We went through a whole new experience on 18th and 19th of June 2016 – Life Festival Oswiecim (LFO). Oswiecim is a town in Poland that for the world’s audience is known better as Auschwitz. A small 40 thousand resident town, resonating in people’s minds only in conjunction with the museum Auschwitz-Birkenau..
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The creator and artistic director of Life Festival Oswiecim, Darek Maciborek, a music journalist wanted to demystify this dark side of Auschwitz. The initiative came into being from the need to break down stereotypes and the sad spirit of the town. The idea behind the festival makes it unique compared to other music venues in Poland. Building peaceful relations across borders and the fight against racism and antisemitism are the main objectives of the LFO.
Somehow, accidentally we learnt about this years festival and The Headliners which were to be the legendary: Elton John (Sat) and Queen+Adam Lambert (Sun). Once in your life!
We bought our tickets in February and ‘one’ day before the festival I COULDN’T FIND THEM! …. and I never did. However, I was relieved to get the information that it would be possible to reissue our tickets at the venue and thankfully – they were indeed replaced. What a relief. Finally we could focus on the weekend of music. Excellent performances by all the artists and a great atmosphere over the two days.
One ‘gripe’ only. The transport after the concerts. I mean NO public transport. We (and everyone else) had to wait 3 hours for the first train to Krakow (03:40am). It was the slowest train ever. For such a sizeable ‘gig’ near the world famous Auschwitz, where during the day buses and trains go to and from in numbers, it seems quite strange that NO festival transport was arranged. Before the festival we contacted the organizers asking for transport options and they left us with information that additional trains had been planned. Only to cancel due to an apparent lack of interest? Of whose interest my question would be. It does not look very good for the event when people of all kinds, young, old, children – babies even – are expected to wait so long in awkward conditions for some sort of transport to come and take them back home, does it? In the centre of Europe just 60 km from Krakow – full of tourists.
Furthermore – when we were enquiring about transport to the Life Festival Oswiecim 2016 in different and appropriate places in Krakow – like tourist information, train station, bus station – staff had no idea about the Festival itself. It seems a little bit weird. Is there a conflict of interests between Krakow and Oswiecim?
Coming back to Krakow on the slowest train ever – after a MOST MEMORABLE Festival.
Well Done and Thank You to ALL the Artists (& Organisers) – Brilliant Festival!
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