Eastern European Adventure Part XII: The Finale

"I do not bring back from the journey quite the same self that I took."  

I always try and do one post wrapping up my trip.  It is hard to put into a few paragraphs the experiences that I was able to have in Eastern Europe.  I am grateful for the opportunity to see these places with these two.  At times, it felt a bit like traveling the world with Rush Limbaugh and a Yogi who were in a constant political debate, but I loved every minute of it and could not have asked for better travel buddies.

Throughout my trip, I wanted to try and come up with a word that represented each city.  You know, ala Julia Roberts in Eat, Pray, Love.  Here is my final list.

Prague:  Medieval

 Vienna:  Refined

Budapest:  Conflicted

Krakow:  Quaint

Auschwitz:  Remembrance

Warsaw:  Overcome

I also tried to keep track of what I learned on the trip based upon this prior blog....to determine what was different about me upon my return.  What changed for me?

I was reminded of the freedom that I all too often take for granted.  The freedom that people in these countries fought for.  That their people died for.  That they are still learning how to live with.

I saw firsthand the horrors of genocide, and now have mental images of the need to fight with any group who is at risk for this senseless, horrific murder.  And no amount of reading about this in textbooks can tell you how it feels to stand in that place.

I saw beautiful history.  Castles and forts and churches and bridges.

I found God across the world.  While I prayed in the spot where Pope John Paul used to sit and do the same.  While I sat quietly when Mass was said in Polish and when a litany was prayed in German, and when a feast was celebrated in Czech.

But mostly, again, I was reminded that people are not that different.  Jewish babies wore the same booties as I did.  I prayed to the same God with a woman from the Philippines who had never met an American.  I hung out in a train car with a group of women from Malaysia who shared their snacks.  I bonded over alcohol with a Polish taxi driver who promised to drink a Jack and coke in honor of my family.  I chatted at the airport with travelers from Australia and Canada on journeys similar to mine.  Although we may be different, we are mostly the same.  Whether we are raised in Eastern Europe or Eastern New Mexico.  That's a lesson we'd all do well to remember.

Eastern European Adventure Part XI: Warsaw

After an amazing time in Krakow, I headed off to Warsaw.  I only had about 24 hours in the city, and honestly the only thing that I was set on seeing was Pildusky Square, where Pope John Paul II said the now famous Mass in 1979.  I accomplished my goal and more, and my love of Poland only continued in Warsaw.

Summary of Warsaw:   Beautiful, friendly, easy to get around, great churches.

Days 13 and 14:  May 14 and 15

Like Krakow, Warsaw has a beautiful old town square area.  This was the only leg of the trip for which I got a hotel rather than an apartment since I was only there for one night.  I highly recommend The Castle Inn, which is right in the middle of the square.  This was my view.  Not bad, huh??

One interesting fact about Warsaw is that nearly the entire town was destroyed during WWII.  So the "old town square" was actually built in the 1950's.  Krakow residents are quick to point this out and talk crap on Warsaw.  But I didn't care when it was built, I loved it!

There was a great photographic exhibition showing pictures of the destruction
after the war and comparing those photos to what Warsaw looks like now.

Me on my last morning in Europe.

Of course, I hit up lots of churches while I was there.  Unlike many of the other countries that I visited, these churches were open to all, there was no charge, and the people were really friendly.  Score one for Warsaw in my mind!

Sacred Heart altar at Holy Cross

Statue outside of Holy Cross

Mid-afternoon I made the short walk to my main destination: Pildusky Square.  For those of you who are not JPII junkies like myself, let me tell you a bit about why I wanted to come here.  In 1979, JPII came to communist Poland to speak.  It was his home country, and the country was in a painful, oppressed condition.  JPII presided over Mass in Pildusky Square before tens of thousands.  He spoke the following famous words:

"Let your Spirit descend.
Let your Spirit descend.
and renew the face of the earth,
the face of this land.
Amen."

 

"Be not afraid.  Fear not.  Be not afraid."

 

 -Pope John Paul II, 1979

And during the Mass, the people began to chant "We want God."  This continued on for over 10 minutes.  The video of it is quite amazing.  Many credit JPII, and this particular Mass, with beginning the downfall of communism in Eastern Europe.  So, of course, I had to get lots of pictures in the square.

