Final Day in Warsaw

Our second day in Warsaw was predominantly a tour of Jewish interest sites. Our guide for the day, Marek Brukh, was born outside of Warsaw in 1948. On our way to the memorial to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising we passed the infamous Pawiak Prison. During the war it was used by the Nazis to incarcerate political prisoners. In from of the entrance is a dead tree with its trunk covered with placards with the names of past prisoners.
From there we drove to the site of the Ghetto Heroes Square. The area had all been leveled to rubble and is now surrounded by Soviet built apartment buildings. The setting is park- like, totally incongruous with both ghetto life and its destruction after the uprising. The city is in the midst of building a museum for the history of Polish Jewry. Facing the huge construction sites is a large monument dedicated to the fighters and the martyrs of Israel. This monument is the same as the one in the courtyard at Yad Vashem in Israel. On one side of the monument are the figures of powerful fighters in the midst of the uprising. On the other side the figures are walking with heads bowed marching off to the death camps. There are also other smaller monuments dedicated to individuals such as Mordecai Anielewicz, the young leader in the ghetto uprising and Szmul Zygielboim who committed suicide back in Warsaw because of allied indifference to the situation for Jews in Poland after going to the west and telling of the horrors that were already beginning.
At the other end of the square is a small mound with another monument. This one is located near Mila Street, the bunker headquarters for the organizers of the uprising. Marek showed us a picture that was taken after the entire ghetto area was destroyed. The only building standing was a church in the distant background. During the uprising the resistance people used the sewer system as a safer path between bunkers. A sewer lid is memorialized as a symbol.
Next we drove to the Umschlagplatz, the site from which those rounded up in the ghetto were brought and forced onto the transports to the concentration camps. The monument here contained hundreds of first names to represent all those who shared these names. From 1942 to 1943 over 300,000 Jews were sent to their death either on the way or in the killing camps from this spot. It’s uncanny to feel some identification with the victims when seeing one’s own name on the wall.
While driving around the city we passed a building that was an orphanage both during the war and today. Janusz Korczak, pen name for Henryk Goldszmit, who wrote popular children’s books, had worked at that orphanage. When offered freedom, and not to be sent on the transport, he defiantly chose to remain with the children and went with them to his death at Treblinka. Throughout the city there were monuments to this great man. There was a statue of Korczak in the old Jewish cemetery on Okopowa Street. This large area was enclosed within the ghetto and was one of the very few Jewish cemeteries to survive the war. Although the Nazis burned the records, used gravestones for paving and desecrated most of it, its survival provides its own historical record of more than a century of Warsaw Jewry. Today some of the broken stones have been used to create a memorial wall as we had seen also in Krakow.
We walked through a part of the cemetery’s vast expanse and saw many unusual and unique gravestones, mausoleums and monuments. One grave belonged to Lazaro Zamenhof, the creator of Esperanto, an attempt to establish an international language, ostensibly to produce a state of peace among humanity. Our guide said that only about 300 people speak Esperanto today and that English is the new Esperanto, “without the hope of peace.” There was a wall memorial to the more than one million children slaughtered by the Nazis. In the wall was a hole symbolizing how children entered and exited the ghetto, often smuggling in food from the outside. On the recent grave of Marek Edelman who died in October of 2009 were many bouquets of flowers, not the custom many of us know and practice with regards traditional Jewish graves. Edelman was an important figure in the ghetto uprising of 1943. We saw graves of famous writers (S. Anski, who wrote The Dybbuk and I.L. Peretz), thespians (the mother of Ida Kaminska of Yiddish theater fame), political and historical figures (Adam Czerniakowa, put in charge of the ghetto Jewish administration), and rabbis and pillars of the community. The cemetery has been renovated since the war and a copy of the original gate was made and erected in 1998.
Our next stop was the Nozyk Synagogue, the only surviving synagogue in the ghetto after the war. It was not destroyed, although severely damaged by bombings, because the Nazis used it as a stable. Renovated and reconstructed in the late 70’s and early 80’s, it has since become a central place of orthodox worship.
Not much remains of the original ghetto walls. However, not far from our hotel is a small area where we were able to see some traces. In a small section of the wall remaining, a few bricks had been removed in order to be able to place and light yahrzeit candles. Right next to a small section is now a small tourist information office. Although the office was closed, both the guide and Janusz commented that it had only been put there in recent months. Besides the wall sections there are marks in the walkways where the wall had once existed. This area is situated between ordinary buildings and would not be easily found unless one knew what to look for.
For the remainder of the afternoon we had free time for shopping in the nearby mall and/or at TK Maxx, modeled after T. J Maxx, for additional sightseeing ( a couple of people went to the Chopin Museum) or for rest before our final Shabbat in Warsaw.
For Kabbalat Shabbat and dinner, we headed out by bus from the center of town to the home of Beit Warszawa, the Progressive Jewish community in Warsaw. We were warmly greeted by Rabbi Burt Schuman, an American rabbi ordained at age 47. After serving for 7 years in Altoona PA, he was drawn to Warsaw and has served this congregation for the last 4 years. He led the service with a translator as he knows relatively little Polish. It turned out that the translator was also the cantorial soloist but that was hard to tell as Rabbi Schuman seemed to lead all of the singing. He graciously asked me to say a couple of words to the congregation. Also in attendance was a retired rabbi from California, and his wife who were spending a few months in Poland and surrounding countries as scholar in residence.
After services we were invited onto the lovely staircase of this large house/mansion turned synagogue center, where we chanted together kiddush and motzi. We were then welcomed into a large room (actually a tent) for a buffet Shabbat dairy dinner. We split up among the tables so we could talk with and meet the congregants, who mostly spoke English. We learned of a few who were only now discovering their Jewish roots. Jewish origins were often hidden by their parents in the communist era, and only now discovered in adulthood.
The walls were covered with lovely artwork, including a few pieces by the famous Israeli modern artist, Agam. We learned that that this congregation has an American patron but they continue to struggle like most Central and Eastern European progressive congregations . Even so, every week the congregation offers Shabbat dinner for all who show up. After the lovely evening we departed so we could pack and prepare for our departure from the hotel at 3:00 am.
This journey was both difficult and enjoyable at the same time. We visited and paid homage to some of the most tragic sites in all of Jewish history. We met members of small but emerging progressive Jewish communities in all three countries. We viewed beautiful historic Jewish buildings and artifacts but with few Jews to give them life in the present. We experienced both denial of the full tragedy of the Holocaust along with museums and memorials visited by thousands of students in order to educate them. We heard of the continued presence of anti-Semitism in places that bear the burden of a shameful history. We also gained new insights into the different populations around the Jewish community, learning that all is not what it appears to be or that sometimes we too don’t know the full picture of the events of the past. As a group we were also able to experience the general culture and cuisine. This was truly a powerful journey and we all learned much more about our heritage and hopefully about ourselves.

