July 15, 2010

After our emotional journey during the early part of the day, we were free to roam the old city for a few hours. We enjoyed some of the local fare, including the delicious ice cream, while talking to other tourists - we met a very nice gentleman from Amsterdam. The old town is captivating and was like going back in time.
Our hotel is beside the presidential palace and there is a memorial with pictures, candles and flowers laid at the front for the president and his wife who recently perished in a plane crash. Tonight we will attend a Chopin concert and dinner at a local restaurant. We have probably gained some pounds but definitely lost them walking!!

July 14, 2010

We are on the road as I write this blog - starting out at 8:30 am for what should be an eight hour drive from Berlin, over the border into Poland. The first thing you notice is that the land is extremely flat, covered with farmland and crops - I presume, it’s a grain, probably wheat, as well as corn. The weather continues to be in the high 90’s, but the bus is air conditioned, and between sleeping, writing in our journals, and a few lectures from our leaders, we continue to eat junk food and look at the countryside. At the first rest stop in Poland, we stood in line to exchange money – primarily because it cost 1 zloty to use the toilet!! Lunch was interesting as we stopped at a roadside bistro that had packaged sandwiches and we tried to “read” the packages by looking at the side of the sandwich - my tuna sandwich consisted of white bread, dark tuna, chunks of cheese, and cream cheese. It was actually quite good. Several people enjoyed a hot dog which was a long baguette with mustard squirted in the middle and the hot dog sticking out.
We have now gotten off the main autobahn and are on a two lane road through small towns. Most of the buildings seem to be made of cement with tiled red roofs. Just as in Germany, there are bike lanes on the side of the road. On this first day ,the housing definitely seems poorer than what we saw in Germany.
As we came closer to Warsaw, the condition of the houses, apartments, and office buildings improved. We arrived at the Bristol Hotel, an absolutely beautiful hotel right near the palace. We are in the lap of luxury!! Members assembled soon after arriving for a toast to Poland and a dinner in the dining room. We were introduced to two directors of the local museums and they spoke about their programs. After a cosmopolitan in the lounge, we tired to our rooms to be prepared for tomorrow! Dobranoc (Good night)

July 13, 2010

We left the hotel at 7:30 for a three hour drive west to Bergen-Belsen in West Saxony. We traveled on the autobahn for a while and then on country roads through little German towns. We arrived at their Education Center and were welcomed by a group of their teachers. We were given choices of four different themes for the day and met with one of their teachers. I worked with Martin Schellenberg, a historian. We discussed how to use primary photographs in our teaching. He guided us in using photos not to illustrate our theme, but to start with a photo and work out to observe, make assumptions, and then view the photo within its context. We were told that there were not photographs of Bergen-Belsen before liberation. Most of the photographs we have were taken to show what the armies did when they arrived; there were photos that were taken by soldiers, and albums found that belonged to victims, as well as photos taken secretly. Our main goal with photographs is to personalize the photograph by connecting it to real life.
We were then taken on a tour of the exhibit and then outdoors to the area where the camp stood. The museum is only two years old and is filled with primary photographs and documents of the camp. Bergen Belsen was first a camp for political prisoners, Gypsies and homosexuals. It was also a POW camp for Belgian, French, and Russian soldiers. As the war was coming to a class, several camps shipped their victims to Bergen-Belsen, tripling the number of people. Finally, the camp was used as a DP (displaced person) camp after the war. The exhibit was very well done with combinations of photos and documents and also running video of survivors from each type of situation. There was a section devoted to Anne Frank as she had been sent to, and died at Bergen-Belsen. The exhibit hall is partially located in an area that was part of the camp. Because the whole camp is considered a cemetery, the part of the exhibit hall over the cemetery was built to extend out and not touch the ground.
Because the camp had been burned after liberation due to the fact of a typhus epidemic, very little is left of the physical evidence. We walked along several cleared paths which seemed to run into a meadow. The paths were actually cut to represent the outline of the camp walls. To the side, we saw the remnants of a barracks which was noted by the bricks in a pattern . Several of the bricks had initials of prisoners scratched into their sides. There were artifacts such as cracked cups or tin bowls laying in the grass alongside flowers. It was such a quiet place - making all of us contemplate the fate of the prisoners.
We then walked through the mass graves and their markers. There were so many of them - large mounds covered with grass with a stone marker depicting the place, the month and year, and the number of dead (such as Bergen-Belsen, April 1943, 1000)
We all felt that the time spent there was way too short and that we wanted more time to explore. We struck out for the three hour bus ride home and back to Berlin for a another great meal, though the restaurant was not air conditioned, as is hardly anything else, and we all tended to melt. We walked back to the hotel through a lovely part of the city that reminded us of Fifth Avenue in New York. We managed to get to bed about 12:30 for a 6:45 wake up call!

