Poland Warsaw and Ludz (3/5-3/6)

3/6

Greetings from Warsaw! We landed in Poland and were greeted by dreary weather. The snow is unrelenting and it seems that even when the sky is blue, everything is shrouded in grayness. Maybe it is the winter, but I’m thinking it is just typical of Eastern Europe. The first stop we made was at the Warsaw cemetery (they certainly rolled out the welcome wagon-NOT). Many important Jewish figures are buried there but what I found most disturbing was the mass graves- over 100,000 Jews are buried in two pits. They are the individuals lost in the first year after the creation of the Warsaw Ghetto.

Then, the group headed over to our hotel. I was rooming with Emily and Morgan..two girls I knew before the trip. After a long day of travel I was grateful that we were given the opportunity shower before services. The synagogue we went to was located in the ghetto and the Nazis spared it because it was across from a church and could be used as a stable. It is the only surviving temple of over 800.

Some facts I learned on the first day: prior to the war, 1/3 of the population of Warsaw was Jewish. Now it is estimated that there are between 13 and 30,000 Jews in the city. It is probably closer to 13 because many of those who are Jewish (and counted in the 30) are unaware of this fact. I never realized that after WWII Poland was then occupied by the soviets and they were about as friendly to the Jews as the Nazis were..so many hid their Jewish identities.

Today (Saturday) I got up at 10 and went to breakfast. Then, we went back to the temple to meet with a woman who started a Jewish school in Warsaw. The school began with 9 students and is now serving more than 240. After lunch we headed to one of the remains of the wall of the Warsaw Ghetto. I learned that Nazi soldiers were given 2000 calories a day, Poles around 1500 and Jews in the ghetto were given 150. 80% of the food in the ghetto was smuggled in by children who were nimble enough to squeeze through the fence or climb trees over the wall. Troublesome fact: the wall was paid for and made by Jews (fortunately, they were able to pay some of the workers not to cement parts of the wall so they could remove bricks and come and go).

Tonight we packed up and left the hotel. Before we headed to our next destination we stopped at several spots. The first was the spot in the ghetto where Jews were sent to Treblinka. There a sign reads “along this path of suffering and death over 300,000 Jews were driven in 1942-43 from the Warsaw Ghetto to the gas chambers of the Nazi extermination camps.” The second stop was a bit brighter. It was 18 Mila street, the sight where the Warsaw uprising was organized. I learned that Mordechai Anilevitzs (organizer) sent a man on a train to find out where the Jews were being taken. The man jumped off the train, avoided the bullets of the guards and discovered that the trains were headed to Treblinka where the Jews were going to be burned in the woods. So, on the first night of Pesach the prisoners of Warsaw led an uprising and resisted for 36 hours. Our guide told us that that year when the children said Ma Nishtana and asked the four questions, one asked his father a fifth: Will I be alive next year? I don’t know was the reply he got. But, his father added that even if we are not alive there will be a Jew somewhere. It was a truly powerful story and something to keep in mind at the Seder this year. The final stop was the memorial for the Warsaw ghetto uprising, made of black stones from Scandinavia that had been ordered by Hitler for his victory statue. Ironic?

I think that what I found most astonishing about Warsaw was the decrepit state in which I found it. The bombs fell on this city more than 60 years ago but it still looks like a war zone. Can you imagine a place where 1/3 of the population disappeared? It is really a different world over here but I am glad I have the opportunity to see it. I am learning a lot about the events of the war, and seeing the sites first hand is definitely providing me with a unique experience.

OK that’s all for now. I love you and I will do my best to keep you posted.

Xoxo,
Hope
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Thought that was the end of blog 1 (I was writing it while on the bus to Lodz). Wrong. We stopped at the Lodz train station where I went on a train car that brought the Jews from the Lodz ghetto to Chelmo, a death camp. The only other place in the world where you can go on one of these trains is at the Washington DC holocaust museum. So, since I didn't go when the family went during our trip to DC I am glad I had the opportunity to do so here. I have recovered from the jet lag (I was pretty exhausted yesterday) and had a surprisingly positive end to the day. One of the boys on our trip makes balloon animals and he does this for kids all over the world and films the interaction. We ran into a famous polish singer Avita something and he made balloons for her entire entourage (I was put in charge of filming the event). It was extremely amusing and I am very grateful that everyone on the trip is so nice. It makes being in such an unpleasant place much more enjoyable. I am learning so much and if there is ever a WWII jeopardy category I will kick butt. Ok thats really all for now. Goodnight, love you and miss you.