Warsaw UnDiscovered

19/04/2024

April 19th, in Warsaw you'll see yellow daffodils practically everywhere. They're the symbol of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and people wear them or place them at monuments to commemorate the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising that started April 19th, 1943.

The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest in Europe, 360,000 Jews, a third of Warsaw's population was crammed into 3% of the city's area. Jews were being brought in from outside of Warsaw and even Poland, so at its peak the ghetto numbered half a million Jews.

By the time of the Uprising, only around 60,000 remained. At the end of the Uprising, on May 16th 1943, practically nothing remained of the ghetto or the Jews forced to live there.

If you want to join in commemoration the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, you can take a paper daffodil from one the many volunteers who will be handing them out on the streets of Warsaw.

At noon you'll also hear air raid sirens go off for a minute.

12/04/2024

We pass this place every day during our tours. Usually it's closed and inaccessible but one day we managed to get in... Do you know where it is?

Let us know in the comments!

07/04/2024

What do our guests say about our tours? Just take a look!

05/04/2024

In Warsaw's New Town, there's a street called Mostowa - the Bridge Street. You can ask "Why?" if there's no bridge nearby? Not today, but there used to be one 450 years ago! The first permanent bridge in Warsaw, the so-called Sigismund Augustus Bridge was opened on the 5th of April 1573. It was built to facilitate crossing the river, especially since in the near future more and more people were to come to Warsaw for the gatherings of the Sejm. The bridge was built in less than five years, measured 500 meters and was one of the most modern in Europe at that time. Unfortunately, it didn't stand the test of time: it was destroyed by ice floe after 30 years.

03/04/2024

These three women stand at the back of the Supreme Court building today. They're so hidden that if you don't know they're there, it's unlikely that you'll come across them by accident. Some say that they were originally supposed to be on the other side of the building, facing the Krasiński Square. However, one person's objections forced the architect to turn the building around. Who do you think could have had so much power?

31/03/2024

Wishing you all a very Happy Easter, filled with lots of joy and happiness! Celebrate this day with peace, love, and joy 💚

29/03/2024

⏰ Remember that we're changing the clock this weekend! ⏰

On Saturday night, clocks are set forward 1 hour, which this time means not only that we sleep an hour less, but that we'll sit down to Easter breakfast an hour earlier!

And have you ever wondered who changes the clock at the Palace of Culture and Science?

Well, no one! The clock changes completely automatically. On Sunday, the clock will start speeding up and within 30 minutes it will catch up with the time it should be showing. In autumn, when the clocks are set back 1 hour, it's even easier: the clock stops, waits for an hour, and starts at the right time.

16/03/2024

"Jews! The occupier proceeds to the second act of your annihilation! Do not let them kill you freely! Fight! Grab an axe, crowbar or knife, barricade your houses! Let them struggle to get you! The fight is your opportunity to save yourself… Fight…."

With these words, the Jewish Combat Organization encouraged Jews to fight in 1943. It wasn't about winning, but choosing how to die. The same thing was at stake on May 8, when the Germans surrounded the basement of the tenement house at Miła 18, a bunker where nearly 300 people were hiding, including civilians and members of the Jewish Combat Organization. The civilians left the bunker, but the Jewish soldiers made a different decision.

“In view of the hopeless situation, so as not to get alive into the hands of the Germans, Arie Wilner called on the insurgents to commit su***de. The first was Lutek Rotblat who shot his mother and then himself. Most of the members of the Combat Organization with its commander Mordechai Anielewicz ended their lives in the shelter.”

It's estimated that about 120 ghetto insurgents died at Miła 18. Only 15 people managed to escape.

Today, on the top of a mound made of the rubble of nearby houses, in the place where the bunker was located, there is a monument with an inscription in Polish, Hebrew and Yiddish that tells the bittersweet story of the Jewish insurgents.

15/03/2024

Although today Warsaw proudly holds the title of the capital of Poland, its path to obtaining it was long and quite complicated. Delve with us into this fascinating story that will help you better understand when, how, and why the capital of our country was moved from Krakow to Warsaw.

https://www.warsawundiscovered.com/blog-en/how-did-warsaw-become-the-capital-of-poland

Although today Warsaw proudly holds the title of the capital of Poland, its path to obtaining it was long and quite complicated. Delve with us into this fascinating story that will help you better understand when, how, and why the capital of our country was moved from Krakow to Warsaw.

13/03/2024

Some people compare being a guide to being an actor. If this is true, I’d add that we’re certainly like actors in a theater. We’ll never conduct a tour in exactly the same way, we cannot predict the reactions of our guests, or how they’ll surprise us. This group surprised me mainly because they knew all the answers to my questions 😲 But I don't think I've ever laughed so much on a tour as I did with them. See the smiles for yourself!

10/03/2024

The Ringelblum Archive is one of the most important testimonies about the Holocaust of Polish Jews. These are nearly 35,000 documents collected by the secret organization Oneg Shabbat, operating in the ghetto during World War II.

