Monday morning we worked on my presentation for the ISAAC conference next week. I finally felt that it was coming together. In the afternoon we went to the Warsaw Uprising Musuem. Aldona accompanied us to make sure we got there okay. It was overwhelming. I think deliberately so. They use a variety of media to portray the experience of life in Warsaw during World War II.

After the walk on Thursday around various parts of the Warsaw ghetto area I guess I went to the museum for some answers about why this all happened but the museum was more geared around providing an understanding of what life during that time was like rather than explaining why it happened. The musuem was divided into two parts, one from the Polish point of view and a smaller section in the basement from the German perspective.

Seeing the swastika flag reminded me of the Australian woman in Sydney who bought a Nazi flag from a secondhand place thinking it was an interesting design and flew it in her backyard. She tried to argue that it wasn’t hurting anyone and she should be free to do what she wants in her own backyard. I think she needs to go to the Warsaw Uprising Museum to get some idea of what that flag really stands for.

We had Egyptian takeaway for tea in the city and explored the odd little lifts that enable wheelchair access to the subway. You have to hold the button in the whole time. If you let go the lift stops. A bit disconcerting the first time it happens between floors.