Thoughts on Little Jewish Men Statues

Throughout Prague and Krakow, little shops have statues, toys, magnets, and even puppets of Jewish.  At first glance, they are cute, but they are disturbing, haunting even.  Little rabbis.  Little Klezmer musicians.  Little money changers.  Toys of a people who once lived here and are no more (The present day Jews of Prague and Krakow do not resemble these little men.).  In Prague, one shop had rabbi puppets hanging above Pinocchio and other fairy tale characters.  In Krakow, there are figures of saints and angels near the men.  The saints and angels are venerated.  What of the little Jewish men?

Trains

How oddly appropriate that we entered Poland by train.  We arrived tired, dirty, kvetching....  This was our third (and last) train ride.  On this trip, we were three to a sleeper car.  We had small bunks, a smelly bathroom down the hall, and even coffee or tea and rolls in the wee hours of the morning.  Sleep was difficult for most of us - impossible for some.  I tried to let the movement of the train lull me.  Yet, no matter how much we complained, many of us thought of the relative luxury in which we arrived as we mimicked the lives of some German Jews - Germany east to Prague/Terezin and then farther east ....

Terezin (July 10)

I have been intrigued by the camp/ghetto of Terezin (Theresienstadt in German) for some time.  This was a place like no other.  Founded as a military city in the late 1700s as defense against the Prussians and named for the Austrian Princess Maria Theresa (the "Grandmother of Europe"), the Nazis expelled the local population and brought the first transport to Terezin in November of 1941.

The Small Fortress was used (for the most part) for political prisoners, and life was brutal.  It was almost like an execution camp.  Of the 32,000 prisoners to pass through the Small Fortress, 1,500 were Jewish.  Our guide, Petra, was excellent.  She led us through the buildings and calmly explained the horror that had transpired.

When we went to the Museum in the main fortress city, I was quite surprised to find that the whole place is not a memorial/museum.  Some of the buildings were stores and homes.  I wasn't sure what to make of this.  I'm still sure what to make of this....

Terezin was the only camp/ghetto.  Families were resettled to Terezin, many from Prague, but Terezin was also a transit camp, a stopover before being sent on to Auschwitz and other killing centers.  Also unique to Terezin was the rich cultural life.  The art and poetry that was created here is amazing.  Such talent.  Such a waste.  In the museum housed in the Magdeburg Barracks, I was drawn to the many dolls that the children had created.  The dolls seemed to have a life of their own, almost as if they were carrying on the lives of their creators.

In June of 1944, the Red Cross inspected the camp/ghetto.  It was great propaganda for the Nazis.  They could show off their "model" camp.  Before the visit, many were deported from Terezin.  The streets were beautified:  buildings were painted, flowers were planted, a playground set up, etc.  As soon as the Red Cross left, everything went back to the way it had been.

Prague (July 9)

Unlike many other major European cities, Prague was not bombed during WWII (with the exception of 2 bombs that were intended for Dresden and landed on Prague by mistake).  Prague is an extremely beautiful city with an almost Disney-like quality, especially the Clock Square.

We spent quite some time strolling the Jewish Quarter - or fighting the crowds of other tourists. Though there is a small Jewish community today (according to our guide - about 2,000 in Prague, 6,000 in the Czech Republic) with two "working" synagogues - one Orthodox and one Liberal, the Jewish Museum consists of five synagogues and the Jewish cemetery. The cemetery holds the remains of 12,000 Jews who lived in Prague from 1300-1750.  The stones are Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque.  It is here that Rabbi Judah Loew is buried.  He is probably best known as the creator of the Golem, the legendary clay "Superman" who protected the Jews of Prague.

In March of 1939, the Nazis occupied this part of what was then Czechoslovakia.  There were 92,000 Jews in Prague (20% of the population).  About 2/3 of them perished.  The synagogues of Prague were not destroyed.  It was here that the Nazis wanted to build their "Museum to an Extinct Race."  The synagogue buildings were used as warehouses to hold all of the Judaica that was stolen and collected for this "Museum."   Happily, today, we can see the Jewish Museum as a celebration of Jewish life.

