24th day-1st August: Great summer camp in Tychy and discomfort in Auschwitz

After a rainy Sunday, I started my 4th week of travel on this day. Today I wanted to visit the Ev. Gemeinde in Tychy, which I didn't reach yesterday. Tychy is a very young city in its present form, which is also known for the largest Polish brewery. Today about 126,000 people live in the city. In 1970 there were only 9,000. Due to the expansion of the brewery and the new Fiat car industry, the population has increased significantly in the last 40 years. This also resulted in a completely new Ev. Church being built in 1992.<br />

<p>After a stop at McDonald's to charge my phone and camera, I arrived at the Ev. Church of Tychy shortly after 10 a.m. The large doors of the very modern church were wide open. Inside the church, there was a large group of children and teenagers sitting at a long table. The pastor immediately welcomed me, and I received something to eat and drink. Then he explained to me that the five-day children's summer camp had started that morning. 35 children are participating in the camp, along with about 15 teenage team leaders. There is also a group from the Lutheran Church in the United States with their pastor as guests, who are participating in the camp. What luck. Maybe that's why I didn't reach the city yesterday. This way, I could experience part of the morning program. Shortly thereafter, the substantive program started, and the children were divided into age groups. The pastor also mentioned that the church has about 400 members and that around 100 visitors come to the service. In the past few years, they have had nearly 100 conversions from the Catholic Church, which is why young families also shape the community. The biggest challenge at the moment is to maintain community life and the many activities because of the significantly increased prices. Of course, there is a children's service and a livestream through their own internet channel. Currently, a Ukrainian family is also living in the church apartment. Once again, I was impressed by the vitality and activities of the Evangelical Christians in Poland.

<p>Then it was time to move on. My second destination of the day was the memorial for the murdered Jews in Auschwitz, which is about 20km away, in Polish: Oswiecim. Although there is no longer an evangelical community in the city, I definitely wanted to visit this world historically famous and tragic place. I arrived just in time for the last German-language tour, which lasted a remarkable 3.5 hours. The memorial is visited by around 2 million people every year. The visit is divided into the so-called Auschwitz I main camp and the Auschwitz II extermination camp, which is about 3km away. Over 1.1 million people lost their lives in this place. Unfortunately, written words - including mine - cannot capture the horror of this eerie place. Although I was already well informed about this place, seeing it for myself, the cynical sign "Arbeit macht frei", the thousands of remaining glasses, shoes, and suitcases, was emotionally very oppressive. This oppression intensified to the incomprehensible in Auschwitz-Birkenau, as the tour continued at the so-called "Judenrampe", where the selection took place. It is hard to describe standing in front of the remains of the destroyed gas chambers. Every German should stand in front of the commemorative plaques in over 25 different languages and take in the warning. After visiting the memorial, I didn't travel any further and set up my small tent at the campsite of the Catholic Center for Dialogue and Prayer, crawling into my sleeping bag with this lingering discomfort.