Krakow, Poland and Auschwitz

Today we have a guest blogger...my faithful travel companion Rachel Esther Silverman. She is here to talk about our experiences in Krakow, Poland including our visit to Auschwitz.

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We arrived in Krakow Saturday night and after my Jewdar failed me we were forced to have a cab take us to our new hotel in the old Jewish distract. (On Friday night my Jewdar was in full effect and landed us on the steps of the one Synagogue in Warsaw just in time for the Shabbat service.) Hotel Kazimier is located in the heart of the Jewish part of Krakow, right off of Estery Street. After arriving we wandered around and found ourselves a nice restaurant where we gorged on stuffed cabbage, potato pancakes, brisket, kanishes, apple blintzes and our new favorite drink - Tatonka, a mix of apple juice and Buffalo Vodka. Then to Bar Propaganda for a few beers. The Jewish area is great, very old cobblestone streets, a park with menorahs as the gate, and the new, hip, trendy place to be. We have decided it is a world wide phenomena that hipsters, artists and young alternative folks find the ghettos everywhere, move into the cheap housing, and create cool neighborhoods.
Yesterday after breakfast we went to explore the Sunday market - very disappointing, unless you are on the lookout for fur coats, which we are not.
Then we went to a pub for some coffee and met a lovely girl Iga who we chatted with for about an hour. When we told her our plans to go to Auschwitz for the day she told us how sad it was there, when we told her we were Jewish she started to cry.
Hoping to take the train to Auschwitz we walked to the station, only to find there was not a train for three hours and it would get us there way too late to see the camps. A cab offered to take us and so yes, we rode in a Mercedes to Auschwitz. Is this irony? Is it wrong? Or is it reparations?? I don't know.
What is there to say about the camps... I think seeing them in winter makes the experience a bit harsher, having an idea of how cold it is here adds to the atrocity of the events. The first few bunkers I walked through were history lessons and so I was able to remain a bit detached and observe. When we finally walked into the room where the artifacts were stored, the hair, the suitcases, the glasses, the shoes, the baby clothes, the ability to observe was lost and I began to feel ill. For the reminder of my time at Auschwitz 1 my chest was tight and my eyes were wet. The gas chamber and crematorium were understandably the hardest part to see. Walking away from there I took Mary's arm in need of some warmth and comfort.
Driving to Auschwitz 2, Birkenau, the polish music coming from the cab's radio was an appreciated distraction. There, you see the vastness of it all. Rows and rows of bunkers. Again, the cold adds to the horror of it. We walked around the camp, the monument over where the gas chamber had been bombed, and along the train tracks. It is a cold and eerie place. Being insides the sleeping quarters and looking at the latrines is something I cannot describe. There are pictures for all to see, but I imagine we have all seen pictures before, they cannot show you how it feels.

Back in Krakow we decided on a warm, comforting meal of borscht and perogies, and more Tatonka. We went to bed early last night, it was a long day. Today we will walk around the city more, and get on the train back to Berlin tonight to meet up with our friends there.

Krakow is city worth exploring. The people are warm and friendly, the architecture beautiful, the Jewish area is still standing - unlike in Warsaw - and a vibrant place to stay, eat, and explore.

Warsaw, Poland.

Rachel and I arrived in Warsaw on December 25th. There was very little happening in the city as Christmas is one of the most celebrated holidays throughout Europe. Arriving in Warsaw was quite a different experience than our initial arrival in Berlin a week and a half earlier. Warsaw was clear still working to modernize and was a mix of eastern and western influences (as opposed to Berlin which has experienced its modern rebirth).

Warsaw was cold, the streets were empty, and on our first night we ate at a restaurant attached to a casino (which litter the streets of Warsaw).

On the bright side, we were staying in the Palonia Palace hotel, and the digs were palatial. We visited the "Uprising Museum" and it was one of the most impressive museums I have ever seen. Our Friday night ended by randomly stumbling upon the one synagogue in Warsaw (well, not so random...Rachel has excellent "jewdar") and were invited to stay to light the Hanukkah candles, Shabbat services and dinner.

After the dinner a few of the young people at the service asked us to join them for a Hanukkah party (which turned into drinks at a bar). We met Regev from Israel and Tamara from Warsaw and Tamara's friend Aggie also from Warsaw (all of whom are now our friends on Facebook...read the "Facebook" post for more on this).

As you look at the pictures from Warsaw (on the blog) you will see images from two full days and many pictures from the experiences detailed in this blog (train to Warsaw, Palonia Palace, Uprising Museum, and evening out).

FACEBOOK.

I recently spend some time trying to explain the virtues of facebook to a friend who is about 20 years older than me. He was having difficulty understanding why I would want to email or "comment" on a wall (he did understand the basics of the set up) when I could just call them, or better yet, not collect friend (or recollect friends) that I might not talk to on a regular basis.

