Day Seven - In the City of King Krak

This morning we woke and went to the Galicia Museum to meet with Jozef Mironiuk, a Righteous Among the Nations of the World. He was an incredible nice and charming old man, who told us his amazing story. He served in the Polish Home Army fighting against the Nazis in WWII. He had a farm in the forest near the work camp in Janow. He and his family helped to hide and feed many escapees from the camp. He helped many people to flee from the Nazis. For an extended period of time he his three Jews, they lived in a secret room in the barn, which was covered by manuer so the smell would throw off the Nazi dogs. Even his 11 year old sister Weronika played a crucial role in the hiding of these Jews and their survival through the war. During his service in the Polish home army, he was captured by the Nazis three times. He managed to escape each time in very creative ways, including spending a night covered in dirt in a potato field. He was awared a medal of honor from Yad VaShem saying "To safe a single life is to save the entire world." Mr. Mironiuk is very proud of what he did, doing good in such a dark time. He was one of the most impressive people we have met thus far.
Following our meeting with Mr. Mironiuk, we met with the educational director of the museum. She told us about the many programs the museum runs educational museums that teach many Polish teachers about Jewish history in the region and in Poland in general, so that they may better incorporate the Jewish components of history into their classrooms.
We went out for lunch, just our little group (Jason, Leah, and Kaja) at a great little restaurant across the street from the JCC. We had amazing tomato soup. From there we went for a walking tour of the old city of Krakow. The old market square, one of the largest in Europe, is absolutely beautiful and contains countless outdoor restaurants and shops. Some of the buildings here are very old, because the city was not destroyed in WWII. We learned the in depth history of the city of Krakow, which was given its charter in 1257 by the great King Krak. The defensive walls were built around the city to prevent attack from the violent neighboring peoples. We saw many beautiful churches, built throughout many centuries, we learned about the old town hall, which had a torture chamber and a brothel in its basement, it was certainly an interesting place. We toured Wawel castle and learned the legend of the virgin-eating dragon of Krakow. As the story goes..."There was an evil dragon who ate much of the live-stock, but had a sweet-tooth for the vigins of the town. King Krak's daughter, being a virgin (of course), was in great danger. King Krak decided that he would offer his daughter's hand in marriage to anyone who could slay the evil dragon. After many attempts and a lot dead men, a clever townsman (Jewish) suggested to fill a sheep with sulfur. Of course the dragon ate the yummy sheep! And it made his tummy burn. Oh No! So the evil dragon went to go get a drink from the river and instantly exploded! And the Jewish townsman married the princess." and Jason asks "How did they get the sulfur into the sheep???"We then met up with Kaja and her friend Garrett for coffee.
We went back to Kazimierz for dinner at Dominic's apartment. It was a blast with chile con carne and veggie food for Leah. We had a really great night, hanging out with our new Polish friends.