Josef Pildusky who led the fight against Communism.

Representing the Pokes in Poland.

 

That night, I hung out in the square and enjoyed the beautiful weather, street performers and bands, beautiful buildings lit up, and an amazing pizza. I may or may not have also had ice cream for dessert.  Oops....

Stay tuned for tomorrow for my final thoughts on my 30th Birthday European Adventure!

Eastern European Adventure Part X: No Idea

"The one who does not remember history is bound to live through it again."  ~George Santayana

In case you missed my first post on Auschwitz yesterday, click here.

My words cannot do Auschwitz justice.  Nothing I can say can let you experience the feeling of standing on that ground.  Nothing I can say can give you even a glimpse of what the prisoners suffered.   I have no idea of the suffering and horror that went on within those walls.  My own blog posts make the incredibly clear.

I complained about having to pay to use the restroom on my trip across Europe.  They were faced with group "toilets" that spread deadly diseases through the camp.

I whined about carrying my pack across the Charles Bridge in Prague.  They packed up their belongings and lugged them across countries, trusting that they were merely being "relocated."

I pouted when I had to sleep on an uncomfortable bed in a furnished apartment.  They slept on wood, straw, or the hard cement floor.

I hobbled around when my cute nude flats did not provide enough support for my feet.  At Auschwitz, I saw rooms full of shoes that were removed prior to entering a "shower" never to be worn again.

I have never been more excited to take a shower after riding on an overnight train from Prague to Vienna.  I imagine many of them felt the same way when they were sent to the gas chambers after their long train rides.

I felt lost when I was not able to talk to my parents, email my girlfriends, or text The Boy from Texas every day.  They had their entire families torn apart forever on train platforms when men went to the right into the camps and women and children went to the left into the gas chambers.

I joked about my inability to say no to dessert and the fact that I was gaining weight.  They were literally starving to death.

I didn't think twice when I waived at little boys wearing Yamakas playing in the street in Budapest, or when I went to sit shiva with my friend and his family when Bapa died.  These things would have condemned them to death.

Clearly, my words would be inadequate given my complete lack of understanding for what happened 60 years ago.  What I can tell you, however, is that what was most moving to me--the thing that I felt in my heart--was that I am no different from the people who were killed here.  I was struck over and over by how much I was like them.  I saw it when I read the professions of the prisoners:  professors, lawyers, teachers, farmers, mechanics.  There were girls who looked to be my age, with round faces and blue eyes who were torn from their families, dressed in striped clothing, and killed.  There were baby booties--exactly the same as those my mom has saved in her house that I used to wear on my ownfeet--in a glass case in memory of the innocent babies whose lives were taken for no reason.

I have no idea of the suffering that these people went through.  And maybe that is exactly the point of visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau.  To realize that we do not know their suffering, and to remind us we must do whatever we can to ensure no one else ever does again.

May that ever be our prayer.  And may their souls ever rest in peace.

*Linking up with Thankful Thursday.

Eastern European Adventure Part IX: Auschwitz, Poland

Thank you all so much for your sweet comments on my new chapter!  Now, we're back in action with the review of my trip to Eastern Europe.

I am going to do two posts on Auschwitz.  The first (today) more factual, telling you what I saw.  The second, more of my opinion and feelings on everything there.  Most people who heard that I was going to Auschwitz said that they did not know if they could do it; that it would just be too hard.  And it was hard.  And eerie.  Unbelievably so, really.  But I honestly think that this is something that every person should see.

Auschwitz Summary:  Beautiful, heartbreaking, eerie, quiet, people just like you and me.

As I stepped off the bus at Auschwitz, I was immediately stricken by how beautiful the camps were located.  The middle of rural Poland, with green grass and rolling hills, trees and purple flowers.  But inside the fences occurred the worst, most systematic genocide in history.  Maybe it was appropriate, this juxtaposition between the beauty of God's creation on the outside, and proof of the horrific way that humans can ruin that within the gates.

