Poland Day 7 - Warsaw, Israel

The final day of our journey began by visiting the Umschlagplatz. This was the square at which all the selections and deportations of the Warsaw ghetto took place, all there is today of it is a wall with the symbolic first names of all those who would have been sent to their death from there.

From the Umschlagplatz we followed the route that they took to Treblinka, a death camp which was completely destroyed by the Nazis when it was no longer needed. In contrast to Majdanek, Treblinka is located deep inside a forest, hidden away from view. This camp had one purpose: To murder as many people as possible in as little time as can be. The plan of the camp made it plain that it was built for maximum efficiency. We walked from the busses through the forest to where there are large stones depicting the route of the train as it came in. Trains were 60 carriages long and they would take 20 in at a time, once all those inside were gasses, they would take the next set of 20, then the last set.

Today there is nothing there of the camp. Instead, there are about 17,000 stones of various shapes and sizes scattered around the fields, each one with the name of the hometown or village that the victims came from. Zoe told us there about her family’s story, next to one of the stones. We then had a final discussion on what we all felt and learnt throughout our time in Poland. 

We then returned to Warsaw to walk along the Path of Remembrance, a walk through the former ghetto marked by 16 granite blocks commemorating those who lived and died in the ghetto and the extermination camps. Each one of the blocks has inscriptions in three languages (Yiddish, Hebrew, and Polish) and remembers the more than 450,000 Jewish people that were killed in the Ghetto during 1940-43. The monuments are simple, not only by reminding us of the suffering that occurred during that time but also of the spirit which allowed people to demonstrate their freedom even in the face of death.

We stopped off at two points along the route. The first was Mila 18, the monument which marks the spot from where the Uprising was co-ordinated. This was the address where Mordechai Anielewicz, the leader of the Uprising, had his headquarters. On the day that the bunker was attacked, there were about 300 people inside, about 100 of whom died from the attack, the rest fleeing or giving themselves up.

The second site we stopped off at was the memorial to Szmul Zygielbojmwas, a Jewish-Polish socialist politician, leader of the Bund, and a member of the National Council of the Polish government in exile. During the war, he travelled to the US and England to try and convince their governments of what was happening in Europe to the Jews. After much talk and no action on the side of the Allies, he finally heard the news of the Ghetto Uprising, and also that his wife Manya and 16-year-old son Tuvia had been killed there. He committed suicide to protest the indifference of the Allied governments in the face of the Holocaust. In his suicide letter, he stated that while the Nazis were responsible for the murder of the Polish Jews, the Allies also were culpable. The monument is made up of three elements: an image of faceless people, a broken stone in front of the memorial, and an inscription in Polish and Yiddish. The engraved words are an unfinished sentence excerpted from Zygielbojm's suicide letter: "I cannot stay silent and I cannot live while the remnants of the Polish Jewry are dying...”

Finally, we moved to our final stop of our Poland journey. We walked to the Rappaport memorial, the famous Monument to the Ghetto Heroes, erected in 1948 as a tribute to those who fought and died in the ghetto. We sat and summed up our experiences before the last tekes took place in front of the monument. After the tekes, we sang Hatikva before boarding the busses to the airport.

The ride from Warsaw to Prague was interesting, as we were given our own tiny plane which even had propellers! We could feel every bump and jolt and were quite relieved to get back on land… The second leg from Prague to Tel Aviv was thankfully a bigger plane and really uneventful. Finally, we landed in Israel, thankful to be back and exhausted from an emotionally and physically draining journey.

The group had an amazing time and all expressed how fortunate they felt at the opportunity to go and visit these important sites. We talked about how we all have a duty to bear witness to the events of the past and it is up to each and every one of us to do our bit to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Part of this is strengthening our Jewish identity. Whereas Hitler envisaged a world free of Jews, our presence here today is testament to the strength of the Jewish people. At various sites, some of the group were wearing the Israeli flag, in a demonstration of triumph that Hitler did not succeed in wiping out the Jewish nation. 65 years ago, the Jews were forced to wear the Star of David. Today, we can do so out of choice, as a badge of honour, a symbol of pride.

Am Yisrael Chai!