At the turn of July and August 1942, three members of Oneg Shabbat buried the first part of the Archive (10 tin boxes) in the basement at 68 Nowolipki Street. In the same place, in two milk cans, at the beginning of February 1943, another batch of archives was hidden.

The first part of the archive was unearthed in September 1946, and the second part was discovered by accident in December 1950. Today, all the materials are kept in the Jewish Historical Institute (we wrote about it some time ago).

In 2021, at the place where the archive was buried, the commemoration visible in the photo was unveiled (today's address: Nowolipki 28), behind my back.

And who’s the woman standing next to me? This time it was not a participant of my tour, but Małgorzata Wosińska, a former employee of the Jewish Historical Institute.

She was on a walk when I showed the archive commemoration to my group. She stopped, talked to us, took photos and told an anecdote about the unveiling of the monument.

She also recommended a BBC program in which she was the protagonist. If you would like to find out what it is like to be a third-generation Jew in present-day Poland, check out https://bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct4249

***Agnieszka***

07/03/2024

I'm sure that when choosing our Behind the Iron Curtain tour, which talks about the realities of the Polish People's Republic, Nick and Brie didn’t imagine they would hear about...their home country, Australia! The thing that brings these two countries together is a car. A very small car.

The Fiat 126P, our good old “Maluch”, could also be found in Australia and was called the FSM Niki. Of course, it had to be slightly modified - even the steering wheel had to be on the right side. Interestingly, the car was exported to Australia only from 1989.

Unlike in Poland, today it's hard to spot any on the streets of Sydney or Melbourne, but hopefully the ones they saw in Warsaw made them feel even more at home!

Book your own tour of Warsaw and find out if the city reminds you of home! You can book directly on our website www.warsawundiscovered.com. If you’re not in Warsaw, follow our profiles on FB and IG!

04/03/2024

If it wasn't for him, the Old Town wouldn't look like it does today. Perhaps it would be more modern. Perhaps something completely different would be built in its place. But it was Jan Zachwatowicz, both a great architect and talented diplomat, who oversaw the rebuilding of the Old Town, a place now on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. He insisted that "since the city was to be destroyed with calculated premeditation, it should be rebuilt with calculated premeditation."

To many, he was the rebirth of Warsaw in one man. "I was everything: the investor, the works manager, the foreman; I showed every worker how to build a Gothic arch." At the same time, he was open, friendly, and funny. "I was close to both the workers and the residents of the Old Town. What's worse, when I was walking with someone, the local prostitutes bowed to me."

So let's all celebrate the 124th anniversary of the birth of this great man!

29/02/2024

Exactly 12 years ago, on February 29, 2012, the very first match at the National Stadium in Warsaw took place. Polish and Portuguese teams faced each other, and the match ended in a goalless draw.

Since then, the Polish national football team has played 40 matches at the stadium. Volleyball and American football matches, and nearly 60 concerts and festivals also took place here. Madonna, Pink, Beyonce, Depeche Mode, Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, and many, many more! And that's not the end, because this year it's time for Metallica, Taylor Swift and Andrea Bocelli!

27/02/2024

Claire was in Warsaw for only 24 hours, but that was enough to get a good overview of Warsaw. For her first experience with our city, she chose our Historic Heart of Warsaw tour, during which she discovered the complex history of the city, world-famous Poles, several hidden gems in the Old Town and much more. We hope she returns soon to continue exploring our beautiful city as there’s still so much to see!

24/02/2024

The Jewish Historical Institute is a unique place on the map of Warsaw. Right after entering, look at the traces visible on the floor. You can see them most clearly here, but they extend all the way to the second floor. This is a remnant of what happened in April 1943. On April 19, 1943, at 8:15 p.m., the nearby Great Synagogue was blown up on the orders of Jurgen Stroop. The fire was so large that it spread to the neighboring building, then the Main Judaic Library. After the war, the burned-out building was thoroughly renovated, but traces of flames on the floor will always remind us of the Holocaust.

21/02/2024

Where is one of the most cinematic streets in Warsaw? This is Mostowa Street, a charming street of the New Town going down, just a few steps behind the Barbican. It was here that many different Polish films were shot, including war films such as "Warsaw 44" (PL: "Miasto 44", "The Messenger" (PL: "Kurier"), "Time of Honor" (PL: "Czas Honoru")

18/02/2024

A picture is worth a thousand words. And what happened during the war in Warsaw can't be explained in words. We can try by saying that Warsaw was destroyed, that bombs fell on it and buildings were burning. But only when we see it, we begin to understand. So, when you're in Warsaw, visit the Syrena cinema at the Museum of Warsaw. There you can watch a 20-minute film "Warsaw will not forget", composed of fragments of newsreels from before the war, 1939-1945, and the first moments of reconstruction. The film in Polish is presented every Thursday at 3:30 p.m., and in English- at 4:00 p.m. A regular ticket costs PLN 10 and a reduced one: PLN 7. You can also order a private show for min. 5 people on any date and in six different languages (Polish, English, German, Spanish, Italian, French).