Sarah Zhang

   Krakow is a small town that has warped time — we were amazed by its fusion of legends and reality, where cultures from the East and West, Catholicism and Judaism, co-exist; we were also struck, to the same extent, by its presentation of history as if we were living through its vicissitude once again.

    Awed at the shift from a small picturesque town to a modern metropolis, Warsaw’s skyscrapers, with their distinctive billboards, dragged us back to our present time after a four-hour drive from Krakow.

    However, as we explored the city during the rest of our journey, we found that the history of Warsaw made the city highly conscious of individual liberty and national independence.

    In the Warsaw Uprising Museum, we saw how the Polish Underground Home Army organized the local people in the revolt against the Nazi occupation. Although the Warsaw Uprising failed, the nationalistic fervor and spirit of freedom awoken in the event survived and were materialized through the contemporary black-and-white documentaries, photos, and a wide array of artifacts, which provided us with the visual impact of the toil that people had gone through for the freedom of the city.

    Blood-stained arm bands with the emblem of the Polish Home Army were displayed on a glass wall, as if through which we could still picture how the owners of these arm bands fought fiercely on the front lines, and how they fell among the ruins of the city.

    Also, a simulation of an underground sewage tunnel allowed us to experience the claustrophobic journey and stifling fear that the Polish commoners underwent when being led by volunteers or the associates with the Home Army on their escape to the outskirts of the city.

    We were taken aback by a story of a 15-year-old girl who was obliged to take on this task: While she was leading 500 people among which were infants, pregnant women and elderly, the line on the wall of the tunnel that led to the exit was cut. With outstanding composure and memory, however, she successfully helped the whole group escape from the city in sheer darkness.

    This story led us to think of the common Chinese people, whose stories of defending our national independence against the Japanese invasion during World War II are a compulsory part of our education. We became more aware that history is not only created by the wars and diplomatic deals pushed by the renowned ones, but is also indebted to the lesser-known populace that have made substantial contributions to the development of history.