July 15, 2010

Today was a very emotional day for me. For those that know me, you know that I love old cemeteries and I was looking forward to going to the Jewish cemetery in Warsaw. It was located within the ghetto during the war and had several old and beautiful stones. A Jewish tradition is to leave a stone on a grave instead of flowers because flowers die and a stone lasts forever. What struck us was that the tombstones were all overgrown and had no memorial stones on them because there were no family members left to remember them. We saw the statue of Joseph Korchak who was an educator and ran an orphanage in the ghetto. Even though he could have saved himself, he walked with his "children" to the deportation trains. Vladka Mead has a memorial headstone in memory of her parents. We stopped there and one of our participants said a mournful Kaddish-the prayer for the dead.
There are no few remnants of the ghetto wall left, but there are brick markers on the ground in several places. We visited the only remaining section of the wall which exists next to apartment buildings. It is not a place that is crowded with tourists- which I actually appreciated more, as I placed my hand on the wall and just thought about the bravery of these people who were actually just young adults. The oldest of the resistance fighters was 23 yrs old. There was on May 18, a collective suicide as the Nazi’s closed on the the remaining fighters.It was built to contain all the Jews in Warsaw in the beginning and then little by little more and more Jews were confined there until they were deported to death camps. The ghetto was built by the Jews with their own money. On top of the wall, which was 10 feet high was either barbed wire or broken glass. The Ghetto was never referred to as the Warsaw Ghetto but rather the “Jewish living Quarters” The ghetto was 2 ½ square miles with 360,000 human beings initially crowded into the area. Soon more people were contained there from Western Poland, at its height over 470,000 Jews wee in the ghetto. Jews had no means to make money since all their shops were closed and their bank accounts confiscated. Resistance came in the form of spirituality and keeping their customs alive. The Jews held meetings, concerts, made theater productions all within the confines of the walls. The Nazis allows each person to have 180 calories per day. Certainly not enough to sustain life. We all placed carnations at the Jewish Resistance Fighter's Memorial as our main benefactor, Vladka Mead, was a member of the Warsaw Resistance Fighters. Many of the markers and memorials are totally surrounded by apartments buildings and parks, as the Soviets built housing on the ruins of the ghetto.
We visited the Nosyk Synagogue, the only synagogue in Warsaw to be still standing after the war, primarily because it was turned into a stable for the German horses. Our leader, Elaine Culbertson, explained the synagogue and the significance of the services. They have renovated the building and it is quite beautiful.
We continued on foot to Mila 18 the headquarters of the resistance- a bunker that was used by the fighters. Their remains are there marked by a memorial rock with names etched on the stone. On foot again, we went to the Umchlag Platz the remains of the place where the Jews were brought to the place of deportation . There is little left to mark the place, but nonetheless one can feel the souls all around as common first names are listed to remind us of so many.. so many. Our last stop was the Jewish Historical Institute where we saw an emotional film on the ghetto- one that we all admit we have never seen, Very graphic and hard to absorb. It ended with a mother telling her story about the death of her child and saying “ No one will call me mummy anymore.”

The day concluded with some free time to explore the city and unwind from such an emotionally charged day. We attended a lovely piano concert of Chopin music which really helped to relax us and hear the music.