Special Guest Post: Chris Love

10 Days with Bridget

From the Carpathians to the Baltic Sea, from the depravity of Auschwitz in the south to the miracle of Solidarity in the north, Poland provided amazing sights and rich history. For 10 days Bridget and I traveled the country beginning and ending in Krakow, while visiting Warsaw, Gdansk, and Sopot, with a side trip via overnight train to Prague in the Czech Republic.

 Upon arriving in Krakow Bridget brought me to the Center for European Studies at Jagiellonian University where I met some of her professors and classmates, JU was established in 1364 or about 300 years before Europeans were steadily scrambling ashore in North America. We spent a transition day touring around Krakow 

and getting organized for a 6 day adventure to begin with the morning train to Warsaw. Train travel in Europe is all it’s cracked up to be and this train was clean, quiet and fast.

                               

By the end of World War II Warsaw, Poland’s capitol and largest city, was a smoking pile of rubble. 80% of the buildings were destroyed. The Nazis deliberately set out to destroy the city as punishment for two separate uprisings, first the Jewish Uprising in 1943 (Warsaw Jewish Ghetto) and in 1944 the Warsaw Uprising. Our visit to the Uprising Museum was a chilling lesson in that period of Warsaw’s history. Our visit to the Jewish Ghetto and the monuments and memorials to the brave people imprisoned in that ghetto was equally chilling and somber.

Warsaw was rebuilt under the Communist regime established by the Soviet Union with cheap prefabricated housing and lack of imagination. Although an effort was made to restore Warsaw’s historic Old Town to its former glory and it is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

We stayed at, gotta love this name, the Oki Doki Hostel our first night in town, located near the beautiful Royal Way and Old Town. We visited the University of Warsaw which has a lovely campus, drank molten chocolate at the E. Wedel’s flagship confectionary store, ceremoniously turned our backs on the former headquarters of the Communist government, toured 13^th c. churches and sites in Old Town and New Town; Bridget even walked down a long flight of stairs that Napoleon Bonaparte once strolled.

After 2 days in Warsaw we headed for Gdansk on an early morning bus. Polski Bus brought us in a clean, comfortable coach through rolling farmland reminiscent of the American Midwest. Gdansk was another ancient city, destroyed during WWII, this time largely by Allied bombs liberating it from Nazi occupation. Impressive medieval fortifications protected this city for hundreds of years; and we visited a church built in the 1300’s that can accommodate 25,000 worshippers. The highlight for me was visiting the Gdansk Shipyards.

Solidarity was born here; Gdansk is where shipyard workers fought for freedom from 45 years of Soviet occupation, and where Poland contributed to the eventual downfall of the Soviet Union. I remember Lech Walesa from the ’80’s and the stories of shipyard workers falling to Soviet tanks in their battle for freedom. We stood where this struggle occurred – Lenin Shipyard #2. We walked the grounds while I tried to imagine what it must have been like. 

                        

                               

              

We lingered at the Monument to Shipyard Workers, in no hurry to leave. Near the Monument are sections of the Berlin Wall and the Lenin Shipyard #2 Wall – prompting some reminiscing about when I was in West Berlin in 1988 standing at the actual Berlin Wall looking into East Berlin stunned by how drab and lifeless the city controlled by the Soviet Union appeared.

The next stop was Sopot, a seaside resort just a short train ride away. A little early in the season to be at a seaside resort in Poland but we both wanted to see the Baltic Sea – we did, it’s big.

Standing on the beach we looked back at a resort hotel, the same hotel at which Hitler stayed shortly after Germany started WWII by invading Poland from the Baltic Sea at nearby Westerplatte. Sopot had the feel of a seaside resort anywhere, we enjoyed strolling the Pier, had a delicious seafood dinner and a decadent desert of waffles topped with cream and fruit.

                             

After 2 days we flew from Gdansk back to Krakow in time to take a tour of the famous Wieliczka Salt Mine. This mine has been producing rock salt and has been operated by the same company for 700 years. As unbelievable as it may seem everything in the picture is salt – the walls, the floor, the stairway/banister/railing, the carvings, the chandeliers – at this point we’re about 300 feet below ground. It was a fascinating tour and a must-do for visitors to Krakow. And yes, if you lick the walls it tastes like salt. 

