On this tour of Poland, embark on a profound 14-day journey into the core of Poland’s wartime history and the Holocaust. Through tales of sacrifice, heroism, defiance, and tragedy, we honor memories that must forever echo through time. The tour is set to commence with at least ten participants.
Have you been planning a Holocaust trip to Poland? Perhaps you have long intended to visit key WW2 sites or explore parts of your family heritage. With WW2 being the darkest chapter in human history, it profoundly affected people across the globe and still shapes our way of interpreting events today. This WW2 tour of Poland is as extensive as a history tour can get. Across multiple cities and historical sites, we’ll trace the story of the war, reflect on its terrible human cost, and explore the lives of the conflict’s greatest heroes.
Explore the itinerary of this comprehensive WW2 tour below, including trips to the Nazi concentration camps in Poland. If you have any questions, please get in touch.
(Looking for a shorter World War 2 tour? Browse our History Day Tours in Poland.)
*Check the Schengen Visa website (https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/who-needs-schengen-visa/) for the Poland Visa entry requirements of your country. Alternatively, please check with the Polish Embassy or Consulate in your country. Poland At War Tours in not responsible for Passport or Visa issues relating to entry to Poland.
Warsaw’s Stare Miasto (Old Town) was established in the 13th century on the banks of the Vistula River. Completely destroyed during WWII, it was meticulously rebuilt in the years following the war based on the paintings and drawings of pre-war artists and architectural students. Old Town was the site of some of the heaviest fighting during the Warsaw Uprising that began on 1 August 1944. During our tour we will visit:
Join us on a tour from Warsaw to Treblinka Concentration Camp, the second most deadly of the six Extermination Camps built by the Germans in Poland. Treblinka was at first a forced labour camp (Treblinka I) for Polish prisoners before it was further developed specifically for the extermination of the Jews, particularly those of the Warsaw Ghetto (Treblinka II). Whereas approximately 1,100,000 people were murdered at Auschwitz, approximately 800-900,000 people were murdered at Treblinka. Part of the trio of Operation Reinhardt Death Camps, Treblinka was closed down and demolished in mid 1943 once its deadly mission had been completed and all traces of German crimes erased.
Today we will visit the Wolf’s Lair (Wolfsschanze), Hitler’s eastern most military HQ during WWII. The Wolf’s Lair was constructed in time for Hitler to take command of Operation Barbarossa – the German invasion of Russia in 1941. Hitler first arrived at the Wolf’s Lair on 23 June 1941 and spent a total of 800 days there throughout the war, leaving for the final time on 20 November 1944. The Wolf’s Lair is the site of the most notable assassination attempt on Hitler’s life as portrayed in the movie Valkyrie based on the plot by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators to kill Hitler on 20 July 1944 that came to be known as the “20 July Plot”. After our visit to the Wolf’s Lair, we travel to Gdansk.
We stop by the Westerplatte Peninsular and Memorial where the first shots of WWII were fired on 1 September 1939 by the German Battleship Schleswig-Holstein at the Polish Garrison stationed on the peninsular. See the remains of the Polish bunker as well as the impressive memorial to the battle that raged there. Also pay respects at the cemetery for the 9 Polish Soldiers newly laid to rest on Westerplatte.
Guided walking tour of Old Town Gdansk with our experienced Polish guide. On the walking tour, we will visit sites relating to both the ancient history of the city as well as sites relating to WWII:
Today we also visit the impressive Museum of the Second World War in Gdansk (Polish:
Muzeum II Wojny Światowej). The museum was established in 2008 and is devoted to the
Second World War in Europe with Polish highlights. This is a thoroughly spectacular museum
not to be missed.
Visit the impressive European Solidarity Centre and Gdansk shipyard where Communism was laid to rest. The mission of the museum is to “keep in the memory of Poles and Europeans the experience of Solidarity as a peaceful European revolution” and for Solidarity “to be a source of inspiration and hope for those who do not live in open and democratic societies”.
The first Concentration built outside of Germany in WWII. Built initially to house some of the 60,000 Polish Intelligentsia the Germans planned to exterminate in Poland upon invasion, it eventually housed Jews and Poles held for slave labour. There was a small gas chamber built at Stuttof that remains on the camp grounds today as well as crematoria. Stutthof is a place in which there is some credibility to the notion that soap was made here from human fat. Never forget!
Formally labelled a Nazi “megastructure” by National Geographic, DAG Bromberg was the second largest explosives and ammunition manufacturing plant in the entire Third Reich. The site also contained an aircraft manufacturing facility. At its height, approximately 20,000 people worked at the facility including slave labourers from Poland, Germany and other occupied countries – Over 50% were Poles. It is estimated 40,000-50,000 slave labourers died at the camp during the war. The factory was huge covering 23 square kilometres. On 23 March 1944, the Polish resistance working inside and outside of the camp conducted Operation”Krem” that caused an explosion within the factory killing German engineers working at the camp.
On our tour we will visit:
Join us on a walking tour of the Krakow Jewish Ghetto famously depicted in the award-winning Steven Spielberg film “Schindler’s List”. On the tour, you will visit the major sites of the Krakow Ghetto that was established in March 1941. Beginning with a tour of the area in which the Ghetto was located, you will see sites including the memorial to the Jews of the Krakow Ghetto “Ghetto Hero’s Square” and surviving remnants of the original Ghetto Wall.
We will then visit Schindler’s Enamel Factory and those who have seen the movie, will not mistake the façade of this famous building. Having saved 1,200 Jews, Schindler and his wife Emilie were awarded Righteous Among the Nations in 1993. We also visit the Pharmacy Under the Eagle a pharmacy that was allowed to operate within the Ghetto walls under its non-Jewish proprietor Tadeusz Pankiewicz who, along with his 3 female staff Irena Drozdzikowska, Aurelia Danek, & Helena Krywaniuk, provided medicine, food, and hiding places for Jews in the pharmacy. Pankiewicz was awarded Righteous Among the Nations on 10 February 1983. After lunch we take a drive past Plaszow Concentration Camp, the camp depicted in Schindler’s List.
