HERITAGE JOURNEY · 9 DAYS · MERCEDES V-CLASS
Polish Crown Lands: Nine Days Through the Crown and Aktion Reinhardt
A route for families whose forebears came from the former Crown of Poland — Warsaw, Lublin, Zamość, Kazimierz Dolny, Krasnystaw, Hrubieszów, Kraków. Nine days across the geography of the Holocaust of Polish Jewry: the Warsaw Ghetto of 1942, the Lublin Ghetto, Bełżec as the first camp of Aktion Reinhardt, Majdanek, Auschwitz-Birkenau. Five days of scholar accompaniment coordinated among historians in Warsaw, Lublin, and Kraków. The journey opens in Warsaw at POLIN and closes in Kraków after a day at Birkenau.
Overview
Dla kogo ta podróż
Trasa dzień po dniu
Plan podróży
Arrival and Muranów Orientation
Arrival at Chopin Airport (WAW). Meet and greet, V-Class to a premium 5-star hotel in central Warsaw (Śródmieście or Old Town, about thirty minutes). Welcome kosher dinner. In the evening, a short walk through Muranów with our coordinator — the district built upon the rubble of the Warsaw Ghetto after the war, where every building stands on a three-metre layer of debris from 1943. Orientation: the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes, Anielewicza Street, and the location of POLIN.
Miejsca: Muranów — orientation · Monument to the Ghetto Heroes
Posiłki: Welcome kosher dinner
POLIN, Warsaw Ghetto Deep Dive, and Okopowa
A full day with a Warsaw scholar. Four hours in the morning at POLIN — the permanent exhibition "1000 Years of the History of Polish Jews," with attention to the section on the Warsaw Ghetto and the Uprising of 1943. Kosher lunch at a central restaurant. In the afternoon, a full route across the terrain of the former ghetto: the Anielewicz sewers, the Miła 18 bunker (memorial with the stone monument to Mordechaj Anielewicz), the Umschlagplatz (the loading point for transports to Treblinka), a fragment of the ghetto wall on Złota 62. The Jewish Cemetery on Okopowa — alongside Bracka in Łódź, Europe's largest: 200,000 graves, the ohel of the tzaddikim, mausoleums of the assimilated bourgeoisie (Kronenberg, Wawelberg, Bersohn). Evening free. Kosher dinner.
Miejsca: POLIN · Miła 18 · Umschlagplatz · Ghetto wall fragment · Okopowa Cemetery
Posiłki: Breakfast at the hotel, kosher lunch, kosher dinner
Treblinka — 17,000 Stones in the Forest
Departure at 9:00 for Treblinka — an hour and forty minutes north-east of Warsaw by V-Class. Three hours at the Treblinka Memorial. Treblinka is the site where 900,000 Jews were murdered (chiefly from Warsaw, but also from Prague, Thessaloniki, Berlin, Vienna). After the war the Germans destroyed the camp almost entirely — today an empty field remains, with a symbolic arrangement of 17,000 stones representing the cities and villages from which the victims came. The central monument with its symbolic menorah. The scholar leads the family through the logic of the space — where the ramp stood, where the gas chambers were, where the burial field lies. Quiet kosher lunch box. Return to Warsaw around 18:00. Evening free; dinner served in the room if the family wishes.
Miejsca: Treblinka Memorial · Janusz Korczak stone
Posiłki: Breakfast at the hotel, quiet kosher lunch box, kosher dinner at the hotel
Transfer, Lublin Orientation, and Brama Grodzka
Departure at 9:00, transfer to Lublin — two hours and forty minutes by V-Class. Lunch on arrival. Check-in at the premium hotel in Lublin (Old Town, approximately 5-star standard). In the afternoon, Brama Grodzka — the NN Theatre, the organisation that maintains the largest oral history archive of Lublin Jewry. A visit to the library and archive, a meeting with the coordinator (if coordination is possible). A short walk through Podzamcze — the former Jewish quarter burned and razed by the Germans (today an empty square in the shadow of the castle). A visit to the location of the Great Maharshal Synagogue (demolished, today an empty plaza). Kosher dinner (catering organised from Warsaw).
Miejsca: Brama Grodzka — Teatr NN · Podzamcze (empty plaza) · Location of the Great Synagogue
Posiłki: Breakfast at the Warsaw hotel, lunch en route, kosher dinner in Lublin
Majdanek and Bełżec — Two Centres of Aktion Reinhardt
The most demanding day of the entire journey. Departure at 8:00 for Majdanek — the State Museum at Majdanek lies within Lublin (fifteen minutes from the centre). Three hours at the museum: the gates of the camp, the prisoner barracks, the gas chambers (the only original chambers preserved in Poland), the Mausoleum holding the remains of those murdered. Quiet kosher lunch box. In the afternoon, the drive to Bełżec — an hour and a half by V-Class. The Bełżec Memorial stands on the grounds of the former death camp, where, between March and December 1942, 500,000 Jews were murdered (chiefly from eastern Galicia, Lublin, and the surroundings). The memorial, opened in 2004 — a hectare of slabs bearing names, a path running through the heart of the camp with the names of the towns from which the victims came. Kaddish. Return to Lublin around 19:30. Evening free, quiet kosher dinner at the hotel or in the room.
