Good news in Kaunas, Lithuania ~ Saturday, June 21, 2014

Dear Readers: Today’s post will include events that are definitely more upbeat!  No mass graves, no cemeteries, and we will focus on Jews who lived and the non-Jews who saved them! 

Oh, did we mention that our bus driver (who was supposed to be with us until airport drop-off) abandoned us last night?  Perhaps we depressed him with our sad itinerary.  He would have been happy with today’s activities.  But without him, we had to trudge MILES through rainy and cold Kaunas, up steep hills and down uneven cobblestone streets.  (All this is true). 

Kaunas Choraline Synagogue

In the morning, after enjoying presentations from three different students, we walked to the synagogue.  We merely looked at the impressive outside, and Prof. Myers talked about the determination of the Orthodox Jews to preserve their traditions. 

Like true scholars eager for knowledge, we marched through the streets and up a steep city hill, the drivers of the buses and cars amazed at our energy.  At the top was a lovely park-like neighborhood where we eventually found the former Japanese Embassy, currently the Sugihara Museum.  It had also been the home of Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese consul to Lithuania in 1939-41, his children, and his wife, Yukiko, who played an important role in the saga.   

a life-saver

Defying orders from his superiors, he issued about 5,000 (numbers vary) travel visas to Polish Jewish refugees fleeing war-torn Poland.  With these documents, they traveled through the USSR on the Trans-Siberian Railway and reached safety in Asia.  Photos, documents, and maps decorated the rooms of the museum.  We also watched a very inspiring film with testimonies of those saved by Sugihara.   

Kaunas Jewish community members

Prof. Myers had arranged a meeting with members of the Kaunas Jewish community who met us at the museum.   One was a survivor, and despite her persecution at the hands of non-Jews, she is actively involved in interfaith fellowships.






Others were involved in social-welfare tasks of the community or planning programs.  Each spoke to us in a different language, and it’s a good thing Prof. O’Sullivan could translate the German, Lithuanian, and Russian! 

nutritious?  

We ate lunch in Old Town Kaunas.  What are our lunches like?  Typically, everybody scatters in groups of 2 – 4 to the nearest restaurant (no such thing as fast food in Poland or Lithuania), attempting to decipher the menu and not irritate the waitresses too much, and then, when the food finally arrives after agonizing minutes, everybody inhales the meal in the effort to meet back at the promised time.  Invariably, some people are late, and after much sighing and checking of watches, the entire group takes off to conquer the next challenge.

This next activity may sound hellish, but it wasn’t.

Driftwood devil

We went to The Devil’s Museum.   This is a private collection of carvings, sculptures, paintings, pottery, and items that portray the devil from different cultural traditions.  They varied from the comic to the horrific in multiple artistic styles and materials, filling four floors of the building.

Lietuva means Lithuania, and notice the basketball logo.

Gathering together afterwards in the lobby, Rauhman taught us about Lithuanians’ obsession with basketball. 

"The King's Fairy Tale"

Jeremy followed with an exposition on the Lithuanian musician and painter Mikalojus Čiurlionis (choor-lee-o-niss) – and then most of us walked across the street to the Čiurlionis Museum to view the work of the artist himself.    The paintings were exotic, haunting, abstract, and beautiful!

We were not allowed to take photos, but we found this online image of one of the paintings we liked:  

After a day devoid of tragedy, we were exhausted.  We ordered pizza into the hostel for dinner and went to bed early.

Church pilgrimage, fortress, and boat ride ~ Thursday, June 19, 2014

We woke up to Corpus Christi day – a Catholic occasion for honoring the body of Jesus – and so of course we had to go to the nearby pilgrimage site called Swieta Lipka and learn about the local traditions.  There were hundreds of people who came, and several masses scheduled throughout the day, with overflow crowds outside the church each time. 