July 12, 2010

We’ve just returned from a full day here in Berlin. The temperature got well over 100 *F so we took our time and drank lots of water!! The day began with a huge breakfast with lots of sausage and bacon and eggs – different kinds of cheeses, fruits, and my favorite - croissants with Nutella!!
Our bus headed out to Gruenewald Train Station where over 50,000 Jews were sent to work and death camps. When you walk in, it looks like a pretty little German station and then up the steps to Track 17 where the deportation trains left. It is closed now, and the tracks at the station are filled with new growth and trees. The tracks there are surrounded on both sides by large grates on top of gray stones. On the top of each grate is a date, the number of Jews transported, and where they went. Many of them said Berlin to Theriesenstadt or to Bergen-Belsen. It was very unadorned and at the end, there is a large piece of concrete where an artist had depicted five figures leaving. I found myself closing my eyes to listen to the sound of the train going by and the confusion and fear in the voices of the deportees. What is very amazing is that this station is in the middle of a small neighborhood and surrounded by homes, in addition, there were other trains carrying people to and from the area. Amazing that no one spoke up to protest!!
Next we drove to the other side of Berlin to the conference center in Wannsee where the German officials met to decide how to carry out the “Final Solution” of the Jews. The director of the education department, Wolfe Kaiser, who spoke to us as we toured the museum, which is housed in the actual resort for the German officials. Knowing that these rooms were the actual places where such terrible decisions were made, was poignant. We met in a classroom at the villa and discussed the educational value of the material we had seen and how to use it in a classroom.
We had our lunch in what seemed to be a greenhouse type of building, but it was a bit cooler than the villa. None of the museums have air conditioning and with the heat so high, many of us were having a hard time keeping our eyes open!!
After lunch, we traveled back into the city of Berlin to the Topography of Terror located on the sight of the former Gestapo Headquarters. It is the present-day name of the site on which the most important institutions of the Nazi apparatus of terror and persecution were located between 1933 and 1945: the headquarters of the Secret State Police (Gestapo), the Reich SS Leadership and Security Serive (SD) of the SS, and, from 1939 on, the Reich Security Main Office. We saw many documents and their translations and several photos that we had never seen before. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at the Holocaust Memorial, which Deb and I had seen before. Though the set up of the flat stones doesn’t seem to have any meaning, it is seems to be up to the beholder. We’ll talk about that after dinner! An added bonus was seeing and touching remnants of the Berlin Wall. We could picture the happenings of the past! Across from the Holocaust Memorial, there was a sign identifying the site of Hitler’s Bunker. It was totally unobtrusive and we were told that residents allow their animals to use the site for their business.
We’re so glad to be out of the sun and back “home.” Tonight we look forward to a German dinner and a beer!!!
We still have one member who is feeling poorly, but our bumps and bruises are healing!

July 11, 2010

Hard to believe that only a week has gone by since we celebrated July 4th in DC and all met for the first time. it is quite true that we have bonded and become 'family' looking out for one another and enjoying each others points of view.
We had to be out of the hotel by 1 am so Deb and I did not sleep, rather we spent time with Mitch and Nick watching old comedy skits on you-tube. The plane ride was long and tiring, everyone slept a little. Leaving Israel was bitter sweet. It is such a special city in a remarkable country.

We changed planes in Frankfurt and arrived in Berlin around 2 pm. They are experiencing a heat wave. Its over 100 degrees F and very sunny. There were a few problems again with luggage as one person's bag was ripped. Finally we arrived at the Berlin Hotel, a lovely place that is very close to the center of town. The difference I observed immediately was that Berlin was lush, beautiful, and very European: very different from Israel. They try to conserve (and rightly so) by having you use your room key to not only open the door but to activate lights and air, so when you leave the room it turns off.

We walked around on our own and ate some local sausage (currywurst), fries, and some sampled the beer (Me!) . From there we got daring and began to walk to Brandenburg Gate not realizing it was about 4 miles away! We stopped at a statue of Wagner, who was a blatant anti-Semite and Hitler's favorite composer: it was strange for me to see a statue erected in his honor. Mitch was determined to get us to the Brandenburg gate which was part of the Wall and now stands as a symbol of unification. This was the only opening of the Berlin wall separating East from West. Where we stood was formally East Berlin, we also saw the Hotel Aldon, which is still in existence and was Hitler's favorite hotel. There was also a pile of shoes that was placed by the UN or had the UN symbol. I am not sure what they were suppose to represent but I will ask our guide in the morning.

