Warsaw With Friends

We just returned from a wonderful visit to Warsaw! 

We went to visit our friends who were our neighbors last year.  In our short (too short!) visit they were able to show us so much!

After preparing for us an amazing Polish dinner - which began with a cold soup (yogurt, beets, radish and cucumber) just perfect on this very hot day! - we took the metro to Old Town.

It was a beautiful walk through Old Town, which has so much history as it's been totally rebuilt after having been destroyed in WWII.

Holy Cross Church

Perfectly timed -- which with 6 kids is more like miraculously timed -- we ended our walk at a huge fountain that had an amazing water, light, visual and audio show that hundreds had gathered to see!

On Sunday, we took the train to Niepokalanow - about 40km west of Warsaw.

Niepokalanow, or the City of the Immaculate Mother of God, is a monastery founded in 1927 by St. Maximilian Kolbe.

Again perfectly arranged for us - not knowing exactly what time we would attend Mass - as we entered the grounds we heard a lot of cheerful music coming from the Basilica.  The Children's Mass was just beginning!  It was so wonderful to see SO many families and children pack the church and the surrounding grounds.

That afternoon we headed to Niepokalanow "Old Town".  There we saw the original statue that St. Maximilian Kolbe placed on the grounds when the monastery began. 

A replica of the statue St. Maxiliman Kolbe placed on the grounds

Here we visited the chapel where St. Maxiliman Kolbe prayed and offered Mass.

We then prayed in his cell where he lived from 1927-1930. 

On September 1, 1939, WWII - Germany invades Poland.  Most friars leave Niepokalanow.  Kolbe does not.  He and 35 Franciscans are arrested and taken to a POW Camp.  On December 8, they were freed and allowed to return to Niepokalanow, which was now occupied by German soldiers.

The story continues (as taken from this website):

After the outbreak of World War II, which started with the invasion of his nation by Nazi Germany, Kolbe provided shelter to refugees from Greater Poland, including 2,000 Jews whom he hid from Nazi persecution in his friary in Niepokalanów. On 17 February 1941, he was arrested by the German Gestapo and imprisoned in the Pawiak prison. On 28 May, he was transferred to Auschwitz as prisoner no. 16670.

At the end of July 1941, three prisoners disappeared from the camp, prompting SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl Fritzsch, the deputy camp commander, to pick 10 men to be starved to death in an underground bunker in order to deter further escape attempts. When one of the selected men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out, "My wife! My children!", Kolbe volunteered to take his place.

In his prison cell, Kolbe sang hymns with the prisoners. He led the other condemned men in song and prayer and encouraged them by telling them they would soon be with Mary in Heaven. Each time the guards checked on him, he was standing or kneeling in the middle of the cell and looking calmly at those who entered. After two weeks of dehydration and starvation, only Kolbe remained alive. The guards wanted the bunker emptied and they gave Kolbe a lethal injection of carbolic acid. Some who were present at the injection say that he raised his left arm and calmly waited for the injection. His remains were cremated on 15 August, the feast day of the Assumption of Mary.

Kolbe was beatified as a Confessor of the Faith by Pope Paul VI on 17 October 1971 and canonized as a martyr by Pope John Paul II on 10 October 1982, with Franciszek Gajowniczek in attendance. Upon canonization, the Pope declared St. Maximilian Kolbe not a confessor, but a martyr.

*The part about Kolbe being declared a martyr is of special significance because when Kolbe was 12 years old he had a vision of the Virgin Mary, which changed his life.  He asked Mary what was to become of him and he learned that we was to become a martyr.  

We were allowed to visit Kolbe's cell from which he was taken by the Gestapo in 1941.  It was a very special place for us to pray, as normally pilgrims are not allowed to visit in order to respect this place and due to the relics kept there.   

The Saint's flat is a small room. In the middle there is a big desk with a shelf full of compartments for sorting the matters that were dealt with. Beside there is a simple stool on which St. Maximilian used to sit and a folded chair for the people who came to see him. On the desk there is the Visitors' Book in which celebrities enter their inscriptions together with the inscription of the Noble Pilgrim who prayed here in 1983. At the wall there is an iron bed; it is simple and probably not very comfortable. In the neighbouring room which was used by the personal secretary of the superior there are two small wardrobes and two show-cases with: a habit, a coat, shoes and small reminders like writing tools, an alarm clock, a globe which reminded the Saint about conquering the world for the Immaculate, a wash-bowl he used for washing and a mug and a wooden spoon - from the concentration camp.

Photo of St. JPII praying at St. Maximilian Kolbe's cell

"Dear Children, Love the Immaculate and you will be happy." St. Maximilian Kolbe

Ellie and her friend Franek

We took the train home and had a great evening visiting and watching the kids play!

The next morning we went to the Warsaw Rising Museum.  We loved learning more about the history of Poland.  The kids were equally intrigued as they love reading (or being read to) this book about Pope John Paul II and his upbringing in Poland.  So they were already very familiar with the wars that took place - and wanted to see the vehicles and planes used during the war.

This quote below is SO good and sums up our experience and what we've learned about Poland, a beautiful country that has been through so much!

After the museum, we visited our friend at the TV Station he works for, Poland Daily, Poland's first news show in English!

We had such a wonderful trip to see our friends!!  The only thing I regret is not taking a better picture!  But at least this blurry selfie captured all 10 of us!

Our kids are already asking when we can visit again!  :)