The baroque Cathedral was awe inspiring, a true religious marvel depicting the devotion of its faithful in physical form.  Its walls were illuminated by a wide range of color, and adorned with intricate architectural designs.  One inside wall included elaborately positioned angels with trumpets that moved in time with the notes of the Cathedral organist (see video tab). 

The service was more musical and engaging than the one we’d seen in Warsaw.  Altar boys led a procession into the church with priests holding silver containers containing smoking incense.  The lovely voices of the choir resonated through the high-arched interior, and the priest chanted melodically.  Again, the sermon and prayers were entirely in Polish.  Then the entire group of clergy, choir, and altar boys, followed by the congregation, formed a procession that wound around the front of the church into the town. 





At several stopping points, the priest enacted a ritual that used holy water and tree branches, and after he moved on to the next site, people took the little branches and moved on.  

We, too, eventually moved on to a restaurant adjacent to the town square.  We are getting quite expert at de-coding Polish menus, however some of us are still surprised by what the waitress brings! 

This is how horror movies start.

We spent the afternoon in a 19^th century fortress in Gizycko which had been built by an earlier Prussian king and named after his Minister of War, von Boyen.  The fortress was also used in World War I and II and is still intact.  There were other tourists there, and one stranger took the opportunity to photo-bomb Krystle as she posed next to a tunnel. 

The unique aspect of the fortress design is that it is placed between the two lakes next to Gizycko and it is shaped like a 7-pointed star; if the intruders penetrated to the center of the fortress, they would be completely surrounded by defenders at the points of the star.  The perimeter walls are actually reinforced by man-made hills.  It seems impossible to penetrate, and yet Prussia/Germany continually lost battles there.  We enjoyed walking on the paths, hiking through the dense trees along the edge, and exploring the empty buildings. 

First group's route 

Despite being in the fortress, we lacked military discipline and soon unintentionally split into three separate groups that lost each other.  One group ended up in the low fortress center trying to find a way back up, while the second group – trying to find the third group – went the opposite direction and meandered through dark tunnels in search of a path to the light.  The third group possessed the only map and easily reached the exit and spent some time wondering what happened to the others. 

Afterwards, we went for a relaxing boat ride on the Gizycko lakes and canal.  The boat had a large upper deck with rows of benches, tables, and a snack bar.  We watched sailboats, fishermen, and kids waving from the shore.  Some of us slept while others talked non-stop.  After landing, we again split into smaller groups in search of food and other entertainment. 

Calm waters 

Copernicus Museum and Gizycko ~ Wednesday, June 18, 2014

After breakfast we left Folwark Lekuk and drove to Olsztyn.  Our destination was the Copernicus Museum, housed in an old castle with its beautiful red brick baroque architectural construction.  Walking toward the entrance we were greeted by a bronze statue of Copernicus pondering.

Look at that schnoz!

 The statue’s nose is frequently rubbed by visitors on their way into the castle, claiming it brings good luck.

Hanging like a pagan

In the museum’s courtyard we stood before an original statue of a deity from the local religion before the residents converted to Christianity.  It showed us one more layer of history in this land.


We navigated through the group of Polish school children to learn about the life of Copernicus and his contribution to the world.  A man of incredible academic prowess who studied all over Europe, he moved to Olsztyn and worked for the government and Catholic Church.  He solved problems in currency, defense, and property ownership.  He still found time to gaze at the night sky and notice the elliptical orbits of stars and planets.  Primarily using calculus, he constructed the theory that the earth was not the center of our solar system.  He knew his findings would be controversial, so he delayed publication and in fact died before it was finally published as On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres.

Astrolabe with mustache detail

Authentic documents in Copernicus’s handwriting were on display.  Neat rows of careful script, occasionally interspersed with line drawings, were partially translated and explained.  He never married or had children, and one exhibit took pains to explain that his “friendly” relationship with his housekeeper Anna was merely platonic.  Hmm. . . sure. 

The creaky wood spiraling staircase led to a second-floor exhibit of farm tools, furniture, beautiful clothing and colorful textiles from the 19^th century.

