Thursday, June 30, 2011
Day 4: Krakow to Budapest
Day 4: the road to Budapest
We were up very early today for a long day's drive from Krakow to Budapest.
But, before hitting the road we stopped for a fascinating visit at one of Krakow's most famous sites: the salt mine. It is very hard to describe but we spent over 2 hours touring the first three levels of the mine, moving from chamber to chamber filled with amazing sculptures created by the miners ... And even an enormous Catholic cathedral ... Located several hundred feet underground. This underground church was the work of 3 miners, working consecutively over the course of 67 years. The huge chamber is replete with iconic Catholic religious sculptures and 'paintings' all sculpted from the mine's salt. Today it is a working church, holding a mass each Sunday and is available to be rented for weddings. Truly, it is a remarkable place. Thanks to Ron Friedman who made sure that this site made the itinerary.
We left Poland and entered Slovakia ... We traveled from north to south across the country as we made our way to Hungary.
We stopped for a great lunch in Donovaly a little ski resort area in the middle of our route through Slovakia. As Debbie said, "it's just like Disneyland but real!"
Finally we arrived about 8p in Budapest where we bid a fond and grateful farewell to our wonderful guide Waclaw (pronounce Vatzlav), who guided us so brilliantly through Poland and said hello to Annie who will be our guide for our weekend stay in Hungary,
Tomorrow ... A tour of Jewish Budapest and Shabbat at Sim Shalom, the progressive synagogue of Budapest.
We were up very early today for a long day's drive from Krakow to Budapest.
But, before hitting the road we stopped for a fascinating visit at one of Krakow's most famous sites: the salt mine. It is very hard to describe but we spent over 2 hours touring the first three levels of the mine, moving from chamber to chamber filled with amazing sculptures created by the miners ... And even an enormous Catholic cathedral ... Located several hundred feet underground. This underground church was the work of 3 miners, working consecutively over the course of 67 years. The huge chamber is replete with iconic Catholic religious sculptures and 'paintings' all sculpted from the mine's salt. Today it is a working church, holding a mass each Sunday and is available to be rented for weddings. Truly, it is a remarkable place. Thanks to Ron Friedman who made sure that this site made the itinerary.
We left Poland and entered Slovakia ... We traveled from north to south across the country as we made our way to Hungary.
We stopped for a great lunch in Donovaly a little ski resort area in the middle of our route through Slovakia. As Debbie said, "it's just like Disneyland but real!"
Finally we arrived about 8p in Budapest where we bid a fond and grateful farewell to our wonderful guide Waclaw (pronounce Vatzlav), who guided us so brilliantly through Poland and said hello to Annie who will be our guide for our weekend stay in Hungary,
Tomorrow ... A tour of Jewish Budapest and Shabbat at Sim Shalom, the progressive synagogue of Budapest.
Day 3: Auschwitz and Krakow
Day 3: Auschwitz/Birkenau and Krakow
Beautiful green fields of death. The cognitive dissonance between the beautiful, green rolling fields of southern Poland and the nightmare that happened there during the Shoah is simply impossible to put in words.
For the better part of 4 hours we walked in silence around the smaller Auschwitz camp and the massive Birkenau death camp (Auschwitz II). We started our tour in the first Auschwitz camp. This camp originally served the Polish military. We were surprised both by the relatively small size of the camp as well as the brick barracks. To be sure life in Auschwitz was horrific and brutal. Pictures lined the wall of men and women who had been brought into the camp. Under each picture was the date of entry and their date of death. Most died within months of their entry. At most someone might live for a year.
As horrific as Auschwitz was ... And as unbelievable as it sounds existence at Auschwitz II (Birkenau) was significantly worse. We moved down the road from Auschwitz to Birkenau with it's nightmarish brick entry under which cattle cars filled Jews from all over Europe would enter. Within hours 75 percent were dead. For those "lucky enough" to be selected to live, they faced existence so cruel and so inhumane that it is beyond comprehension and would seem to be beyond the human imagination. For most, selection to live was only a delayed death sentence as harsh work, lack of food and disease killed most within weeks of their arrival at Birkenau.
