“We can never forgive or forget, but we must live without hatred”

So since I’ve been here a month, I’ve already been two three concentration camps (Auschwitz, Birkenau, and Terezin). Although the first two are connected and not even a half mile apart and the third was a ghetto and work camp for political prisoners, they are still humbling and powerful to visit. Today we visited Terezin, a camp 30 miles north of Prague. This is where most of the Czech Jews and political prisoners were taken and held before the execution of the final solution, when all of them were sent to death camps like Auschwitz. Somehow walking onto the site, a compound that was built in 1780 to help the defense of Bohemia during the Prussian-Austrian wars. After that it was used by the Hapsburg family to hold prisoners and army offenders. It was also used in WWI to house the men who shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand that started WWI. Then the Nazi’s took it over for the use of a ghetto. The buildings are split into two parts, the Main Fortress (Terezin the town) became a ghetto (the holding point for jews) and the Small Fortress, the camp for Political Prisoners (anyone who outright disobeyed the law, they were killed immediately or worked to death). Also this is the camp that the Nazi’s showed to the red cross when they were inquiring about the concentration camps. It was painted nicely and the Nazi’s even complied a band and had artists and authors write plays and operas so that it looked like the Jewish culture was still in tact and that the Nazi’s were giving this town to the Jews as a gift.

Our guide, on this wonderful 60 degree day in late Februrary, was non other than a survivor of Terezin and the Holocaust. He is 84 years old and was 16 when he was sent to Terezin with his entire family of 50 (including extended family) of which only 3 survived, himself, his grandmother and his wife. His story is truly unbelievable. He was taken to the camp in the first batch of prisoners with 15 other men. When they arrived one of the men had written a secret letter to his family and dropped it in the snow hoping someone would pick it up and deliver it. It was picked up, but by a Nazi sympathizer who turned the letter over and all the men were executed except our guide and his friend. He thinks that is because they were carpenters and of use to the Nazi’s.

He was also part of the resistance at the camp. He explained that everyone in the resistance had a specific job and his was to find an escape route because the compound was built so long ago that there were secret passageways. Well, needless to say, he found an escape tunnel. But instead of just leaving once he was out, he went back to tell the others and they got guns so they could protect themselves once they were out of the tunnel because it was heavily guarded. Before they could actually escape, the “final solution” was put into action and he was on a train that was being sent to Auschwitz. But, being the smart man he is, he figured out which car was going to a different camp and he got onto that one instead. This saved his life because he would have been immediately sent to the gas chamber at Auschwitz. He was sent to this other camp where one night the soviet soldiers cut the power supply so over 100 people escaped because the search lights and electric fences weren’t working. This was his third escape.

While we were at Terezin, he took us to the execution field. It was literally a field with a tunnel (“the tunnel of death” to the prisoners) through a hill leading to it. As we walked past the gallows, he pointed out that he had built the steps and platform and he was not proud. Because he was a carpenter he built the gallows that killed his fellow prisoners. This man is truly incredible. On the way back through the tunnel he was walking ahead of the group and stood at the entrance to the tunnel with the sunlight shining through and it was a tear jerking site. The survivor walking out of the shadow of the tunnel of death. Breath taking. That is the part of all three camps that really made me emotional. You can walk around and see the baracks and the cells and the SS offices, but somehow that personal touch is missing. Maybe if I had a relative who was effected by it I would feel differently, but this man was the closest I have gotten. Seeing this man, who is full of life, living a “normal” life after this horrible atrocity, something completely unthinkable to our generation, walking away from death time and time again as if it is no great feat. That is truly amazing. And his final words to us on the bus ride home that we can never forgive or forget, but that a heart must be rid of hatred. That someone must still show love and compassion even after everything they have been through. To forgive and forget is something that is irrelevant but to live in love is something vital to human existence.

A bunch of random things…

1. I just bought a bottle of contact solution, because I was out, for 425 crowns. For those who do not know the conversion, that equals 24.64 USD, 12 British pounds, 16.8 Euros, or 782 Thai Baht. In other words, A LOT OF MONEY. I was a little upset, but its a necessity and I had to buy it. OH well. Some things here are just ridiculously expensive and others are very very cheap. Weird.