After flying from Gdansk to Krakow and touring a 700 year old salt mine, it was time for Bridget to pack me off on the overnight train to Prague, Czech Republic. The overnight train was a hoot. I shared a cabin with berths about the size of side-by-side bathtubs with a stranger who spoke no English. The train departed Krakow at 10pm and there’s not a lot else to do except sleep so pretty quickly that’s just what we did, made our beds, changed into our jammies and went to sleep. At 7am we pulled into the train station in Prague. Despite the coziness I’m a fan of overnight train travel – you have to sleep somewhere and you wake up in an entirely different city.

In Prague I was on my own. Bridget had been in charge of the guide books, making reservations, and generally choosing every time we had to decide whether to go left or right as wandered around cities. I lingered a while in the train station before venturing out, wishing she was with me. With tourist map in hand I eventually set off with a plan – head for the old town square, work my way through the Jewish Quarter to find the Old Synagogue (c.1270), over the Vltava River to see the Prague Castle (first masonry dating to c.885), St. Vitas Cathedral (c.1344) and Franz Kafka Museum; cross the Vltava again on the Charles Bridge (c.1375), work my way back through Old Town, and eventually wander back to the train station for another overnight train back to Krakow. Mission accomplished.

The overnight train back to Krakow was plush. I had the cabin to myself, there was a little sink in the cabin with water bottles, and they served coffee at 7am. I slept well, woke up ready to go and magically back in Krakow.

The plan for the day was tour Krakow’s sites, the Jewish Ghetto and Schindler’s Factory. Bridget was in her element here – no tourist map needed. She brought me to Wawel Castle (14^th century) and Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Stanislaus and Wenceslaus on grounds where a church has stood for 900 years.

You can’t walk around a former Jewish Ghetto without wondering what would justify such treatment of people. The Schindler Factory tour was interesting but I can’t help partially seeing Schindler as a war-profiteer, made rich by the existence of Nazi Germany and the brutal treatment of Jewish people. I was to learn the next day that a Jewish Ghetto didn’t approach the madness of a concentration camp.

The next day we toured Auschwitz. Auschwitz-Birkenau was awful – what happened there was depraved. I’ve seen movies, I’ve read books, I know a bit about WWII history. None of that adequately prepared me for seeing it. Initially I took pictures, I stopped – eventually I began to quietly cry as we walked the camp, the housing blocks, the torture cells, and the killing wall. My reaction wasn’t unique. We walked into the crematorium through the same entrance that so many imprisoned, enslaved souls did 65 years ago. We moved through a doorway from the crematorium to the ovens. Shortly after that something inside me broke. I began weeping in Bridget’s arms. Thankfully she was there; I needed her strength at that moment. We both know something fundamental in our relationship changed at Auschwitz. Visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau will change a person.

Bridget and I made it back to Krakow, had a late dinner, and walked the ancient cobblestone streets of Old Town talking quietly, looking for some balance. Ice cream seemed in order – it’s always been comfort food for us - we found Krakow’s E. Wedel store and dug in.

Zapiekanka

I was set to fly home in the morning. Saying good night and good bye to Bridget was hard. We lingered talking, reminiscing. Of all the places we went, of all the sites we saw, of all the experiences we had – simply being with her was the best part. Our baby has become a strong young woman, a strong young woman capable of taking care of her dad when she had to. I love you Bride. Thank you for sharing your world with me for 10 days. Let’s do it again sometime!         

 -Chris Love (Dad)

A Walk Around the Krakow Ghetto

Independent Study- "Krakow Ghetto-Through the Eyes of a Tourist"

What do tourists see?

For me now, I feel more like a student observer than an actually tourist but of course you could still find me walking around with a map and book in hand as I made my way around Podgórze in the area of the ghetto. 