Dion

Poland Day 6 - Shabbat in Warsaw

Shabbat morning began with Kiddush at our hotel before we began our walking tour of Warsaw. The first stop was the last remaining remnants of the ghetto wall. There are only 3 sections left of the wall and while there, we discussed what life was like in the ghetto and how the Jews may have felt when moving into such a place.

We then walked to the kosher restaurant for lunch where we had the privilege of hearing a firsthand account from one of the Righteous Among the Nations, someone who saved Jewish lives during the war for no personal gain and despite the danger to themselves.

After that, we walked to a section of the city where a couple of the buildings from the time of the ghetto are still standing. It was amazing to see the contrast between those buildings and the ones around it, one felt as if they were stepping back in time. We walked inside one of the courtyards and heard about what life was like for people living there. Throughout this time, we saw the current residents walking in and out, and we wondered how people could still live here. We were told that it is now government housing for those too poor to have their own place. The buildings were in terrible condition, some needing supports to stay up and we all hoped that this important piece of history would be maintained.

From there we made the short walk to the bridge which was used to cross between the two sections of the ghetto. All that stands there now is 2 pillars marking the site where the bridge stood and cables depicting the height of the bridge. On the ground, there are plaques showing where the wall actually stood at different points during the war. Once again, all we could do was imagine what it really looked like and hope that the memory isn’t lost to future generations.

The next and final stop for on was the Courthouse, a building that itself was divided with one half being in the ghetto and the other half outside. We heard about this building was used to smuggle in food and smuggle out people and that it was a gateway for those willing to try and have access to the outside world. Also, we discussed the function of the court and what type of cases would be heard, such as one person stealing a piece of bread or someone pushing in line while waiting for food.

As Shabbat was drawing to a close, we went back to the shule to do a musical havdala. After that, the Rabbi spoke to us about the rise and fall of the Warsaw Jewish community and what type of community it is today. We learnt a lot about the history of Jews in Poland and how today, it is a unique community in that most of the Jews don’t know they are Jewish. He told us about a group of around 200 people that meets weekly, and that this group is made up of those who know they are Jewish, but haven’t told their families. Many of them are child survivors and grew up in Christian homes, but this group helps them identify with fellow Jews. This talk certainly reinforced the question for all of us of what it means to be a Jew.

Dion

Poland Day 5 - Lublin Yeshiva, Majdanek, Warsaw, Shabbat

Today we began by visiting the famed Yeshivat Chachmei Lublim, founded by Rav Meir Shapira in the 1920’s. Rav Shapira was also one who initiated Daf Yomi, which is continued today by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, and a member of the Polish parliament as part of Agudat Yisrael. Rav Shapira was a very interesting character as he was intimately involved in both leadership roles for the spiritual and political sides of Polish Jewry. The yeshiva was his idea for raising the prestige of the Torah student and the community rabbi in the eyes of the masses of Polish Jewry.

The yeshiva was revolutionary in that it housed all the students who studied there and took care of all their needs. In order to pass the entrance exams for the yeshiva, candidates had to meet very high standards both in terms of knowledge (memorizing 400 pages from the Talmud) and moral conduct. The course of study lasted four years and the curriculum encompassed exclusively religious matters. Approximately 20,000 people participated in the opening event, including a few dozen rabbis, representatives of the Polish government, and numerous journalists.

The German invasion of Lublin marked the end of the yeshiva and a Jews were not allowed to enter the building any longer. It was taken over as the headquarters of the military command and all the equipment was stolen or destroyed.

After the war the property was taken over by the state and then by the Medical Academy. Finally, in 2003 the building and grounds were given to the Jewish Community of Warsaw. Since that time parts of the building have been gradually renovated.

From there we made our way to Majdanek. We all got a shock as it only took 5 minutes by bus, and was quite literally on the edge of the town. The boundary of the camp runs along a street where people go about their everyday lives. We all wondered how what it must have been like to live next to it while in operation and how people could have done so. Furthermore, it threw up the question, were those living there also guilty? 

We began by listening to a history of the camp and how it served different purposes throughout the war, including as an intern camp, a labour camp, a transfer camp and ultimately as a death camp. Chillingly, we heard that if needed, the camp could be active again in less than 48 hours. Slowly we made our way through the bunkers, with the most moving exhibit being the 900,000 pairs of shoes that were found. The number was staggering and as one moved up and down the long rows of shoe upon shoe, it was difficult to comprehend how many there were and the stories behind each pair.