2. Everyone here needs to get over the fact that they were under communist rule for a while and go on a vacation. People are almost as cold as the weather. If you smile at someone on the street they look at you with a scowl or like you are crazy. It’s hard to stay positive in such a negative environment. But of course that is not everyone. Some people are really nice and smile back or even give a head nod.

3. The weather seriously needs to get better. It’s been so cold the past few days that its almost impossible to walk outside for more than 10 minutes before you realize you can’t feel your ears or cheeks. My body stays warm more of the time, but it is difficult to keep the face warm.

4. People are obnoxious chewers. I know it’s a random thing, but its true. Didn’t your mother ever tell you to chew with your mouth closed? I guess not.

5. We went to a 80’s 90’s dance video club this weekend, and it was AWESOME! I had so much fun, minus the wreaking of smoke when we left and that we didn’t get back until 4 am. I went with a bunch of other girls from the program and we had a ton of fun just dancing and watching the hysterics that were 1980-2000 on a jumbo screen. It was fantastic.

6. I’ve taken a liking to dried pears and Nutella. Not together, but individually. Yummy.

That’s all for now. I hope life in the states is going well for everyone and that you enjoy the smiles on the street and the sunny days because its not like that everywhere in the world : )

Polska

Myself and two other girls on my program went to Krakow this weekend, everyone else went to Berlin. It was really fun…a few mess ups but nothing to cry about. We arrived in Krakow on Friday morning at 6:45 am after an over night train ride with a couchette sleeper car. We wound up having a six person cabin all to ourselves so we folded up some seats and made it more comfy. I didn’t sleep well at all, but I think its because I was excited and anxious to get there. When we got in we took a taxi to our hostel (The Stranger Hostel) but when we arrived no one was answering the bell so we found a cafe and got coffee and pastries until we could check the address and phone number at an internet cafe, but that wasn’t open until 8 am so we planned out our days in Krakow, sitting at the Friends Cafe at 7 am. When we finally went to the internet cafe, Ashley checked her email and saw that it had said that the hostel had changed locations. So we walked across the entire city to go to the correct place. It was our own little walking tour of the city center.

Then we got to hostel and the people were really nice there so they helped us book a trip to Auschwitz and the Salt Mines for Saturday. The tour was only 180 zlaty which is like $75 USD for both places including tours and transportation to and from. By 12 we were ready to crash but kept ourselves up so we could sleep well that night. We did some touristy stuff like walked around the center square market and up to Wawel Hill which is where the castle is. It costs a lot of money to get into the castle so we just went into the church on the top of the castle because it was free. It was really pretty. I lit a candle for Grandma. We also tried to go to the “dragon’s den” (I think its a kiddie type thing because the dragon is the symbol of Krakow) but it was closed. That night we went to a little bar and got some polish beers, but the one brand was awful (Tynska sp?) and the other one was good (Zyniec sp?). I got a mug of the good one. The place we went was a Jazz bar, but there was no jazz that night. Then we had a really really good sleep that night in the hostel with the room to ourself.

Saturday we got up early and took a bus to Auschwitz and Birkenau, the two concentration camps that are within a 1/2 mile of each other. We had guided tours at both and it was a very humbling and sad experience. I got to thinking a lot about the world and things are being done now that are similar to then, not as severely, yet. I also felt very awkward taking photos, so I only took a few. After the camps we took a nap on the bus ride back to the city and switched to a little bus that took us to the salt mine. It was really neat. It’s a very long, deep, huge salt mine. Doesn’t sound that cool, but it was awesome. The air was really fresh and it felt good to breath opposed to the sooty air of the city. And the last chamber we went into was an underground chapel. It was awesome, everything was carved out of salt. They said that you can have a wedding there but I bet it would be super expensive. They also had a sculptural representation of DaVinci’s last supper and it was amazing.

That night we were tired again but we got pirogies from a little pirogi place that was awesome. I got cheese and potato and I ordered a salad but it was just a bunch of shredded carrots….and oranges. Weird. Anyway…that night we went to another bar and had good beer again with good people and good conversation. When we got back to the hostel, we saw other bags and suitcases in our room so we knew that there would be other people staying with us tonight. So we go to bed and then at like 2 am were woken up by snoring, but I stayed asleep because I had my ear plugs in, I was lucky, but Ashley and Katiri woke me up because they were trying to get the other kid to stop snoring. Turns out they were Irish and the kid never woke up. No one slept well the rest of the night, but we had to get up and to the train station for an 8 am train to Warsaw for the day.