Today, April 20th, 2012, was a beautiful spring day in Krakow, rounding off at a sweltering 60 degrees fahrenheit. Yesterday was the "March of the Living" so there are a lot of tour groups and young people throughout Kazimierz and Podgórze today. The other day, I went to the Jewish Community Center and the Galicia Jewish Museum for a field trip with one of my classes. At the JCC, we meet the director and got the low-down on what the JCC is all about. He was saying how here they try to be very contemporary and energetic about the future and living for today rather than through the past. One memorable quote from the director was "Poland is not only a cemetery." Right in the entryway to the JCC, there is a sign directed to the March of Living folks persuading them to "come inside and see some Jewish life." Here, being a Holocaust survivor is not the first thing you use to introduce yourself. They are really avid about living for today and having a thriving Jewish life once again in Krakow. 

I started traveling by tram to get to Podgorze, but decided to take a pit stop in Kazimierz (for bagels at Bagel Mama of course). Besides having food direct my life, I thought that it would be appropriate for me to walk across the bridge over to Podgorze.                                                           

I decided to walk the path to the ghetto the way the Krakow Jews were forced to go, carrying their belongings into the new "Jewish residential area."

The Krakow Ghetto: 

Plac Botaterow Getta (Plac Zgody)

This sqaure, which is the first thing you see as you enter Podgorze was the largest open space in the ghetto. For this reason, the inhabitants would often gather here in the early days to relax, socialize, and breathe fresh air. It was in this square however, that the Germans assembled thousands of people for deportation to the concentration camps. This site witnessed some of the most horrific scenes of the ghetto. Today, it is marked with a memorial consisting of 70 eerily empty metal chairs. These chairs represent that furniture and other remnants discarded by the deportees as they were forces onto trains being sent to the unknown. Deportation, Leave-Taking, and Remembrance of the Absent is what one experiences while walking through the empty rows of chairs. 

Remnants of the Ghetto life and times have blended well back into Podgorze. For example, the building were the Headquarters of the Jewish Combat Organization was located right off the Plac Botaterow Getta now houses a pizzeria. The building is commemorated by a plague on the front of the building but it was easy to miss because of the red balloons that the pizza restaurant places strategically in the way, attempting to promote their restaurant. Luckily, I was able to spot it because wreaths of remembrance were left in front of the plaque. 

As I started my self-guided walking tour, I noticed that I was along venturing through the side streets and definitely was taking the path less traveled on. Doing a self-guided tour was also difficult because of course most sites weren't marked or easily recognizable, I had to do a lot of retracing my steps. I got lost easily. 

One of the most prominent places that I stumbled upon was the second part of the surviving Ghetto Wall, which is located behind a school, acting as a border for the playground area. I knew that this irony was only by chance, but i took it as a bold statement of remembrance, and found it very eery but also very serene and appropriate that a playground would be located next to the wall. Remember the Children. Children were among the first to be sent to the gas chambers and those who were chosen to fall into the hands of Dr. Mengele's experiments. As I entered the park, it was filled with a group of young people on a tour and families with children at play. Some were climbing on the wall like it was just part of the landscape. I decided to sit and take in this interesting contrast and bizarre scene. Like the chair memorial on Plac Bohaterow Getta, here I also got the sense of emptiness and absence. This parked should be overflowing with children. There was a huge age gap in Post-Holocaust families, and Jewish life struggled to get restored. As I though contemplating this, and basking in the sun, the park began to empty out. I soon realized that there were no more children at play. After getting goose-bumps on my arms from the silence, I decided to take my leave. The playing kids  happy voices and laughter had drifted away and I was left with silence. 

I think I will leave with these pictures until next post.

Auschwitz-Birkenau

Today I went to Auschwitz-Birkenau. 

Why visit Auschwitz-Birkenau? For me, it was a life-altering experience, but it also helped to vindicate my decision to pursue this field to study. Seeing this notorious concentration camp, which is one of the most moving sights in Europe, and is certainly the most important of all the Holocaust memorials, has left with with even more questions and a determination to pursue these inquiries through research and further education. I don't know how someone can deny any aspect of the Holocaust after walking through the site where one of humanity's most unspeakably horrifying tragedies occurred. At least 1.1 million innocent people perished here. All over the world, Auschwitz has become a symbol of terror, genocide, and the Holocaust. 