Silently we walked the wooden, ramshackle barracks, (whose original purpose was as horse stables) viewed the wood plank 'beds' layered with a sparse amount of straw on which 5 men slept on each level, 400 men to a barrack.
With tear filled eyes we walked around the ruined death factories, destroyed by the SS in the final days of the camp in a vain attempt to hide the evidence of the camp. Fortunately the Soviet Army arrived sooner than expected and they had to abandon their attempt to hide their evil. Several other camps, their task complete, were completely dismantled and trees planted to cover up these killing fields.
We stood and stared down incredulously at the 'undressing chamber' where a thousand at a time were instructed to undress before moving into the 'shower room' from which, of course, they would not leave alive.
And finally, at the far end of the camp, standing in front of the memorial to all who had died we cried as we joined together in a memorial service and laid a wreath in remembrance of the 1.3 million Jewish men, women and children who lost their lives in this terrible place.
It is ironic that on the morning of our visit I received an e-letter from the Middle East Media Research Institute containing a translation of a Saudi News article quoting a 'professor' from that country who claimed that the number of victims of the Holocaust was an gross exaggeration; and a second article by the president of Iran (one who shall not be named) claiming again that the entire thing is a hoax and Jewish conspiracy.
It was a reminder to me of just how important this journey is, just how important it is that we stand strong as witnesses and against all who would seek to deny, or even worse to reenact the horrors that we inflicted on our people.
We were blessed to be led on our tour by a young Polish man whose father, unbelievably survived Auschwitz from it's beginning to end. Arrested as a Part of the Polish resistance he 'served' as a translator and recorder in the camp, surviving death many times by strokes of good fortune. Destined to be murdered at the end of the war as a 'piece of evidence' that had to be eliminated, he was saved when the orders for his death were interrupted by the invading Soviet Army. Since that time this man and now his son have made it their task to teach about the horrific inhumanity of this place.
Our guide mentioned at the end of our stay that he would be coming to Los Angeles in November on vacation. It is our hope that we can prevail upon him to spend an evening with our community. In return we promised to give him a great tour of Los Angeles!
After this emotionally exhausting visit we returned to Krakow for a brief visit to the old Jewish quarter of the city. Here is where Spielberg filmed Schindler's list. Actually the old Jewish quarter was not the Jewish ghetto of Krakow during WW II, but it was much closer to the reality than what now exists in what was the real ghetto.
We visited the small, cramped Orthodox synagogue of Rabbi Moses Isserles who wrote the Ashkenazic gloss to Joseph Caro's shulchan aruch, the 'how to' guide to Jewish life that is an essential resource in every Jewish home.
We also visited the much larger and most beautiful 'progressive' synagogue where we listened to a great klezmer band rehearse for their evening concert as part of the Krakow Jewish Festival. Started in 1988 by a non-Jew, this festival has grown in numbers and popularity every year. It is amazing to think that now, in a city with a Jewish population of about 200 (the pre-war population was about 65,000),that the is this great celebration of Jewish life and culture.
We finished the evening with dinner at the hotel and a brief meeting with Aga, a young, Polish, non-Jewish PhD candidate in Holocaust studies at the local University (the oldest University in Poland). It was fascinating and gratifying to hear from a young Polish, Christian, woman who felt so passionately about remembering, preserving and promoting the teaching of the Holocaust in Poland.
Perhaps, as she said, the Jewish people will someday return to Poland, and see it as something other than a cemetery.
Beautiful green fields of death. The cognitive dissonance between the beautiful, green rolling fields of southern Poland and the nightmare that happened there during the Shoah is simply impossible to put in words.