"She should get a refund for that painting!"

Muppety Jada Do Hollywood

Another floor displayed a plethora of paintings ranging from religious figures to kings and queens (sometimes the kings and queens were not so easy to tell apart). The top floor of the castle housed a recent exhibition of Polish posters of movie films familiar to us but presented in a very foreign style. 

We ate in the Olsztyn town square and eventually headed to our new lodging in Gizycko.  This town is situated between two lakes, and our hotel was near the waterfront that was cluttered with hundreds of boats of all sizes.  We all got settled in our rooms and then strolled through the quiet town, enjoying a leisurely evening.

Gizycko viewed from the water tower. How beautiful!

  

Wolf's Lair and canoeing ~ Tuesday, June 17, 2014

We traveled on through the green pastures and endless rows of trees, eagerly awaiting our destination – Wolf’s Lair.  Many of us recalled the historical site from the movie Valkyrie, a 2008 film featuring Tom Cruise, which focused on the failed attempt of Claus Stauffenberg (and his co-plotters) to assassinate Hitler. Most people think that Hitler was in Berlin during the war, however, most of the time he was in this place.  His base was extremely well fortified and camouflaged by fake foliage to become immersed in the surrounding forest.  Remnants of netting and plastic leaves on the trees were visible from the trail as we entered the area.

A large map displaying the schematics of the lair was posted at the entrance. Professor O’Sullivan immediately seized the opportunity to share with us the story behind the site and translate the display. After a thorough lecture and a series of questions from the group, we proceeded onto the trail hoping to meet our tour guide.  We did meet her as well as mosquitoes that greeted us with gusto throughout the bulk of journey through the bunker site, requiring a series of bug spray showers every few meters.

Our guide, Jadwiga, was a passionate, humorous (sassy, even – see the video page), and extremely knowledgeable source for the physical site as well as the details of the assassination plot.  She would intersperse her information with anecdotes that don’t usually appear in our textbooks, and that was quite refreshing and kept us attentive.  Did you know that Hitler suffered from “gastric disturbances”?  She told us, with particular relish, “He farted like a pig!”  Not that we know how that sounds, but it definitely painted a picture!     

From Jadwiga we learned how Poles, who now are in charge of these ruins and this whole formerly-German lake region, use dark humor and games to exult in the eventual victory over Hitler. 

sun-dappled ruins

 Lots of the buildings were half-destroyed and leaning to the side, only “supported” by what appeared to be bundles of sticks. We later found out that these sticks are placed there by Poles who choose a stick size according to the wish: a small stick means all your dreams will come true, a medium stick means you will come back to Poland (Aren't they already in Poland? We didn’t really understand that one), and the large stick meant you will have a good marriage. 

venturing under concrete-reinforced buildings

The site was full of what appeared to be ruins from an ancient civilization; however, we knew that the Germans had occupied these buildings no more than 70 years ago. It gave us an eerie feeling to walk on the same footpaths that Hitler had taken not so long ago.  It was one thing to learn about the events and read them in a book, but being there was an intense experience.  The departing Germans followed a “scorched earth” policy, meaning that they wrecked everything so their opponents could not benefit.  We explored and entered a few of the buildings that had managed to survive the destruction. Most of the rooms were dark and cold with stalactites of calcium deposits dripping down from the ceiling. The ground was rough and uneven and large fragments of fallen walls and ceilings formed all sorts of obstacles as we walked. 

Adam chose to test those limits.

 Jadwiga told us the purpose of each building – dining hall, conference rooms, ammunition warehouse, summer residence, etc. – and the places where the high ranking officers and infamous people in power resided.    Even here, where Hitler’s closest associates were gathered around him, there were places off-limits to many. 

Hitler was paranoid, and actually he had good reason to be so, but it was startling to learn that every morning he’d take his German shepherds out for a stroll and everyone had to be at a distance. 