Miejsca: Majdanek · Majdanek Mausoleum · Bełżec Memorial · Path of Names
Posiłki: Breakfast at the hotel, quiet kosher lunch box, quiet dinner
Crown Shtetls — What Remains
A lighter day after Majdanek and Bełżec. In the morning, the drive to Kazimierz Dolny — an hour by V-Class. A small shtetl on the Vistula, with two surviving synagogues: the Old Synagogue from the sixteenth century (today a cultural centre) and the eighteenth-century synagogue alongside. The Jewish cemetery on the hill, with around 400 surviving matzevot and a monument made of fragments of destroyed gravestones. Lunch at a restaurant on the Kazimierz Dolny market square. In the afternoon, the drive to Zamość — an hour on the road. The Renaissance Plac Wielki, the former Jewish quarter, the seventeenth-century Zamość Synagogue (today a cultural centre) with its preserved bimah and partial polychromy. A visit to the cemetery (preserved in part). Return to Lublin around 19:00. Kosher dinner.
Miejsca: Kazimierz Dolny — synagogues · Kazimierz Dolny cemetery · Zamość Synagogue · Plac Wielki, Zamość
Posiłki: Breakfast at the hotel, kosher lunch in Kazimierz Dolny, kosher dinner in Lublin
Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva, Transfer, and Kazimierz Orientation
In the morning, a visit to the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva (the Sages of Lublin), founded in 1930 by Rabbi Meir Shapiro, the world's largest yeshiva before the war (200 resident students from across Poland). The building is preserved; the study hall has walls held in their 1939 state; the library has been rebuilt. A short scholar briefing on the yeshiva's significance for rabbinic Judaism in Central Europe. Departure at 12:00, transfer to Kraków — four hours by V-Class. Kosher lunch box. Arrival around 16:00, check-in at a premium 5-star hotel in Kraków (Old Town). A short orientation walk through Kazimierz with our coordinator (Remuh Synagogue, Old Synagogue from the outside). Kosher dinner at a restaurant in Kazimierz.
Miejsca: Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva · Kazimierz — orientation · Remuh Synagogue (exterior)
Posiłki: Breakfast at the hotel, kosher lunch box, kosher dinner in Kazimierz
Kazimierz in the Morning, Birkenau in the Afternoon
In the morning, three hours in Kazimierz with a Kraków scholar — the Remuh Synagogue and cemetery, the Old Synagogue (Historical Museum of Kraków), and the Tempel Synagogue. Kosher lunch. Departure at 13:00 for Oświęcim — entry to the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum at 14:30 with a licensed educator coordinated by our team. Auschwitz I (two and a half hours), Birkenau (an hour and a half). Kaddish at the ramp or at a chosen place. Return to Kraków around 20:00. Quiet dinner at the hotel.
Miejsca: Remuh Synagogue · Remuh Cemetery · Old Synagogue · Tempel Synagogue · Auschwitz I · Birkenau
Posiłki: Breakfast at the hotel, kosher lunch in Kazimierz, quiet kosher dinner
New Cemetery and Departure from Balice
In the morning, a visit to the New Jewish Cemetery in Kraków on Miodowa Street (if the family has identified a Kraków grave through the dossier — an hour's visit with location). Farewell kosher lunch in Kazimierz. V-Class transfer to Kraków-Balice Airport (KRK) according to the ticket. Farewell with the chauffeur and our coordinator.
Miejsca: New Jewish Cemetery, Kraków
Posiłki: Breakfast at the hotel, farewell kosher lunch
W cenie
Co jest zawarte
- ✓ Mercedes V-Class for the entire journey (nine days, approximately 1,600 kilometres, one chauffeur)
- ✓ Premium 5-star hotels in Warsaw (3 nights), Lublin (3 nights), Kraków (2 nights)
- ✓ Five days of scholar accompaniment coordinated among historians in Warsaw, Lublin, and Kraków
- ✓ Pre-trip genealogical research (six to eight weeks before arrival, printed dossier)
- ✓ Complete kosher operation — vendors in Warsaw, Lublin, and Kraków
- ✓ Entry to POLIN, the Treblinka Memorial, the State Museum at Majdanek, the Bełżec Memorial, the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum with a licensed educator, and the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva
- ✓ Entry to synagogues (Nożyk Warsaw if available, Remuh, Old Synagogue, Tempel, Maharshal location Lublin, Zamość Synagogue, Kazimierz Dolny synagogues)
- ✓ Entry to cemeteries (Okopowa, Old Lublin, Kazimierz Dolny, New Kraków)
- ✓ Meet and greet at WAW and farewell transfer to KRK
- ✓ Welcome kosher dinner in Warsaw, farewell kosher lunch in Kraków
- ✓ Family dossier: cadastral maps, archival documents, list of family graves where identified
- ✓ our team available 24/7
- ✓ Operator-side travel insurance
Nie zawarte
Co poza zakresem
- — Airfares WAW and KRK
- — Personal health insurance for passengers
- — Personal expenses, hotel gratuities
- — Meals not listed in the programme
- — Visits outside the planned route as add-ons
Inwestycja
Budżet
Opcje dodatkowe
Rozszerzenia podróży
Extended day in Kraków after Birkenau
An additional rest day in Kraków after the day at Birkenau (extending the journey to ten days). Without substantive content — a free day for reflection, a walk along the Planty, time at the hotel.