In Prague, I found my first (and only, actually) "Stumble Stone" (or stolperstein in German). These "stones" are memorial markers in front of buildings where Jews and other Nazi victims lived before the war.  The stolperstein can be found throughout Europe, and the one I found was only a block from our hotel.  I literally stumbled upon it.  This woman, Marie Elisakova, was born in 1883, deported to Lodz in 1941, and she died there.  I searched for her in the Yad V'Shem database, but I couldn't find her.  At least we know and can remember her name.

YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW

Yesterday - 

You were here

In this town

On this street.

Today -

You are gone.

Today -

I am here.

In this town

On this street.

Tomorrow - 

I will tell the world.

Real Time 3 (Home Again)

I've been home for a couple of days, now, and I have begun updating some of the older posts with pictures. It will take a bit more time to get through everything....

Berlin (July 8)

Berlin is an eclectic, cosmopolitan European city.  So much going on.  So much growth and construction, especially in the former East Berlin.  And yet, wherever you turn in the heart of the city, echoes of the Nazi past jump out at you.  A few Nazi-era buildings still stand, and the Reichstag (parliament) overshadows the city, in spite of (and because of) its new dome.  Almost next door to the American Embassy (where we had a very interesting briefing in the morning) is the Hotel Adlon -- Hitler's favorite in Berlin.  Famous/infamous sites with a "colorful" (dark) past.

Tiergartenstrasse 4 was the bureaucratic headquarters of the T-4 program (named for this address).  It was all the more menacing after our recent visit to Hadamar. Though it is not these buildings that we focus on.

The Tiergarten Park is across from the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag.  Inside the park, in view of the Reichstag, is the Memorial to the Sinti and Roma (gypsy) Victims of the Nazis.  It is peaceful, tasteful, and reflective.

A few blocks down the main street Unter den Linden (Under the Linden) at the Babelplatz (surrounded by the Opera House, St. Hedwig's Church, and a building of Humboldt University) is an almost hidden memorial to the burning of books on May 10, 1933.  Book burning is a very powerful statement.  It is the destruction of ideas, thoughts, creativity -- individuality.  Books are windows into the past, present, and future.  It is through windows set in the stones of the square that we can bear witness to the emptiness that would be found in a world without books.  Ironically, across Unter den Linden, across from the main buildings of Humboldt University, tables were set up and people were selling books.

St. Hedwig's church, in the same square, is a mere ten minute walk to the Reichstag, yet after Kristallnacht, he publicly prayed for the Jews.  He also protested against persecution of the Jews and against the "euthanasia" program.  He was arrested and died on the way to Dachau.

Real Time 2

I am still behind with this blog; though given the intensity of this trip, no one should be surprised.  Again, I'm not sure I will have internet at each hotel, so I may get even further behind.  Eventually, it will all get written.

Here's a very quick run down of where we've been.

Monday (7/8) was out last day in Berlin.  We had a briefing at the US Embassy, and then saw the memorial to the Sinti and Roma (Gypsy) victims of the Nazis and the book burning memoriial.  In the afternoon, we took a train to Prague, Czech Republic.

Tuesday (7/9) - Jewish Prague.

Wednesday (7/10) - the camp/ghetto of Terezin. Night train to Krakow, Poland.

Thursday (711) - Jewish Krakow.

Friday (7/12) - Auschwitz/Birkenau (Overwhelming and emotionally draining).

Today, Saturday (7/13) - Museum of Wartime Krakow in the former Schindler factory and the Galicia Museum (both excellent!).

Tomorrow, Sunday (7/14) - Belzec (extermination camp).

Ravensbruck & Sachsenhausen (July 7)

Not so far from Berlin are two former concentration camps, Ravensbruck and Sachsenhausen.  While neither camp is as well known as Auschwitz (where, in reality, we will be tomorrow, July 12th) or Bergen Belsen (where we were last Friday), both were horrific.  Ravensbruck was set up for female political prisoners, and Sachsenhausen was set up for male political prisoners.  By the end of the war, However, the make up of both camps had changed.