Like all of our intensive experiences, we followed it with a meal.  We found a single restaurant in a nearby town and gobbled delicious Polish foods way too fast.  Then we returned to Folwark Lekuk. 

Folwark and the dreaded pirate kayakers

 Most of us went kayaking.  Paired up, two to a kayak, each couple was distinct in their conquest of the lake: some sped on ahead and showed off, another couple (“the pirates”) got sidetracked by the wind, and some made intimate acquaintance with spiders when they veered into the reeds.  It was an exhilarating contrast to the somber reality of the morning’s lesson.  

For dinner, everyone gathered around a campfire next to lake.  The sun was still shining at 8 p.m. as we all admired the vegetables that had been arranged for us and the sausages that were there to roast over the open fire.  Full of food, exhausted from the exciting day, we all crawled back to our den for a good night's sleep. 

post-meal selfie

Treblinka and driving through the countryside ~ Monday, June 16, 2014

We left Hostel Helvetia and Warsaw in the morning and went off to the northeast region of Poland, the Lake region called Mazury, where we would be spending the next four days (see blog photo above).  It is a beautiful area where Poles and Germans go to vacation.  Our schedule made us confront the huge contrast between natural beauty and horrible historical events.

For the first time, we saw Poland outside of Warsaw. Many of us had no idea that Poland would be so full of green pastures, rolling hills, and lots and lots of cows eating grass. 

Nuclear stork family

The scenery was like out of a dream, complete with giant marshmallows in the fields, which were actually harvested and packed hay that was covered with white plastic to prevent weather damage.  People in this region build huge platforms on their property to encourage migrating storks to nest there.  It is considered good luck.

Inside our own air-conditioned bus, we had our own nests of backpacks, jackets, and music, but even the roads are different than that in America. The highways are typically one lane for each side with no passing lanes or shoulders, so if you’re stuck behind a tractor there’s nothing to do about it except take risks to get ahead. Many of us used the time to catch up on lost sleep, only to wake up from the bus hitting bumps in the road. 

Remnants of Jewish lives

In the middle of forested rural country is the memorial site where the death camp Treblinka once stood.  Now it is a cleared area surrounded by forest, hidden from the world outside so as to hide that it murdered people in secret.  At odds with its horrible past, the place is tranquil and quiet, the sky blue, the sun shining, and birds chirping.  We went through the little museum that showed Treblinka’s history and included a scaled replica of the functioning camp.  The Germans destroyed Treblinka in 1943, so other than documents and memoirs, there were not many artifacts to show its existence: some buttons, spoons, pots, bowls, a star of David tile, surgical equipment.  On display were several broken Jewish tombstones that the Germans had taken from nearby cemeteries and used as the bottom level of the road through Treblinka.  Here they are now being seen by museum visitors, the epitaphs translated, testifying to German desecration and cruelty.

Treblinka’s memorial site has no explanations and signs, so all the elements were open to our own interpretation.  Jagged pillars 6-7 feet high bordered a cobble-stone road like the uneven streets of Old Town.  On the side were big flat stones spaced apart to resemble train tracks. The main site looks like a surreal cemetery: thousands of these rocks appearing like tombstones, many of them inscribed with names of cities, towns, and villages that are arranged in an order we did not understand.  In the midst arises a huge stone sculpture 20-30 feet high.  One side has a menorah (a Jewish candelabra), the other had faces. 

A plaque on the ground in front says, in different languages, Never Again.  In front of the sculpture was a trench filled with a long block of burnt charred wood, rock, and other materials that symbolized Treblinka’s large cremation pits.  Weirdly, during our visit wasps were everywhere, buzzing, low on the ground. For some, this was a haunting reminder of the lives lost, or a sign of disturbed nature.  We could see the signs of respect and grieving left by previous visitors: memorial candles, little stones that Jews place in respect on top of the tombstones, and poems written on stone and clay tablets. Walking through the tombstones was overwhelming and powerful, and no one tried to put it into words.  