When you approach Auschwitz, the first thing you see is the front gate, which holds the message, "Work will set you free."  This was only one of the cruel mind games played upon the prisoners by the Nazis.  The former buildings and barracks have been turned into museums to remember the 1.2 (plus) million people killed in this place.

There are stark reminders about the lives lost here.  Men, women, children.  Jews, Christians.  Doctors, lawyers, farmers, teachers, professors.  Before the camp was opened as a museum, survivors of the camp and family members of the dead were contacted and most supported the opening of the camp in order to show people what happened here.  In Poland, all children are required to visit when they turn 14.

Pond next to the crematorium where ashes remain.

Urn holding ashes of those burned in the crematorium.

Something I did not fully understand is that most of those killed were never prisoners at Auschwitz.  Most arrived and were sent directly go the gas chambers to be killed.  They were never checked in, never tattooed, never prisoners.  Instead, they stepped off of the train with their belongings, after being told they were simply being "relocated", sent to the showers, and killed.  This was true for most people who were not deemed able to work, meaning that the children, elderly, and most women were immediately killed upon arrival.

Photo of people unloading from the train.

Children on the train platform.

Those who did not meet this fate became Auschwitz prisoners.  One of the buildings has all of the mug shots lined up on a wall.  Most of the prisoners lasted only about 2 months at Auschwitz before they died, either from being shot, starvation, or being worked to death.

In Building 11, known as the Death House, is the cell in which St. Maximillian Kolbe gave his life in order to save another man.  When a prisoner at Auschwitz escaped, 10 more were executed.  When a man  who had a family was selected to be one of the 10, St. Maximillian Kolbe offered to take his place.  He was placed, along with the other nine men, into a starvation cell for two weeks.  When the door was opened, 9 men were dead.  Only the Saint survived.  He was then shot and killed.  The man whose place he took?  He survived Auschwitz.  St. Maximillian Kolbe saved his life.  Seeing the cell where this happened, and flowers placed next to a statue with his name on it was incredibly moving.

 Just outside building 11 is the wall where many prisoners were shot to death by firing squad.

One of the eeriest experiences for me was walking into the only remaining gas chamber.  Of the 5 gas chambers, the Nazis destroyed 4 before fleeing the camps.  Only one remains.  Photos are permitted inside, although speaking is not in order to honor the memory of those killed.  I could not bring myself to take photos of such an awful place.  You walk into the room where the people were killed.  You can see the "showerheads" on the wall, which were there only to make plausible the story that everyone undressed and piled into the room to take a shower. In the next room were giant furnaces where bodies were burned (after all hair being shaved and gold teeth being removed).  It was a horrific thing to see and to feel.

Remaining gas chamber.

Destroyed gas chamber.

 After Auschtitz I, we went to Birkenau, the second of the Auschwitz camps.  This camp was built larger to house and kill more people.  Also striking to me was that the train tracks ran right through the main gate, and ended inside the camp.  There was no need for the tracks to continue, because people were not going to be leaving alive.

At Birkenau, they let you tour the barracks, which shows just how horrible the living conditions were for prisoners.  Wooden beds, drafty buildings, stables built for animals.  It was unbelievable really.

It is hard to fathom the volume of people who were killed here.  The numbers for Poland alone are staggering.  1/5 of the Polish population died during World War II.  Of the 3,500,000 Jews living in Poland before the war, only 300,000 remained.  Most of these were deported to other countreis after the war ended.  Today, only 10,000 Jews live in all of Poland.

 The museum does an amazing job showing you physical objects to give you an idea of what it means that over 1.2 million people were killed here.  One of the worst things that I saw was a room full of human hair.  Mounds and mounds of hair that was shaven from the heads of people killed and used to make blankets and uniforms for the Nazis.  There were similar rooms filled with other belongings brought by the victims--clothing, dishes, shoes, eye glasses, hair brushes....thousands of these items represent the people whose lives were pointlessly taken by other human beings.  I couldn't bring myself to take photographs.  Not that I need them.  These images are forever etched into my brain.

The people who told me that Auschwitz would be terrible and hard and exhausting were right.  It was all of those things.  It was also something that changed my perspective on life.  If you ever have the chance to go, take it.  I firmly believe that this is something everyone should see.