We got up with plenty of time but somehow we were running to make the train and just barely got on. I almost had an asthma attack. Then we took a 3 hour train to Warsaw. We got into Warsaw, exhausted and tried to get a map and see if we could switch our train to an earlier time so we could get back to Prague that evening, instead of early Monday morning. We couldn’t so we just walked around the city and wound up stumbling around for a while and found the castle and the church and some other sites that were part of the older town. Nothing is really that old because the entire city was destroyed in WWII. The day got better after that. Then we went to pizza hut because we were starving and Ashley only had a credit card. On the way back to the train station we watched people ice skating but we didn’t go because it was getting close to our train departure time.

We get to the train station and hang out by the track only to discover we were two hours early. I had the wrong time on my watch and no one else noticed, so we just went down to the platform. Then we noticed the time and it was two hours early so we hung out in the train station for an extra hour. We got french fries at a little stand but the man gave us sugar instead of salt, so we had sugar fries. oops. The train ride back was just as long, but I slept more and yesterday morning we arrived back in Prague at 6:45 and I went back to bed until I had to get up for my 10:30 class. The weekend was not relaxing, but was definitely fun. You take the good with the bad and make the best of it. I’m surprised with how well I stayed happy during the trip considering how exhausted I felt. Who knows the next time I will get back to Poland, the land of my ancestors, so I made the most of it while I was there.

Side note: I did not see anything with Trawinski on it, although I kept my eyes out. And I was going to get something for the cousins, but the prices of cheap touristy knick knacks are very high considering the money I have. I guess photos will have to do.

Cesky Krumlov

So we just returned from Cesky Krumlov, a small small town two hours south of Prague in Southern Bohemia.  Its main attraction is a huge castle, the second biggest in the Czech Republic (next to Prague Castle). The town only has 300 inhabitants and mostly tourists, like us. It was really cute town. After WWI the town and some surrounding territory was given to Germany. But at the end of WWII part of the plan for self determination was that Czechoslovakia got the territory it lost in WWI back. After that, the German speaking citizens moved back to Germany so many of the towns (including Cesky Krumlov) were practically deserted. During the communist era the town was inhabited by Roma people (gypsies) who didn’t pay anyone to live there so the town got really run down. After the fall of communism in 1989, a new major was elected who was a former banker. He’s the one responsible for rebuilding the town and historically preserving all the buildings and rebuilding them according to the original architecture and structure. Since then it has been a very large tourist attraction.

Now that I sound like my father… the history is astounding. I think thats the most history I’ve retained from any history lesson…ever.  It makes the US look like a baby. Nowhere is there an entire town still preserved from the 1300’s because no white people were there and we wiped out the Native Americans. People act like its no big deal, but it is. I’m starting to get used to it now, but sometimes when I’m on the tram crossing the river at the right time of evening, the sun hits the castle up on the hill and it truly takes my breath away (very cliche, i know, but somehow the only words I can think of).

So in Cesky Krumlov, we toured a beer factory from the 1300’s (Eggenberger) that is still in working order, took a tour of the museum, ate dinner all together at a sweet restaurant, danced with a gypsy band, toured the castle and royal theater from the baroque period (best preserved theatre in Europe), and drove through the countryside. It was all very picturesque and beautiful. It was sunny which was a wonderful change from the dark dreary weather we’ve been having, but still cold.

I will try and post pictures once I stop being lazy and load them onto my computer. Hope all is well in the states : )

America

I miss clothes dryers. A lot. We bought the cheap detergent and it makes our clothes smell like poop. And we have to hang up everything to dry so nothing gets tight, all jeans and everything are super loose already. I’m going to try and find a laundromat so I can just dry my jeans, at least, so they don’t stretch out super big.

I’m still having a good time though : ) We’re going to Czecky Krumlov this weekend for sunday night, no super bowl for me. It should be fun. Apparently its an old old town and is very picturesque so I’ll have to post some more when we get back.