Aleisha taking a morning stroll through the garden 

After that, we drove on the winding roads to our lodging, a reconstructed farmhouse called the strange name Folwark Lekuk. There was nothing strange about our delightful rooms, the charming wooden walls and furniture, and the serene lakeside setting, and the stork family living in the nest out front.  

Go Matadors!

As each person dispersed into their rooms, the atmosphere quieted down for only an hour or two until the big of the event of the night took place, The World Cup America vs. Ghana. Our group was divided in its support for the teams. The pressure grew, the tension increased but even so, everyone bonded and conversed through out the night until it was time for bed.

Last day in Warsaw ~ Sunday, June 15, 2014

Sunday was a day that we got more immersed into Polish life, coming face-to-face with people to learn about Poland in a personal way.

One of many beautiful Polish churches

First thing in the morning, we walked up hill to the main street and entered the Holy Cross Church for Sunday mass.  That one single church service provoked a wide variety of reactions.  Some found the mass “wonderful,” while others found it boring or irritating or hard to relate to – then again, it was entirely in Polish!  Those familiar with Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy noted the slight differences in the service and rituals.  We could see that many Polish congregants were deeply moved, including the two Polish people from the hostel who attended, but the school-age kids who were led inside clearly did not want to be there.  All of us agreed that the church was pretty, though not that ornate – where was all the stained glass??  And how could you ignore the fact that there, in the marble pillar next to us, Chopin’s heart was interred?  The rest of his body was buried in France.  Doesn’t that provoke religious feelings in you???

Joseph trying and failing to fit in with the local Poles

From staid, conservative Catholicism, we entered the world of loud, proud, evangelical Christianity.  This is a new phenomenon in Poland.  Our contact was not planned.  Hundreds were gathered in the plaza in front of our destination, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, but they drew us in with their contemporary pop rock, red shirts emblazoned with “Jezus cie kocha,” and inexplicable waving of world flags.

Since we are Americans and used to such in-your-face religious expression, we walked around them and gathered around Donal for a lesson about the Polish Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the key battles commemorated on the plaques.  We strolled through beautiful Saski Park.  We found statues representing fields of knowledge, and all the history majors and Prof. O’Sullivan posed in the shadow of their historical muse. 

Smile for the camera!

They have legos in Poland too?

We continued our journey through town until the Warsaw Uprising Monument, broke for lunch, and met together in Castle Square.  The afternoon’s activity was to be a tour of the city of Praga across the Vistula. 

Once there, we discovered another side of Warsaw.  Praga is like a city in transition, composed of different types of buildings side by side: decrepit old elegant buildings, concrete Communist-era blocky structures, and modern colorful office buildings.  Unsuccessful at finding a renovated Jewish bath house, we did find a building that still had a mezuzah container on the entrance gate. 

But the highlight of the day was hanging out with Polish college students from SWPS (Warsaw University of Social Sciences and Psychology). 

Students from all corners of the world 

Four of them had volunteered to meet us in the college cafeteria, and in short order they offered to show us around Lazienki Park and the Palace of Culture.   

Man, I look good!

The park had interesting wildlife.

We saw peacocks, red squirrels, tiny mice with stripes down their back that darted around the bushes, and friendly ducks.  Bridges arched over beautiful ponds, and fountains sprayed.

Waffles, cream, and warm
toffee sauce - the best!

It was gorgeous, but of course so
was dessert at the café.

We had to hurry to make it to the Palace of Culture look-out tower before it closed at 8 p.m., and we got in the door with 2 minutes to spare.  Luckily they let us stay up there (33 floors high) to marvel at the perfect view of Warsaw on the sunny and clear day.

Stalin's "gift" to Warsaw 

   

The spaceship is actually a soccer stadium!

“Speak to us in Californian,” one of the students asked.  This is strange.  We have accents?  Nonsense.  Our English is the standard version!  While half of them practiced their English on us, the others spoke Spanish to some of us.  What an opportunity it was to meet sweet and friendly people like us who took time to show us around.  We all had a great time.    