I went through a variety of rationales for the value of facebook. I tried to explain varying forms of social networking and multiple ways of communicating. I am certain I did not sell him on any of these points.

For the past 2 and a half weeks I have been traveling in Europe (as you all know). During this time I have met more than a dozen new people all of who I would like to stay in touch with in one way or another (some I would like to see again and others I would enjoy communicating with). Regardless, of what type of contact I would like to maintain, I have Facebook as a resource. I did not have to trade business cards or write down information, I simply told people my name and that they could find me (or I could find them) on Facebook. I now have friends in Germany, Poland, Israel, and throughout the United States.

This is the value of Facebook.

Germany v. U.S.A. v. Poland

Over the past two weeks we have had a chance to experience two vastly different parts of Europe. We have drawn some preliminary conclusions about each experience, in relation to our lives in the United States.

Pros for Germany:
--highly efficient public transportation
--conscious of conserving energy (i.e: escalators that turn off when not used and light turned off in hotel hallways)
--museums and monuments remembers the past (even the ugly parts)
--Free health care
--Free education (higher education)
--Our Germans (Uli, Lisa, and Nadine)

Pros for Poland:
--unisex bathrooms
--casinos in city centers
--Zubrowka and Apple Juice
--Pierogis
--Multi-lingual youth
--Palaces
--Fur Coats

Pros for U.S.A:
--capitalism
--2 ply paper products
--Warm weather (big bonus)

SORRY.

Now that we are in Poland, Rachel and I have had some time to reflect upon our experiences in Germany. The one that continues to stand out for us happened in the small town of Wittenberg, which we visited on the fifth day of our stay in Germany.

While our tour guide discussed the architecture of one particular building in the historic section of town, including one of the more offensive structures/markers we saw on our trip, we found a placard that our tour guide was unfamiliar with.

It was clear this small sign was placed by an individual (and not an official entity), but no information was provided.

Of course, not much was needed. As our entire group stood around this sign we all laughed and figured this summed up most of our experience in Germany. As you can imagine, this became the mantra for the remainder of our trip.

Berlin--A Second Perspective

(LeeLo and SamRo sighting in Berlin ... someone notify Perez)
















My girl Mallory has also been keeping a blog. To check out her experience in Berlin visit:

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=1509365

FYI: I have never met another person like Mallory...she is forever our LeeLo!

Auf wiedersehen Germany

Today is our final day in Germany. Rachel and I will be headed to Poland tomorrow. We are taking the train into Warsaw, will spend a few days, and then head to Krakow until Dec 29. No decisions have been made about what to do after that but we will see.

Last night we had a nice dinner at our German friend Lisa's home. Danielle (from our trip) cooked for all of us. Our other German (what I have called them throughout our trip..."our Germans") joined us as well.

I think now that the organized portion of the trip is over I can reflect a bit more on the experience here. I will try to make the next few blog postings more about my thoughts and reflections on the trip than just simply the logistics of the experience.

In the meantime, look at pics from Day Five and Day Six. (Day Five was the day that never--barely--ended).

Day Seven--The German Division

8:30am Meeting with Dr. Bernd Florath Office of the Federal Commissioner Preserving the Records of the Ministry for State Security of the GDR. Section Education and Research

11:00am Meeting with Dr. Lehmann-Brauns. Vice President of Berlin's House of Representatives.

5:00pm Reception at Dr. Dagmar Pruin's

Day Six--Jewish Life in Berlin

9:15--Guided tour through the Jewish Museum.

3pm--Hanukkah Service--Jewish Community Center of Berlin.

6pm--Hanukkah Lighting at Brandenburg Gate

7:30pm--Dinner with students from Humboldt University

***The Jewish Museum was impressive, but would have been more so if the day before had not last 38 hours. Note to self: rent a wheelchair next time I visit a museum.

Day Five--Jews visit the Christmas Village

No rest for anyone...good thing its 4am and I am posting this information.

8:15 am
Daytrip to Wittenberg. Wittenberg is a town in the Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt. Wittenberg was the site of Martin Luther's posting of his 95 theses in 1517.

***I think if I were to write 96 theses on the bus ride to Wittenberg, someone would give me a PhD. Too bad I am exhausted and will only be able to sleep on the ride...or watch "Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic" on my ipod.

noon
Visit a Christmas Market.
yay! Kitch for all my people.

7pm
Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" performed by the Barock Orchester Berlin (Stefan Bevier--Conductor).

I am so excited for the symphony in Berlin.
Tomorrow is going to be an amazing day.

Words of Wisdom...

Thank you Dr. Silverman (Rachel's dad) for the advice. we will take it under advisement.

From Dr. Silverman:
You might want to check out the weather before you commit to Istanbul.
You might want to be sure you fully understand drug laws there as well as cultural norms before you head there. Of course, Mary might want to see how nice Utah Prisons are compared to those in Turkey.