We will be meeting for dinner soon and I will continue and post some new pictures showing the experiences of today.

Tomorrow we really begin our journey back 60 years. We will visit Gurenewald Station where 50,000 Jews were sent to work and death camp, and to Wannsee Conference villa where the Nazi's discussed how to attain the "Final Solution"

July 10,2010

Before I go into today's adventures I wanted to add something interesting about yesterday. When we all placed notes into the Kotel (Western Wall), it was explained that from time to time the notes are removed because there are so many, and they are considered Holy- therefore the notes are given a Jewish burial and never destroyed.
Today was a day of fun- a day to realize that we can not always dwell on the serious aspects of our journey but must stop to reflect and smell the roses! We started out early and headed to Masada. The place where about 900 Jews held off the Roman soldiers and decided it was best to die rather than to surrender to the Romans. In the Jewish faith, suicide is a sin, therefore they drew lots after each head of household killed their own wives and children. There were 10 men left, and one man was to kill the others and then himself therefore one only person technically committed suicide.
The road to Masada passes through the West Bank where we saw Bedouin encampments, along with their sheep, mules and camels. We began to descend down below sea level towards Masada. Once there we took the gondola up. We were given the tour by our guide Charles- who has been with us for our time in Israel- seeing the frescoes the places where food was stored, baths taken and even saunas! It's incredible how the tiles are still viable and beautiful. It reminded me of our trip to Pompeii last year.
We had lunch in En Gedi and went into the Dead Sea. That was strange and grueling!
We forgot to bring our shoes along and the rocky beach was 120 Degrees F. Once in the water we tried to get to the mud area, some of us succeeded unscathed while others, like myself, had slight injuries- I fell and got some scrapes and sprained my hand.
The scrapes were unpleasant in the mineral rich water!! We floated around for a bit, and headed back to the bus where we then traveled to the Oasis.
There was really an Oasis in the desert, lush, green, and pockets of fresh water pools. Most of the group walked up to the waterfall and jumped into this refreshing pool of cool water and went under the waterfall. It was extremely hot and one of the particpants had a bout with heat exhaustion. Once we returned back to the hotel some of us went to the pool to relax and then had dinner. We have to be up at 12:30 am in order to get to the airport for our flight to Frankfurt then to Berlin.
So I do not think I will bother to sleep at all tonight.
We all understand that being in Israel first gives us the 'light' at the end of the tunnel that resulted in a new life for so many Jews who survived the Holocaust. The next part of the trip will be emotional and will allow us to better appreciate the life that has been built here in Israel.

July 9, 2010

We started the day at Yad Vashem and a lecture on the Righteous people who saved Jews risking their own lives and often those of their own families. We visited the art museum that had art work created after the war and many Holy sites to Christians including the Gethsemane, - where Jesus awaited betrayal. We visited another exhibit with pieces of incredible art that had been smuggled or hidden during the Holocaust. Our group participated in a ceremony honoring the victims of the Holocaust in the Hall of Remembrance: a place of quiet solitude and reflection. Two of our group members read poignant poems as we all looked on in silent reverence. We left Yad Vashem and spent the rest of the day in the Old City of Jerusalem. We visited Mary's Grotto and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. These places held special meaning to several members of the group. What impressed us was that while we were in the square in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, we heard the call to prayer from the Muslim quarter from the Minaret, the Jews were praying at the Kotel ( Western Wall), the Armenians were holding a service going through the square, while a group of Italian Christians were simulating the stations of the Cross. I felt like I was in the center of the Universe, where all the major religions of the world came together, each separate yet each playing a part in the other. Truly an amazing feeling and experience. Whether one is religious or not; one is in humble awe knowing that thousands of years ago these same streets were filled with people,which included Jesus, King Herod, and the father of Islam. We walked down the Via Delarosa, and to the Jaffa gate, the path may have looked the same 3000 years ago. The Old City is an amazing experience and one comes away with a strange sense looking out to the Golden Dome of the Rock, and to the left is the Western Wall and to the right is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher- all the major religions of the world within your vision.
We ended the day with a traditional Shabbat dinner in the hotel with Kaddish blessings said over the bread and wine.

PS some bags did show up but several are still missing. One of our group is ill and did not participate today. Tomorrow we go to Masada and the Dead Sea, pack and have to leave the hotel at 1 am to fly to Germany.

The first picture is the Garden of Gethsemane
The second picture is me leaving a note at the wailing or western wall.