Allow Poland At War Tours to take you on an exploration of the infamous German Concentration and Extermination Camp of Auschwitz. Auschwitz being the German name given to the site of the camp within the Polish city of Oswiecim. Join us on a special guided tour of both Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II – Birkenau. We first explore Auschwitz I which was an abandoned Polish Army barracks prior to WWII.
We then take the short journey to Auschwitz II – Birkenau and walk through the iconic gate which so many Jews and victims of different kinds travelled through never to return. See the ramp where Jews were off-loaded before walking the short distance to the gas chambers and crematoria to the rear of the camp, blown up by the Germans as they hastily fled in the face of the coming onslaught of the Soviet Army. In total, approximately 1,100,000 people died at Auschwitz. Join us as we honour their memory and state unequivocally – Never Again!
We visit the spectacular Wieliczka Salt Mine approximately 15 minutes outside of Krakow. The mine has been in operation for centuries and is still an operational mine today. However, the beauty of the mine cannot be appreciated until descending around 10 flights of stairs.
Today we visit the official Polish museum dedicated to the mighty army of the Polish Underground State, the Armia Krajowa (AK: Home Army). At its peak, the AK had approximately 350,000 members spread throughout Poland, making it the largest, and most successful, resistance movement of WWII. Learn about the heroism and activities of members of the AK, including the acquisition of a V2 rocket in Eastern Poland and its subsequent delivery to the Allies in England!
At 1700hrs on 1 August 1944, with permission granted by the Polish Government-in-Exile in London, the Polish Armia Krajowa (AK), under the Command of General Wladyslaw “Bor” Komorowski, launched the Warsaw phase of “Operation Tempest”, that has become known as the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, the largest military undertaking by any European Resistance Movement during WWII. The goal of the operation was for the Polish Resistance and Underground state to come out into the open and declare sovereignty for Warsaw and Poland in the face of the retreating German Army and the approaching Soviet forces. Orders were given on 31 July 1944 for AK forces to be at their objectives in the afternoon of 1 August 1944 and begin operations at 1700hrs – Godzina W or “Fighting hour”. Intended to last for approximately 5 days whilst paving the way for the Soviet forces to enter Warsaw, the Soviets stopped their attack in the Warsaw suburb of Praga on the right bank of the Vistula River in a cynical move aimed at allowing the Polish forces to be destroyed. With planning and supplies based on 5 days of fighting, the Poles fought on for an incredible 63 days, finally surrendering on 2 October 1944. Join us today on a dedicated tour of Warsaw focusing on the important sites associated with the 1944 Warsaw Uprising and remember the incredible men and women who fought for their country and city in an effort to win their freedom from tyranny.
Opened on 31 July 2004 to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising. At 1700hrs on 1 August 1944 – “Godzina W” or “W Hour” (Fighting Hour) – the Polish Armia Krajowa (Home Army) rose up in defiance of German occupation in a desperate fight to regain Poland’s independence against the occupier. Learn about the fate of the insurgents in their struggle for freedom as well as that of Warsaw’s civilians. In all, 220,000 Pole’s lost their live in the 63 days of the Uprising & suffered the destruction of 85% of Warsaw that Hitler ordered razed to the ground in retribution for the Pole’s daring to defy him.
Gestapo Headquarters in Warsaw was located on the infamous Szucha Street. Polish prisoners held in the Pawiak Prison, would be collected, and driven across Warsaw to Gestapo HQ where they would be interrogated, tortured and in many cases murdered. A mound of ash was found in the courtyard of the building when liberated estimated to weigh 5.5 tonnes.
On this tour we visit the few city blocks that at its peak housed up to 450,000 Jews and identify sites of interest throughout the area of the ghetto. Those sites include the areas of the large and small ghetto’s, the site of the bridge between the ghetto’s, remnants of the ghetto wall, remaining buildings from the ghetto, the Umschlagplatz Memorial from where Jews were loaded onto trains and transported to the Treblinka Extermination Camp, among many other sites of significance. Also learn about the remarkable 1943 Ghetto Uprising where the Jews fought for freedom. We further highlight the rebuilding effort that was carried out after the war and you will be able to see and touch the debris buried beneath the new construction.
The Soviet Union invaded Poland on 17 September 1939, honouring their non-aggression pact with Hitler and Nazi Germany. Invading from the East, the Soviets had not declared war on Poland and entered her borders under the auspices of peace – until they had disarmed Polish soldiers and taken them into captivity. The Soviets rounded up those among the captured who were Polish Officers and other intelligentsia. On the direct written order of Stalin, over 22,000 Polish Officers and other intelligentsia were murdered by the NKVD by gunshot wound to the back of head. All 22,000 victims were buried in mass graves in the forests of Russia, including the Katyn Forrest. In 1943, these mass graves were found by the retreating Germans who made much propaganda of the find. The Soviets however denied any culpability and instead cut off diplomatic ties with Poland for daring to question them. After the war, the families of the Katyn victims were persecuted by Communist authorities. The deaths of the 22,000 Polish officers remains a deep wound in the psyche of the Polish state. Many believe the Katyn Massacre was the beginning of the Cold War. In 1990, Russia finally admitted their perpetration of the Katyn Massacre when they released their papers to the newly democratic Polish Government.
Breakfast & check out of hotel
Depart Warsaw
Sadly, today is the day we must say goodbye. I wish you the very best for your travels home.
Do widzenia i do zobaczenia!
“Goodbye and see you soon”