For the better part of 4 hours we walked in silence around the smaller Auschwitz camp and the massive Birkenau death camp (Auschwitz II). We started our tour in the first Auschwitz camp. This camp originally served the Polish military. We were surprised both by the relatively small size of the camp as well as the brick barracks. To be sure life in Auschwitz was horrific and brutal. Pictures lined the wall of men and women who had been brought into the camp. Under each picture was the date of entry and their date of death. Most died within months of their entry. At most someone might live for a year.As horrific as Auschwitz was ... And as unbelievable as it sounds existence at Auschwitz II (Birkenau) was significantly worse. We moved down the road from Auschwitz to Birkenau with it's nightmarish brick entry under which cattle cars filled Jews from all over Europe would enter. Within hours 75 percent were dead. For those "lucky enough" to be selected to live, they faced existence so cruel and so inhumane that it is beyond comprehension and would seem to be beyond the human imagination. For most, selection to live was only a delayed death sentence as harsh work, lack of food and disease killed most within weeks of their arrival at Birkenau.
Silently we walked the wooden, ramshackle barracks, (whose original purpose was as horse stables) viewed the wood plank 'beds' layered with a sparse amount of straw on which 5 men slept on each level, 400 men to a barrack.
With tear filled eyes we walked around the ruined death factories, destroyed by the SS in the final days of the camp in a vain attempt to hide the evidence of the camp. Fortunately the Soviet Army arrived sooner than expected and they had to abandon their attempt to hide their evil. Several other camps, their task complete, were completely dismantled and trees planted to cover up these killing fields.
We stood and stared down incredulously at the 'undressing chamber' where a thousand at a time were instructed to undress before moving into the 'shower room' from which, of course, they would not leave alive.
And finally, at the far end of the camp, standing in front of the memorial to all who had died we cried as we joined together in a memorial service and laid a wreath in remembrance of the 1.3 million Jewish men, women and children who lost their lives in this terrible place.
It is ironic that on the morning of our visit I received an e-letter from the Middle East Media Research Institute containing a translation of a Saudi News article quoting a 'professor' from that country who claimed that the number of victims of the Holocaust was an gross exaggeration; and a second article by the president of Iran (one who shall not be named) claiming again that the entire thing is a hoax and Jewish conspiracy.
It was a reminder to me of just how important this journey is, just how important it is that we stand strong as witnesses and against all who would seek to deny, or even worse to reenact the horrors that we inflicted on our people.
We were blessed to be led on our tour by a young Polish man whose father, unbelievably survived Auschwitz from it's beginning to end. Arrested as a Part of the Polish resistance he 'served' as a translator and recorder in the camp, surviving death many times by strokes of good fortune. Destined to be murdered at the end of the war as a 'piece of evidence' that had to be eliminated, he was saved when the orders for his death were interrupted by the invading Soviet Army. Since that time this man and now his son have made it their task to teach about the horrific inhumanity of this place.Our guide mentioned at the end of our stay that he would be coming to Los Angeles in November on vacation. It is our hope that we can prevail upon him to spend an evening with our community. In return we promised to give him a great tour of Los Angeles!
After this emotionally exhausting visit we returned to Krakow for a brief visit to the old Jewish quarter of the city. Here is where Spielberg filmed Schindler's list. Actually the old Jewish quarter was not the Jewish ghetto of Krakow during WW II, but it was much closer to the reality than what now exists in what was the real ghetto.
We visited the small, cramped Orthodox synagogue of Rabbi Moses Isserles who wrote the Ashkenazic gloss to Joseph Caro's shulchan aruch, the 'how to' guide to Jewish life that is an essential resource in every Jewish home.
We also visited the much larger and most beautiful 'progressive' synagogue where we listened to a great klezmer band rehearse for their evening concert as part of the Krakow Jewish Festival. Started in 1988 by a non-Jew, this festival has grown in numbers and popularity every year. It is amazing to think that now, in a city with a Jewish population of about 200 (the pre-war population was about 65,000),that the is this great celebration of Jewish life and culture.
We finished the evening with dinner at the hotel and a brief meeting with Aga, a young, Polish, non-Jewish PhD candidate in Holocaust studies at the local University (the oldest University in Poland). It was fascinating and gratifying to hear from a young Polish, Christian, woman who felt so passionately about remembering, preserving and promoting the teaching of the Holocaust in Poland.
