Parting words

This is our last night, of a 19 day adventure that brought us from Warsaw to berlin. We traveled by bus, boat, but mostly by foot. It was an emotional journey of the history of Europe, but mostly of I ur fellow jewish community. Listening to all the stories and visiting the homes, ghettos, neighborhoods, transit and labor camps and finally the death camps - we couldn't help but feel sad and sickened to see with our own eyes, where it all took place. What would we have done? What would have been our fate? Would anyone have helped us?  Would we have helped others?  Could it happen again?
Mostly I think of my parents, my grandparents and my extended family. Some were just lucky to have found hiding places but most were murdered.  Amazing that my parents started a family just three years after liberation. They loved life, they were thankful for every single moment.   They loved their new homeland of Canada and were so proud their new little family. Hard to imagine that they could still see good in the world despite all they lost.  Tomorrow we leave for holland. One if the highlights of our trip will be our visit with Roeli and Jaap balder, the righteous who saved my father.

On this thanksgiving, stephen and I feel incredibly lucky in so many ways. But mostly to have a loving and close family, with children who care for each other, their own little families, and the greater community around them.

Thank you karen and Harry for coming along!  It was great to share this incredible experience together with such great friends!

Berlin day two

We met our private guide yoav in the middle of the former jewish section of town. He explained the fate of the berlin Jews in those fateful years, as they were gathered into apartment buildings and eventually transported to terezin and finally aushwitz. The city was dotted with reminders of what happened, with moving sculptures etc.  our guide had excellent interpretation. We visited the hiding place where Otto weidt saved five Jews by employing them in his factory making brushes. A story similar to anne frank.  We stopped at the former jewish cemetery, where after the bombing of berlin some 150,000 nazis and soviets were also buried. Now just a "garden" of ivy.  Saw the old berlin synagogue damaged during the bombing of the city (but survived kristalnacht) now the jewish community center.
In the afternoon we visited the museum the topography of terror - basically the rise and fall of the nazi party and all they did during those awful years in Europe.

Berlin

After a few hour drive we arrived in berlin - city of four million.  Our first impression was a city rebuilt. Plenty of cranes and scaffolding everywhere, lots of new modern buildings in combination with huge blocks of apartments. The city tour took us past remnants of the Berlin Wall (191 miles long!) which fell 25 years ago, check point Charlie,  Brandenburg gate, the reichstag  and the site of the mass nazi book burning in 1933 in front of the university. We passed the site of a huge memorial to the holocaust - an eerie mass of cement blocks of various heights and levels. One felt a sense of disorientation and loss as you walk among the site.
In the afternoon we visited the jewish museum. The architecture was striking and powerful. Sadly the years 1933-45 was summarized in a single panel...

Dresden

Our two hour drive from Prague to Dresden was mostly in the fog. We passed by plenty of grey apartment blocks built by the soviets. Also dacha houses used as "vacation" homes during communist times.
Dresden, a city of 500,000, is an interesting city. Having been totally bombed in February 1945, it's a mix of very modern, and rebuilt elaborate buildings. We walked the old town and visited these immense castles, churches and gardens. Hard to believe what has been reconstructed.
When we asked about the jewish community before the war, our guide simply said that most people "moved away to America and South America and that today the community is very small". Not a word of what happened. Seems like buildings were much more important than people...

Prague and Terezin

Our morning walking tour showed us the grandeur of Prague.  We visited the castles, presidents residents, and jewish quarter and central square. The architecture was so beautiful at every single turn.

In the afternoon we took a tour to terezin, only 60 km from Prague, and close to the German border.
It was originally built as a military base in 1760, a fortification against invasion from Germany. Since it already existed and the buildings had water, heat and plumbing, the nazis felt it was the perfect place to "resettle" Jews from Czech, Germany, holland, Austria etc. in 1941.   The 7000 people who were living there were moved out, and transported Jews were moved in. Now 46000 people were crammed into this perfectly symmetrical "village". They were used for labor for Nazi interests. According to the Red Cross, they were "well" treated, but by 1942 86,000 were transported to death camps. By then 35,000 had died of disease, starvation and torture.

 

A rabbi had built an underground shul where others would gather in prayer. Their living conditions were small. The museum displayed the many drawings done by children who had such high hopes for a good life on the outside of terezin.

Such a shocking site was the mass field of 10,000 graves, representing Jews, resistance fighters, communists, intellectuals, and dissenters. It had been a pit, where bodies had been thrown - and this powerful memorial had been erected to remember those lost.

So terezin is now inhabited by 2,000 residents who have moved back and living in the buildings. It was an eerie feeling to think people can live here.

Such a very different camp than aushwitz. Hard to believe mans inhumanity to man.

Prague

After a few hour drive through the countryside, we arrived in Prague. We walked a short "orientation" tour with our guide. Whoa!  What a beautiful city!  Stunning architecture - so elaborate and beautiful. The streets are full of families and shoppers, street performers and tours.
We hired our own guide in the afternoon and visited the amazing

Spanish synagogue, the pinkas synagogue, the old- new synagogue ( oldest in the world from 1240!), the jewish customs hall and the most incredible ancient cemetary. The stones were one on top of the other, such an eerie sight. The history of the Jews of Prague was rich with tradition, famous rabbis and incredible culture. Sadly 80,000 were taken - mostly to terezin.  So many jewish treasures (kiddush cups, menorahs, torahs, books, etc etc ) were stored in the Spanish shul to be hitlers  museum of an extinct race.
Our hotel, the imperial, is a classy Art Deco hotel - very elegant!

Nurenberg

We started our tour of Nuremberg after lunch. The first stop was at the Kongresshall - the nazis built this coliseum-like huge building for holding rallies once a year. The outside was stone and beautifully crafted while the inside was brick. It was never finished but the magnitude of it's size was overwhelming. Just across the dried up lake was the zeppelin field and grandstand where hitler spoke to more than million people who gathered to hear his propaganda.  We drove over to the hall of justice where 21 nazi generals were put on trial in 1945. This hall was used since there was a prison right behind the hall. Only 10 were sentenced to hang.
We then entered the medieval walled city.  80% of it was destroyed by the allies, but most had been rebuilt to it's original glory.
Hard to believe we walked the streets of the nazi headquarters. Of the 10,000 Jews before the war, the community is now 1500, most of whom are from FSU.