Seeing another world together 

The Warsaw Uprising and national art ~ Saturday, June 14, 2014

Poland Pride! 

Go, Poland!  On Saturday we learned about Polish history, nationalism, and food.  Here are the years Poland was independent between 1772 and 1918: zero.   Here are the years Poland was independent after that: from 1918 – 1939, then from 1989 to the present. 

Those side-long looks

Poles have erected monuments and museums to display the war heroes and political leaders of the past.  The museums that we visited on Saturday, the Warsaw Uprising Museum and the National Museum, emphasized Polish ethnicity above all, and they neglect to bring attention to the fact that Poland was also home to Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Jews, and Germans.   Poland today is much more homogeneously Polish (94% of the population), and that’s one reason our group attracts so much attention.  And we’re so obviously American: clothes, hair, backpacks, language, and smiles.  Courtney was pestered by a boy who kept running up to her and shouting random phrases he had learned in his English lessons: “Right turn!”  “Open the door!”

The British Liberator 

As you walk into the Warsaw Uprising Museum, the room vibrates with a heartbeat, immediately sucking into the intensity of the events that occurred.  The museum is full of visuals (photos, videos), documents (letters, lists, maps) and items (weapons, uniforms, sewer covers) that tell about the revolt in an exciting manner.  Riveting objects in the museum include the classical BMW motorcycle with a side car.  Each and every person in our group happily sat on it for a photograph (see our Gallery).  In the basement was a sewer pipe you can crawl through to experience how kids and smaller adults stealthily made their way under Warsaw to bring messages and supplies to people on other sides of the city – lucky for us, the pipe was unrealistically clean. A fighter plane was suspended from the ceiling with moving shadows to simulate spinning propellers.

Rauhman, Jonathan, Lovia, and
distracted Dylan drinking a cup of kawa

Want to travel back in time to 1940s Warsaw?  Stop at the elegant café, complete with ornate decorations and photographs of the sophisticated actors who refused to perform for the Germans, and so served as waitresses and waiters.   Actually, some of the displays were truly frightening, showing Hitler’s collective punishment of thousands of Poles.  To top it off, at the end we saw a short film that showed aerial views of the piles of rocks and bombed out buildings that was Warsaw after the Uprising, resembling the unreality of a Hollywood action movie set. 

Hey Courtney! Who was Jan Matejko?

Jeanette makes a figure come to life (notice the hair)!

After the Uprising Museum we took a tram downtown to eat lunch on our own.  The day was on-and-off rainy and windy, and it was too wet for our planned bike ride, so we went to the National Museum.  Courtney presented her research on the painter Jan Matejko.
His most famous painting was gargantuan, spreading from wall to wall and ceiling to floor, showing the victorious Polish battle against German knights.  There were elaborate, detailed statues of Jesus and other New Testament scenes (one had actual hair on the characters!), Catholic saints, and other biblical figures.  Polish national art includes romanticized pink-cheeked peasants and also more realistic portrayals of the rich and poor.

That evening, we had our Polish pub meal.  We had great appetizers!  We played bonding games.  By then everybody was hangry: that means, hungry and angry because it took so long to get the main course.  When playing Telephone, Krystle chose the phrase “when’s the second course?” and the platters of meat finally landed in front of us. 

Filled to the brim, exhausted beyond our imagination, we retreated to the hostel.  Everybody got a second wind and stayed up until all hours!    

Or you'll be sleeping outside with the Poles! 

Introduction to Warsaw's Jewish history ~ Friday, June 13, 2014

No day is better than Friday the 13th to have our first full day in Warsaw. Most students awoke with the sunrise at 4 a.m., bright and energetic partly wondering why we were all up so freaking early.  Some went out to explore the neighborhood, to find coffee and croissants, and to gaze at the buildings.  The hostel served breakfast at 7:30: fresh rolls, slices of cheese and meat, tomatoes, cucumbers, butter and jam, OJ, tea and coffee.  By 9 a.m. we assembled outside the hostel to walk together to the bus stop unprepared for the long emotional day ahead of us.