Rachel and I are in the midst of deciding where to go after Germany.

Feel free to share your opinion.

1. Munich
2. Istanbul
3. Poland
4. Amsterdam

Day Four--The Reichstag

Day Four
Friday December 19, 2008
Political Germany in a Nutshell

9:00am
Meeting and discussion with Daniel Keriner, Deputy Director German Federal Foreign Office

11:00am
Meeting and discussion with Hans-Ulrich Klose, Member of German Parliament. Depute Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Noon
Reichstag Building. Visiting the German Parliament Building, meeting place of the Bundestag.

4:00pm Shabbat Service
***Today was all about politics, especially foreign policy. Many of the questions were focused on German’s role in contemporary foreign policy and how (if at all) Germany can use their history of genocide as a motivation to be on the forefront of efforts to stop current and prevent future crimes against humanity. It is clear that the participants in this program believe that Germany has a responsibility to the world, not just to Israel and the Jewish community.

Ravensbruck Concentration Camp

Day Three
Thursday, Dec 18
Theme: Remembrance and Beyond

8:30am
Guided tour of Memorial and Museum at former Concentration Camp Ravensbruck.
Ravensbruck was a women’s concentration camp during WWII. The camp is 90km north of Berlin in the village of Ravensbruck. An estimated 6,000 women were killed at Ravensbruck (this was a labor camp, not an extermination camp).

5:00pm Group Discussion about experience at Café Orange.

***Visiting Ravensbruck was an emotional experience. Obviously, there were a number of places/spaces on the tour that were emotional and disturbing—the barracks, labor yards, and crematorium. There were also some more subtle aspects of the experience that were even more disturbing. Ravensbruck is located roughly 300 yards from the nearest village. From outside the crematorium I was able to look across a lake and directly into town. On a clear spring/summer day residents of Ravensbruck could see exactly what was happening, and did nothing about it. The silence and acceptance toward the Holocaust was clear on this day. The second experience that was emotional for me was looking at the exhibit honoring the women who survived and perished at Ravensbruck. One portion of the exhibit was a wall of pictures—head shots—of roughly 40-50 women. Each of these women were photographed shortly before arriving at Ravensbruck, each was somewhere between 25-45 (guessing) and looking directly into the camera. I thought about my great grandmothers, who if they had stayed in Europe during this period could have suffered the same fate.

**I would love for my trip companions to continue to share their experiences here.

Day Two Activities

Here is what we did on Day Two (Wed)

8:30 Welcome Address at the Centrum Judaicum with Dr. Chana Schuetz—Dept Director.

9:45 Empty Space? Don’t Trust Green Grass!
A walking tour with Dr. Dagmar Pruin.

12:30 Meeting with a representative of Embassy of the State of Israel.

2:30 Berlin City Bus Tour with Dr. Richard Campbell (including a visit to the Holocaust Memorial).

7:00 Dinner

Program Participants and Friends

Here is a little information about the people I will be spending the next nine days with.


Danielle: Hippie from the Upper West Side of New York City…right, hippie! Lives with Mom and Dad and works at an organic restaurant, when not traveling the world--via Jewish peace keeping missions. Danielle will one day shave her legs, brush her hair, and get a job…we hope not!

Lauren: 20-something from the suburbs of Boston. Second year at Tufts…keeps telling us she speaks German, but cannot order us a bier…what kind of German are they teaching her? She’s off to Prauge next year for a semester, we hope she fairs better speaking Czech.

Rachel: Best roommate ever. Charming travel companion. Hold all things that I would otherwise lose.

Michal (read: Israel version of Michelle)—Treating this trip like summer camp…which she loves to reminisce about, including but not limited to childhood stints at: science camp, glass blowing camp, lego camp, matchstick art camps, Hebrew camp, and karate camp. Currently, Michel attends Wellesley, embraces trannies and lezies, and all things Jewy. She will one day rule the world.

Noam: Kosher, Canadian, and jetlagged. He is yet to hang out with us.

Mallory: Lindsay Lohan look alike. Steals glassware at every opportunity. Runs every morning and drinks every night. Initially fronts as the JAP of the group…turns out she’s an Italian-Catholic navy brat. Fortunately, she has wooded us all with her keen sense of the German scene and google maps of bars where she likes to “cruise” and inhabit “dark spaces.”

Uli: German guide. Drinks with American friends. Herds Americans around the city. Fascinated with the American product “the keeper.”

Lisa: German guide. Does “laundry” instead of drinking with American friends. Engages in caddy banter about many of the other Americans on this trip.

Day One

Here is a little information about the program.

Program paid for by the German government in an effort to repay the money given to Germany from the Marshall Plan.

Germany Close Up is administered by the Foundation New Synagogue Berlin. It is supported and subsidized by the Transatlantic Program, as part of the German Federal Government European Recovery Program.

www.germanyclouseup.de