Finally we went to the crematorium on the other side of the camp. As you enter, there is an operating bed to extract any valuables that they made have hidden before sending them to be cremated. There were a number of large ovens lined up, ready to take body after body, before being summarily disposed of. Above all, what was most shocking of all was the bathtub installed which was to be heated by fumes from the burnings.

We finished at the Mausoleum, a large memorial filled with the ashes of over 70,000 people who passed through Majdanek. There, we ran the final tekes of the day, commemorating the memories of all those who came here, never to leave.

We then left for the long journey to Warsaw for Shabbat. On the way, we watched “The Pianist”, a movie that gave a good insight into what life was life in Warsaw throughout the war and how it looked in the immediate aftermath, utterly destroyed.

We eventually arrived in Warsaw and began preparations for Shabbat. We davened at The Nożyk Synagogue, the only shule in Warsaw that survived the war. After the beautiful davening, we walked to a kosher restaurant for dinner before making our way back to the hotel after a long day.

Dion

Poland Day 4 - Auschwitz Birkenau

Today we began our second half of the trip, visiting the concentration and death camps. We started off with Birkenau. As we walked up the path to the gate where millions walked through, never to come out again, we all quietly contemplated what happened in the place which we have learnt so much about in books, yet now stood in real life.

We entered the camp and went to the bunkers where they housed hundreds of humans in a stable that was built in with the purpose and size for 52 horses. This was the first of many shocks that overcame us as it is impossible to understand how people could be subjected to living like this. Moving to the toilet block, where there were about 200 holes in the ground for people to use, and only had a roof above it since when it was open, the smell was discomforting to the Nazis. Once again we were reminded of the perverse upside down reality of the camps, since despite the conditions in that room, it was a favourite place to gather for those there as it was a chance to ‘get away’ from the Nazis, as they wouldn’t think of going in there.

After that, we sat down to listen to Tamar give an account of her grandfather’s life during the war and the values and lessons that she learnt from him. Then Arielle told us about her great aunt and what she went through and how she survived.

We then walked to the gas chambers and crematoriums. We tried and utterly failed to imagine how many Jews passed down those stairs to their deaths and what they were possibly thinking in their final moments. Zoe related the story of how the Jews who worked in the crematoriums managed to blow one up towards the end of the war, but unfortunately, it was too little too late for many. We said a yizkor prayer for all those who perished there before slowly making our way back to the bus.

The bus then drove us to Auschwitz 1, which was on total contrast to Birkenau and looked like an outdoor museum with thousands of people pouring though. We passed through the famous gate, ‘Works sets free’, before beginning our tour. What we immediately observed was how beautiful it looked, even like a Hollywood set. It wasn’t as grim or desolate as Birkenau and many of the buildings were standing, row upon row. Only when entering them and hearing the stories of what occurred did we become attuned to the horrors that once occurred here.

We passed into each of the buildings, seeing exhibits and different items and artefacts. The most haunting were the rooms containing just one item, thousands of times over. There was a room full of hair, ready to be sold to factories to be made into tablecloths. There was a room full of suitcases, complete with names and birthdays of their owners, waiting to be picked up. There was a room full of shoes, never to be worn again. There was a room full of crockery, marked by blue and red, distinguishing the dairy from the meat.

The final building we entered was the prison cells, a prison inside a prison. We saw the different cells and what each was used for. As hard as it was to comprehend the living conditions of the ‘normal’ prisoners, it was even more difficult to understand how anyone could survive more than a day in these cells. Not many did.

Finally, we came to the crematorium, situated across the road from the pub where the Nazis enjoyed their downtime. We slowly walked through it, seeing the way it was set up, in order to most efficiently murder and cremate as many people in as little time as possible.

We finished off our day with a tekes, remembering all those who perished in these camps. As one, we sang the Hatikvah on the site where many retained hope to the last and who, if there was a Jewish State for them, may have survived.

On the bus ride to dinner, we watched ‘Fiddler on the roof’ to get a sense of what shtetl life was like and how Jews lived in those times. It was also a chance to relieve ourselves emotionally from the taxing day we had just experienced. After dinner, we made our way to Lublin.

Dion