Sobibor visit (replacing Treblinka)
A substitution of Sobibor for Treblinka, for families whose history leads to Sobibor (chiefly victims from Lublin and the surroundings, and transports from the Netherlands in 1943). The Sobibor Memorial is two hours from Lublin.
Documentary filmmaker
A documentary filmmaker over four chosen days of the journey (Warsaw POLIN and the ghetto, Bełżec, Kazimierz, Birkenau). Delivery of the film within four months.
Extended genealogy — Bełżec project
Deeper work by the genealogist with the support of the Bełżec Memorial, if the family has forebears among the victims of Bełżec. Identification of transport, town of origin, and dates of deportation.
Brama Grodzka private session
A private session with the coordinator at Brama Grodzka (NN Theatre, Lublin) — access to the oral history archive, if the family has forebears from Lublin or the surroundings. The possibility of recording the family's own contribution to the archive.
Cantor for Kaddish (Bełżec or Birkenau)
A cantor from the Polish tradition accompanying the family during Kaddish at Bełżec or Birkenau.
FAQ
Pytania o tę trasę
Are Bełżec and Treblinka harder emotionally than Auschwitz?
Yes. Auschwitz-Birkenau is a mass site, today with a high number of visitors, museum infrastructure, and a legible spatial layout. Bełżec is an empty forest with a hectare of slabs bearing the names of towns — no barracks, no tourist path, absolute silence, on average ten to twenty people a day on the grounds. Treblinka is 17,000 stones in a pine forest, without a trace of the camp. These two places are emotionally heavier — there is no "museum distance," there is only the field and the names. The Polish Crown Lands journey is for families who wish to see the full logic of Aktion Reinhardt, not only Auschwitz as a symbol.
Can I plan the journey without Bełżec or Majdanek?
Yes. The route is a skeleton — some families choose a version without Majdanek (keeping Bełżec as the centre of Aktion Reinhardt) or without Bełżec (if the family history does not lead there). A "Treblinka plus Majdanek plus Auschwitz" version is possible. A "Bełżec plus Auschwitz only" version is possible. Every decision is taken during the consultation, on the basis of the family dossier.
How does kosher work in Lublin?
Lublin does not have a permanent kosher restaurant or rabbinically certified vendor. The kosher operation in Lublin is organised through catering delivered from Warsaw (fresh each day, isothermal containers, delivered to the hotel before lunch and dinner). For families observing the glatt mehadrin standard this is acceptable — the Warsaw vendor under the supervision of the Chief Rabbinate meets mehadrin. For families observing bishul Yisroel we set the details individually.
Is the Lublin hotel at the level of Warsaw and Kraków?
Lublin offers a narrower top-tier hotel range than Warsaw or Kraków — one 5-star (business-class) and several upper-tier 4-star properties. The standard is lower than the palace-class hotels of Warsaw (Bristol/Raffles class) or Kraków (Old Town palace-class). We communicate this to the client clearly during route design — Lublin offers no palace-class hotel, but a strong business-class hotel. Families for whom hotel standard is a priority sometimes choose to overnight in Warsaw and travel to Lublin and Majdanek on a single day (3 hours each way — possible but long).
What is the sense behind the order (Warsaw → Lublin → Bełżec → Kraków)?
The geography of Aktion Reinhardt. The Germans designed the operation around three centres: Bełżec (March 1942, the first death camp, for the Jews of eastern Galicia and Lublin), Sobibor (May 1942, for the Jews of Lublin and the surroundings), Treblinka (July 1942, for the Jews of Warsaw). The route moves from the north (Warsaw, Treblinka) through the centre (Lublin, Majdanek, Bełżec) to the south (Kraków, Birkenau) — this was the structure of the German administration, and this is the chronological development of the operation. The scholar explains the spatial and temporal logic of the operation, which is the key to understanding why the Polish shtetls "disappeared" in the six months of 1942.
Can a specialised guide be booked at POLIN?
Yes. POLIN runs an educational programme with licensed educators specialising in different periods (the Middle Ages, the eighteenth century, the interwar years, the Warsaw Ghetto). We coordinate an educator to fit the particular family history — if the family came from Hasidic centres, we ask for an educator specialising in Hasidism; if from the assimilated Warsaw bourgeoisie, we ask for a specialist on the interwar years. This coordination is part of the journey.
Begin
Rozpocznij swoją Heritage Journey
Polish Crown Lands is a journey we design with care. The initial consultation includes a discussion of the emotional intensity of the journey with the family — whether the family is ready for four memorial sites in seven days, whether the senior can walk Bełżec after Majdanek, whether the family wishes a rest day built into the route. These conversations matter. After the initial enquiry we work on an itinerary proposal. Acceptance triggers the genealogical work and the reservations. We invite you to write to us.
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