Perhaps, as she said, the Jewish people will someday return to Poland, and see it as something other than a cemetery.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Day 2. Warsaw to Krakow
Day 2: Warsaw to Krakow
Following dinner last night we returned to the hotel where we found the lobby buzzing with ... Israelis! A large group of Israeli youth as swell as a large group of Israeli soldiers (in uniform). Many Israeli students and many Israeli soldiers visit this country in order to better understand the imperative of a Jewish homeland. (it doesn't take being here long to gain that understanding!)
Our morning began with. A visit to the Nozyk synagogue, the only remaining synagogue from pre war Warsaw. Built in 1902 the Synagogue survived for two reasons: it was part of the 'small' ghetto from which the Jews were deported and then this part of the ghetto was closed off and secondly because it was used by the Germans as a stable. One of the only 'survivors' of the war it was like all survivors the beneficiary of circumstance and a great deal of Lucks. Today the Nozyk synagogue is an active Orthodox shul for the small Warsaw Jewish community.
We then visited the "new" Jewish cemetery dating to the early 1800s after Jews gained the right to officially live inside the Warsaw city limits and to have their own cemetery there. Approximately 200,000 are buried there, 100,000 from before the war and another 100,000 from the ghetto ... Most of whom are buried in a large mass grave. We also visited the graves of some prominent Jewish and Polish individuals such as the great Hebrew and Yiddish author Y.L Peretz.
We then went to pick up lunch at a beautiful and very modern mall across the street from the cemetery. I couldn't help but think about the fact that this brand new mall was located in what was 70 years ago the ghetto. Such a strange juxtaposition ... As there is all over this city and country. It is impossible for me not to feel it ... To look at the elderly and wonder who they were during the war, too look at apartment buildings that stood inside the ghetto walls, now inhabited by Warsaw citizens and wonder if they know of the tremendous suffering that took place in their building, in their apartment ... Even in their bedroom?
We ate lunch on the bus while traveling to the town of Gur. In the mid-19th century this little town became the capital of one of the most prominent Hasidic movements, the Ger Hasidim. Founded by the great Hasidic master Yitzhak Meir Alterand followed by his equally prominent grandson Yehudah Leib Alter (the Sefat Emet) this is the largest Hasidic group in Israel today.
Only two Jews remain in the town ... One of which we met, hearing his amazing story of resistance and survival in the Warsaw ghetto. Today the 'synagogue' has been 'restored' (really just a large empty room). But it remains a place of pilgrimage for the followers of the Ger rebbes.
After visiting their graves in what remains of a cemetery decimated by the Germans in their search for stones with which to build roads and buildings, we headed off for one more Jewish shtetl, the town of Kuzmir.
Kuzmir is a beautiful little village on the Vistula River a few hours south of Warsaw. Today it is a popular Polish summer vacation spot. In the early 1800s Rebbe Yehezkel ben Tzvi Hirsch Taub founded the Kuzmir-Modzitz Chasidic dynasty. They we're especially known for their musical talents ... And are widely recognized for the beautiful niggunim they composed. Chasidic legend has it that it was members of this group, deported by the Nazis and sent to Treblinka that composed the melody to Maimonides article of faith "ani ma'amin" .
On the long drive from Kuzmir to Krakow we experienced the first of what would be many personal connections when we stopped in the town of Kielce for dinner. This, as it turns out, was the ancestral home of Irv's mother's family.
As we left Kuzmir to begin the 5hour drive to Krakow, we all had a similar sentiment: this would be a beautiful country if it weren't Poland. While much better over the last 20 years, especially with the growing of Democracy, this is still a country steeped in anti-semitism ... Where soccer fans disparage the opposing team by calling them "Jews", where the Nuremberg laws remind in force until 1961, where we could find in a Kuzmirs gift shop little "rabbi statuettes" each prominently holding a bag of coins. Oy. I guess it's not easy to overcome 8 centuries of anti-semitism.
