp at Treblinka where he was murdered by the German Nazis.  His work survives today in the Siedlce Museum and holds important historical significance as it depicts the region around Siedlce prior to World War II.  Also, take the grand gothic cathedral in the images titled "Spires" and "The Cathedral".  Pope John Paul II worshipped here when he visited Poland.  The cathedral was built around 1905 and I've seen photos that show the cathedral standing untouched when every other building surrounding it has been reduced to rubble during World War II.  The image, "Stanislaw" shows the oldest cathedral in Siedlce, built between 1740-49.  It is located on Ulica Florianska where over 17,000 Jews were marched to trains that took them to the death camp at Treblinka.  "Jacek" shows the tower that survived World War II but a nearby arch that marked the entrance to the city was destroyed so the Germans could move their tanks through the streets.  "Mordy Palace" shows the ruins of a palace of nobles.  When the Russians were given control of Poland after World War II, anyone of wealth or influence was killed or imprisoned.  The owners of this palace fled to the United States and the place has sat vacant ever since.  And "The Bunker" shows a deserted Russian bunker from World War II.  The bunker was part of a line that marked the battle front between the Russians and Germans near the city of Ostroleka.  The owners of this property still find unspent ammunition on occasion.

Poland's past has been tragic yet the spirit of the people has always been one to celebrate freedom.  It was the Solidarity Movement that was the beginning of the end to communism in much of Europe, not just for Poland.  I hope these images can serve as a tribute to the strength and courage of a country and a people who have often overcome great adversity to find themselves in the place they are today.  And I hope you, the viewer, can see at least a bit of that in these images.

Scenics

Black and White

Wildlife

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