The day’s program took us from hell to heaven!  Our Warsaw guide, Kasia, works as a translator of documents hidden in the Jewish ghetto of Warsaw that are held in the archives of the Jewish Historical Institute, and so lucky for us, we got special access to the Institute’s holdings. 

Kasia

First we watched “912 Days of the Warsaw Ghetto,” which showed original photo footage and maps about the fate of Warsaw’s Jews after Nazi Germany conquered Poland.  About 30% of Warsaw’s population was Jewish, and so the walled region of the city in which the Jews were forced to move was pretty large.  It was very difficult to hear about the terrible deprivation and cruelty, to see the photos of emaciated people and dead bodies, the “deportations” of Jews onto trains that took them to death camps, and the massive destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.  For a film being only 37 minutes long, it felt as if we had all aged ten years. 

Unearthed milk cans

Emotionally numbed, we went into a room of photographs of the Jewish people of Poland when they were alive and well.  The historian Emmanuel Ringelblum, who had lived in the Warsaw Ghetto, had hidden Polish and Yiddish documents and reports from Jews in Warsaw and from other Polish ghettos in three metal milk cans and small metal boxes and buried them underground.  Recovered after the war’s end, the documents give the world a glimpse into the lives of these Jews who were so mercilessly killed.  

Anthony absorbed in study

After such a gut-wrenching experience, what greater relief than to go to a cemetery? We took a bus to the huge Warsaw Jewish burial ground dating back to the 17th century. The area was overgrown with tall trees that surrounded the graves that were covered in vines and moss. 

Where o' where could he be?

Many of the gravestones were toppled over and so eroded that they were impossible to read. Unexpectedly, the cemetery evoked feelings of calm and positive sentiment towards the past. The great grandfather of Adam, a member of our group, is buried there, and although we searched, we eventually concluded that it would take a lifetime to find that stone!

Memorial dead tree at the
Gestapo Pawiak Prison site

In hindsight, it is astonishing to remember the next few activities, so we will just list them here and let you all gasp:

(1) we took a tram to the center of town for lunch, stopping on the way to gawk at the memorial site where the Gestapo imprisoned and tortured Polish dissidents;

(2) we took a bus to the Warsaw Ghetto Fighters Monument;

Warsaw Ghetto Fighters Memorial 

(3) seeking cover from the rain, we went into the unfinished Museum of the History of Polish Jews (nice gift shop!);

(4) we walked through the rain to the remains of the bunker of the Warsaw Ghetto fighters, who blew themselves up rather than submit to the Nazis;

(5) and it was all climaxed by a rainy visit to the Umschagplatz memorial — that’s where the Jews were forcibly loaded into trains.  You get the idea.  Thank goodness it was time to return to our cozy Hostel Helvetia!   

The mood of the day changed with the Sabbath evening service and meal at the Nozyk Synagogue in Warsaw.  The regular Jewish Sabbath joy was elevated by a young boy’s Bar Mitzvah celebrated during the service.  In the men’s section on the first floor, our guys joined hands with the other male congregants and guests to dance, and up in the balcony the women in our group urged them on with pride!  Afterwards, we ate together with the Bar Mitzvah family, the chief rabbi of Poland Rabbi Michael Schudrich, and regular members of the Warsaw community — about 45 people crammed into a small dining room with a 5-course meal.  In addition to the lively conversations, we were treated to the boy’s Bar Mitzvah chanting and his father’s loving and warm speech.  The family was so grateful for our presence: we magnified their happiness, and they were a balm for our spirits.

The long festivities caused us to miss the last bus, and we walked back to the hostel in the cool night air.  It was a very good first day with memories that will last a long time.

There are just no words for this.