On the way to Auschwitz. For this trip, we traveled by road on a tour bus, but I couldn't help but think about how many victims traveled along this path to an unknown destination where their fate was decided for them. Auschwitz was established by the Nazis in 1940, in the suburbs of Oswiecim. Today, Auschwitz is in the middle of a residential area. It is a place that is screaming to remember and to never forget, but all around it, it is fighting tourists, and today's intruding world. 


For the next part, I am going to comment on some of the pictures that I was able to take while visiting the two camps. It was hard for me to take pictures, but the ones that I managed to take, will be memorable. You just can't capture the essence or atmosphere of Auschwitz-Birkenau in pictures. Going in April, it was ironically beautiful. Flowers were in bloom and the grass was green. But the atmosphere was gloomy with all of its looming history and unspeakable crimes. 

The notorious gate with the cruel message, "Work Sets You Free. " However on arrival, new prisoners were told the truth: the only way out of the camp was through the crematorium chimneys. 

The most feared place among prisoners was the "Death Block" from which nobody ever left alive.  Block 11. Outside in the courtyard there was also a wooden pole that had a hook at the very top of it. This was one type of punishment, where the prisoner was sent to hang there. The was just no end in cruel punishment under the Nazi Regime. 

This wall, located in the courtyard between block 10 and 11 is where the Nazis shot several thousand political prisoners, leaders of camp resistance and religious leaders.

‎65 years ago, on 16 April 1947, few minutes after 10 a.m., on the gallows constructed next to crematorium I in the former Auschwitz I camp, near the building of the past commandant's office, Rudolf Höss, the founder and the first commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp was executed. 

Words can't even describe how it felt to see the crematorium. 

View of Auschwitz I

Auschwitz II-Birkenau
Thousands entered through these train tracks and so few survived.  Train tracks lead past the main building and into the camp. The first sight that greeted prisoners was the guard tower.

"For ever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity where the Nazis murdered about one and a half  million men, women, and children mainly Jews from various countries of Europe."

Bunk Building. Seeing these bunk beds and the close quarters where an average of 400 prisoners-but up to 1,000-would be housed was unreal. My dad and I estimated that 4-5 people would fit on one bunk, but in reality it would be up to 8 or 9 people crammed into one bunk. I was getting claustrophobic just being thinking about it. There was no where the prisoners could go to escape inhumane conditions.  

Latrine-there was no running water; prisoners were in charge of keeping these clean.  

After walking through both Aushwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau, and finishing up at the Museum, my Dad just collapsed and broke down. I was his shoulder to cry on, having our rolls reversed for the first time in my life. He was left with the question "how can one human being do this to another human being?" And I found myself being somewhat satisfied that he was asking this particular question because that is why I am involved in the Holocaust & Genocide Studies program at Keene State College. I want to know the answers to these questions, because I myself can't fathom this human ability to be evil. I am so thankful that my dad experienced this questioning and confusion because I think it really helped him realize the importance of what I am studying. It's not just about the history, it is also about the sociological and psychological aspects as well as present atrocities that are happening all over the world. 


I could have spent so much longer walking around the camps and thinking up questions. Luckily, since I will be in Krakow for another two months, I have the opportunity to return and experience it again through different lens (meaning company). Next week I will be coming back with one of my classes, "Jews in Central Europe" and touring it with my professor and my three other classmates. We are all required to do an oral presentation on a topic relating to Auschwitz-Birkenau. I know that I will be returning here again. 


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For more information visit Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum home page: http://en.auschwitz.org/m/
Recommended readings for stories related to Auschwitz:
This Way to the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen Tadeusz Borowski
Night Elie Wiesel
I Was Doctor Mengele's Assistant Miklos Nyiszli 
Survival In Auschwitz Primo Levi
The Diary of a Young Girl-Diary of Anne Frank-Anne Frank