And tomorrow, Auschwitz.
Following dinner last night we returned to the hotel where we found the lobby buzzing with ... Israelis! A large group of Israeli youth as swell as a large group of Israeli soldiers (in uniform). Many Israeli students and many Israeli soldiers visit this country in order to better understand the imperative of a Jewish homeland. (it doesn't take being here long to gain that understanding!)
Our morning began with. A visit to the Nozyk synagogue, the only remaining synagogue from pre war Warsaw. Built in 1902 the Synagogue survived for two reasons: it was part of the 'small' ghetto from which the Jews were deported and then this part of the ghetto was closed off and secondly because it was used by the Germans as a stable. One of the only 'survivors' of the war it was like all survivors the beneficiary of circumstance and a great deal of Lucks. Today the Nozyk synagogue is an active Orthodox shul for the small Warsaw Jewish community.
We then visited the "new" Jewish cemetery dating to the early 1800s after Jews gained the right to officially live inside the Warsaw city limits and to have their own cemetery there. Approximately 200,000 are buried there, 100,000 from before the war and another 100,000 from the ghetto ... Most of whom are buried in a large mass grave. We also visited the graves of some prominent Jewish and Polish individuals such as the great Hebrew and Yiddish author Y.L Peretz.We then went to pick up lunch at a beautiful and very modern mall across the street from the cemetery. I couldn't help but think about the fact that this brand new mall was located in what was 70 years ago the ghetto. Such a strange juxtaposition ... As there is all over this city and country. It is impossible for me not to feel it ... To look at the elderly and wonder who they were during the war, too look at apartment buildings that stood inside the ghetto walls, now inhabited by Warsaw citizens and wonder if they know of the tremendous suffering that took place in their building, in their apartment ... Even in their bedroom?
We ate lunch on the bus while traveling to the town of Gur. In the mid-19th century this little town became the capital of one of the most prominent Hasidic movements, the Ger Hasidim. Founded by the great Hasidic master Yitzhak Meir Alterand followed by his equally prominent grandson Yehudah Leib Alter (the Sefat Emet) this is the largest Hasidic group in Israel today.
Only two Jews remain in the town ... One of which we met, hearing his amazing story of resistance and survival in the Warsaw ghetto. Today the 'synagogue' has been 'restored' (really just a large empty room). But it remains a place of pilgrimage for the followers of the Ger rebbes.After visiting their graves in what remains of a cemetery decimated by the Germans in their search for stones with which to build roads and buildings, we headed off for one more Jewish shtetl, the town of Kuzmir.
Kuzmir is a beautiful little village on the Vistula River a few hours south of Warsaw. Today it is a popular Polish summer vacation spot. In the early 1800s Rebbe Yehezkel ben Tzvi Hirsch Taub founded the Kuzmir-Modzitz Chasidic dynasty. They we're especially known for their musical talents ... And are widely recognized for the beautiful niggunim they composed. Chasidic legend has it that it was members of this group, deported by the Nazis and sent to Treblinka that composed the melody to Maimonides article of faith "ani ma'amin" .
On the long drive from Kuzmir to Krakow we experienced the first of what would be many personal connections when we stopped in the town of Kielce for dinner. This, as it turns out, was the ancestral home of Irv's mother's family.
As we left Kuzmir to begin the 5hour drive to Krakow, we all had a similar sentiment: this would be a beautiful country if it weren't Poland. While much better over the last 20 years, especially with the growing of Democracy, this is still a country steeped in anti-semitism ... Where soccer fans disparage the opposing team by calling them "Jews", where the Nuremberg laws remind in force until 1961, where we could find in a Kuzmirs gift shop little "rabbi statuettes" each prominently holding a bag of coins. Oy. I guess it's not easy to overcome 8 centuries of anti-semitism.
And tomorrow, Auschwitz.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Day 1: Warsaw
Day 1: Warsaw
After a lengthy plane ride from LAX to Frankfurt and then on to Warsaw, we finally arrived at our hotel, where 6 had arrived a day earlier and 2 more arrived about an hour after us. Finally all together, the trip we have all been thinking about for this entire year has finally commenced.