There are a few (more than a few, really) very disturbing things about these camps.  Being so close to Berlin, the heart of the Nazis, Ravensbruck and Sachsenhausen were the "training ground" for the SS.  The female guards at Ravensbruck were particularly brutal, and unspeakable medical experiments were conducted.  In addition, the local populations are a mere stone's throw away.  So close they could hear and smell what was happening inside the camp.

By contrast the countryside is lovely.  Ravensbruck is at the edge of a lake.  A lake used as a dumping grounds for the ashes from the cremetorium.  (Ravensbruck had no gas chamber, but many - too many - died, and the bodies were burned.) There were kayakers on the lake, and none of us knew how to deal with people enjoying this wet grave.

Berlin (July 6)

The sun was shining when we woke up on our first morning in Berlin.  This was the first clear, beautiful day we'd had so far.

Our first stop was the Olympic Stadium, built by the Nazis for the 1936 Olympic Games.  The stadium is quite impressive -- very powerful propaganda!  and, thanks to the weather, the view from the tower was incredible.

We then went to the villa in the suburb of Wannsee where the details for the "Final Solution" were finalized.  Wannsee is a wealthy community along a lovely lake -- a European version of the Finger Lakes.  I was rather apprehensive about this stop.  I knew I needed to see the site, but I didn't know how I would feel about entering a place of evil - the hatching of evil on such grand magnitude.  The villa has been turned into a place of education.  Most of the museum is devoted to Holocaust education.  The room where the Wannsee Conference took place (the dining room) does go into great detail about the meeting and its attendees.  I didn't realize it at the time, but I spent the least amount of time in that room, and I couldn't bring myself to read many of the details.  I did buy the impressive museum catalog, so I can read the same details in a "safer" environment.

In the afternoon, we went to the Track 17 memorial. Here was where Jews from Berlin were deported to many different points east.  The memorial is simple and powerful.  Along the track are markers giving the date of each deportation, the number deported, and where the train was going.  The track isn't used anymore (there is a new station just down the street), and trees are growing along the rails.  An affirmation that no train will travel this way again.

Our last stop of the day was Berlin's Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.  A field of stones.  Some are tall and some are flush with the ground. They are a maze in the middle of the city.  People walk all around -- tourists and a Beliners, young and old. Children run an play amongst the stones.  The memorial is abstract and allows the visitor to interpret it.  I felt no initial affinity to the place, though I was expecting to feel something.  I actually felt nothing as I entered one of the many pathways through the stones.  But I didn't enter alone.  I was with four women from my group. Together we were able to interpret and understand.  The stones seem to rise and fall.  It can all be analagous to the Holocaust -- choices, ups and downs, no way out.  The stone felt warm when in the sun and cool in the shade.  As we walked and talked, I began to appreciate the memorial.    Then, our group went down to the memorial's underground exhibit.  This is very well done and quite moving.

We ended our Berlin tour with a stop at the Memorial to the Homosexual Victims of the Nazis.  The memorial is in the park (Tiergarten) across from Brandenberg Gate (very close to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and the US Embassy).

Real Time

Since I am so far behind with this blog, here's a quick update of where we are and what will be posed soon (I hope).

We were in Berlin from the night of the 5th until the afternoon of the 8th.  We took an afternoon train to Prague on the 8th, and this evening we'll board an overnight train to Krakow.  We've seen and done so much, so explanations and thoughts (and eventually pictures) will come.

Train to Berlin (July 5)

From Bergen Belsen, we drove to Hanover to catch the train to Berlin.  The Hanover train station is like a mall full of shops and eateries.  We had a quick dinner (a few of us went to a fantastic bakery cafeteria) before our 7:30 pm train.  The train was quite late, with a last minute quite hurried track change, and we finally pulled into Berlin a little after 11 pm.

On the train ride, I pulled out a draft article our group member Matt had written about the liberated train.  The article is entitled, "A Train Near Magdeburg."  I glanced up just before starting to read -- and we were pulling into the Magdeburg station!

The Berlin train station is new, modern, and huge.  So different from Hanover!  Instantly, we felt transformed.  We were in a bustling, modern European city.