Polin Travel - Guide and genealogy services in Cracow, Auschwitz and Poland. Private tours.

Tomasz provided a classroom on wheels and on foot. My mother and I planned a cultural heritage tour to Poland, and we hired Tomasz for two days while in Krakow. He brought us around the university and the market square areas of Krakow, Kazimierz, the Jewish ghetto, and Auschwitz. I couldn't imagine any other tour being so in depth and so informative. I highly recommend Tomasz if you're interested in not just seeing the sites, but truly learning about, and understanding, them.

Tomasz is much more than just a great guide. And he is a great guide. He listens, he is personable and he is engaging. Moreover, Tomasz is a thoughtful and intelligent commenter on politics, society and history. He provides an engrossing and enriching experience. Almost a combo of a tour with a university seminar which enriches the deep and heavy experience of visiting Auschwitz and Birkenau. While incredibly knowledgeable, he doesn’t preach. He gives you the information amd lets you draw your conclusions.I could not recommend him more highly.

Tomasz is an exceptional guide! Visiting Auschwitz is an intense and emotional experience for many people, and it feels important to be there under the right conditions - I'm very glad I decided to take the tour with him and would absolutely recommend doing the same.

I highly recommend Tomasz as a guide for anyone traveling to Poland to learn about Jewish history and culture in this region! I had a fairly deep understanding of the Holocaust before the trip and booked a tour with Tomasz because I was sure that I would be able to learn from him. He is incredibly knowledgeable about Polish history, Jewish history in central and eastern Europe, and the Holocaust. More importantly, he is very good at explaining and sharing his vast knowledge with visitors. We did a 4 day tour with Tomasz including Krakow, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Lublin, Majdanek and stops at various towns that used to have large Jewish communities. Many guides can show you the camps and tell you about the Holocaust, but Tomasz will additionally teach you about the long and rich history of the thriving Jewish community in central and eastern Europe, which is crucial to fully understand the Holocaust. I give my highest recommendation to touring with Tomasz, regardless of how much time you have.

The pace and explanation of the sequence of events prior to 1940's; social, political andcultural climate given to us in the gathering square in Krakow helped tremendously in my further understanding of the holocaust, specifically in helping me understand the question how could this have happened".As only my wife and I were in the tour

My husband and I spent a day at Auschwitz Birkenau with Tomasz Cebulski of Polin Travel. His knowledge of Polish history, Polish Jewish life, the Holocaust and all things related are unparalleled. Because of his tremendous intellect, all subjects were well contextualized and explained in great depth. He is professional, articulate and it was an honor to spend the day with him.

If you are looking for a considered, thoughtful and well researched guide for Poland, Polin Travel is where you should start and stop.There’s no pre-recorded, standardised, Wikipedia sourced material here – it is specifically tailored to your interests and personal history. You will be guided by highly qualified, sensitive and passionate ex[erts who offer real insight into the challenging history of Poland and what it means for Poland, and indeed, Europe and the rest of the world today.We were guided by Jerzy, Eliza and Tomasz, all of whom were highly qualified experts in history, focus\sing on the history of Jews in Poland.They were all outstanding – sensitive to the content and the personal history for my Mum and me. Mum’s father left Poland (Jaslo) for Vienna in the 1930s, leaving family members behind who almost certainly perished in the death camps.Tomasz shared the history of Poland, Jews in Poland and of Jews in Jaslo as he drove us out there from Krakow. He is a natural storyteller who weaved facts and insights together into a plot that was a cross between a PHD thesis and a movie script.Tomasz had researched my grandfather’s family, including reviewing documents and watching my grandfather’s interview with the Shoah Foundation not long before he died, where he talked about his life and family before he came to Australia. Tomasz discovered a number of critical things that were surprises for us – like a publication written by Jewish survivors of Jaslo which talked about my great grandfather.Another surprise was the fact that he had established my grandfather’s house was one of only 7% of structures left standing in Jaslo after the war. Tomasz had worked out where it was and took us there. It was astonishing to see the house he had lived, and his father had built.Even more overwhelming was the amazing welcome that the family now living there gave us when we turned up unannounced. This was all down to Tomasz, who has the capacity to build rapport quickly, to be be both assertive and gentle, to reassure and to challenge. He explained why we were there taking photos of their house, and their demeanour immediately changed to one of warmth and openness when he mentioned my family name.The oldest member of the household remembered my grandfather’s family and spoke openly about her memories of the horrors of the war and how they came to buy the house from my great uncle after the war. We spent well over an hour with them, Tomasz was showing them information on his laptop and translating their fast and lively conversation as they sought to share all they knew and could remember about the past and about their lives in the house. They seemed as excited as we were to be sharing these stories, with Tomasz acting as translator, detective and facilitator– bringing the stories and perspectives together.Tomasz also showed us a number of other sites in Jaslo, at every point taking the chance to talk with locals and learn what he could. He helped me work out where my grandfather had lived in Vienna and helped my mother and I write up our experience so we could share it with the rest of my family.It really was the most extraordinary day of learning and connecting with the past and present of Poland and of my own family history. Now, more than a week later, I am still shaking my head in disbelief.I couldn’t recommend Polin Travel more highly. Without a doubt they gave my mother and I a unique and moving experience.

Tomasz is amazing! Knowledgable, engaging and totally reliable as he led us through Poland’s history and focused on it’s Jewish culture and places. Do not miss this opportunity to be with Tomasz .

Tomasz is an extraordinary tour guide. He is kind, responsive, thoughtful, and staggeringly knowledgeable. My experience on this trip was enhanced in every way by having him as my guide.

I engaged with Polin Travel before embarking on a journey to Dzialoszyce, Poland, an old Jewish shtetl where my ancestors lived for hundreds of years. Tomasz and the guide were incredibly knowledgeable, interactive, and very well prepared for our trip. The guide went above and beyond my expectations. She took us to surrounding areas in Stradow and other places, and took as much time as we needed to explore the area. It was a truly memorable experience. I can't imagine going to this place without having a knowledgeable guide by our side. Our guide pointed out some critical areas, including evidence of the Jewish existence prior to WWII. Our guide had a great personality, and was able to add some important anecdotes and historical information that made the trip even more worthwhile. I highly recommend Polin Travel to assist you in your journey.