We met our tour guide Waclaw (Vatzlav) ... (oy the Polish, Czech, Hungairan and German spellings are going to kill me!) who will be with us throughout our journey in Poland.
Although half of us were fighting to stay awake, we spent the afternoon touring the remnants of the Warsaw ghetto. We started at the south end of the ghetto where we saw remnants of the wall, there we were met by a 90 year old Polish man who had been part of the Polish resistance during the war.
We then made our way to the north side of the ghetto to see the famous memorial to the Ghetto fighters which stands across from what will in a year or so be a beautiful and impressive new museum dedicated to the history of Jewish life in Poland.
We stood somberly atop Mila 18, the bunker that was the center of resistance. It was difficult to imagine that 100 or so resistance fighters were entombed beneath our feet.
We then made our way to the Umshlagplatz ... the loading area where, every day 58 cattle cars would transport up to 7000 Jews to their death. All told 300,000 Jews crossed that plaza on the way to their death. We held our first of several memorial services, each of us picking a name from the many on the memorial wall, as together we recited kaddish.
It is a strange thing, indeed, to be in this city, to be in this country and to know its history. from the very beginning, almost 800 years ago, Jews were never welcome here ... why did they stay? What benefit was to be gained?
And it was sad to hear our tour guide say that for most Poles there is no real interest in this history. According to him, this is 'our' history not 'theirs'. How is that possible? How can they not see what happened here as part of their history as well?
I guess that those are questions that remain to be answered.
For now, exhausted from a long flight, we will head off to a welcome dinner in Old Town Warsaw before heading off to bed and (hopefully) a good nights sleep. Tomorrow promises to be a fascinating day as we make our way from Warsaw to Krakow ... and along the way, explore the birthplace of some of the most well known and prominent Chasidic movement.
After a lengthy plane ride from LAX to Frankfurt and then on to Warsaw, we finally arrived at our hotel, where 6 had arrived a day earlier and 2 more arrived about an hour after us. Finally all together, the trip we have all been thinking about for this entire year has finally commenced.
We met our tour guide Waclaw (Vatzlav) ... (oy the Polish, Czech, Hungairan and German spellings are going to kill me!) who will be with us throughout our journey in Poland.
Although half of us were fighting to stay awake, we spent the afternoon touring the remnants of the Warsaw ghetto. We started at the south end of the ghetto where we saw remnants of the wall, there we were met by a 90 year old Polish man who had been part of the Polish resistance during the war.
We then made our way to the north side of the ghetto to see the famous memorial to the Ghetto fighters which stands across from what will in a year or so be a beautiful and impressive new museum dedicated to the history of Jewish life in Poland.
We stood somberly atop Mila 18, the bunker that was the center of resistance. It was difficult to imagine that 100 or so resistance fighters were entombed beneath our feet.We then made our way to the Umshlagplatz ... the loading area where, every day 58 cattle cars would transport up to 7000 Jews to their death. All told 300,000 Jews crossed that plaza on the way to their death. We held our first of several memorial services, each of us picking a name from the many on the memorial wall, as together we recited kaddish.
It is a strange thing, indeed, to be in this city, to be in this country and to know its history. from the very beginning, almost 800 years ago, Jews were never welcome here ... why did they stay? What benefit was to be gained?
And it was sad to hear our tour guide say that for most Poles there is no real interest in this history. According to him, this is 'our' history not 'theirs'. How is that possible? How can they not see what happened here as part of their history as well?
I guess that those are questions that remain to be answered.
For now, exhausted from a long flight, we will head off to a welcome dinner in Old Town Warsaw before heading off to bed and (hopefully) a good nights sleep. Tomorrow promises to be a fascinating day as we make our way from Warsaw to Krakow ... and along the way, explore the birthplace of some of the most well known and prominent Chasidic movement.
Friday, June 3, 2011
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