Our last full day in beautiful Kraków! We were delighted to have a whole morning free to explore. Some of us toured Schindler’s Factory in the old Jewish section of the city. During World War II, Oskar Schindler, a German businessman and member of the Nazi Party, saved 1,200 Jews from death by giving them jobs in his enamelware and ammunitions factories. A quote from him- “Life makes sense as long as you save people.” At the end of the museum, there’s a wall with photos of people that he saved. It’s an incredibly interesting museum with films, photos, sound effects, and many other fascinating exhibits. Literal hours and hours could be spent there reading and absorbing all the information.

Around 1:00 we all met in the hotel lobby and divided into 2 groups to take the tram to our concert venue for tonight. After three concerts, it was time we spent a couple hours intensely rehearsing our music again. Tonight’s church was a special one since The Hope Singers have sung here on about every tour and also because of the history of the building. It served as the Gestapo headquarters in Kraków during the war. A large cross hangs on the wall where a swastika used to be. How fitting and redeeming to sing our German piece of music (taken from Deuteronomy 4:7-9) in the room where so much evil was plotted. At the end of the concert, the pastor presented Mr. Ivan with a beautiful bouquet of red roses.

It was a late night for most of the choir since we took full advantage of our last chance to experience the magic of Kraków at night. We ate kebabs and ice cream as the moon rose behind St. Mary’s Basilica.