First Day in Warsaw

Our first day of touring in Warsaw was focused mainly on the general culture and secular sights. Not far from the hotel and dominating much of the skyline was the huge Palace of Culture, erected by Stalin as his gift to the city. It was chosen to be built rather than a subway system. Some say the best view of the city is from this palace since when one is inside you are unable to see it. Our guide for the day was Renata. Our first stop was the large Lazienki Park in which is a small palace formerly used for the king. Outside the park gate through which we entered was a statue of General Josef Pilsudski, a great hero of Poland during the interwar period in the early 19th century. We used the steps of his monument to take a group picture.
Near the park was the former Polish Presidential Palace. During Lech Walesa’s years as president, he decided this building was too small and moved to a larger palace. Traffic made it extremely difficult to hear the guide but when the leaf blowers began their work in the palace yard, hearing the guide’s explanations was impossible. Upon entering the park we came upon a lovely area with a rose garden and a monument for Chopin. During the summer Chopin concerts are held. When it rains the piano is put under a tent. At this spot we saw one of a number of specially designed granite benches to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Chopin. By pressing the button on the bench one hears a short excerpt of his music. The seat contained a map where one could find other such benches throughout the city.
The walk through the park was highlighted by an Orangerie (orange orchard), a royal palace of Stanislaw Augur Ponuiatowski, Poland’s last monarch, and other royal buildings, fountains, ponds and statues. One building of interest had four facades each exactly the same as the others. From the park we rode around the city with Renata pointing out buildings of note. We passed a statue of Charles DeGaulle considered a friend of the Polish people. Eventually we came to the old town area.
During WWII almost all of Warsaw was destroyed by the Nazis. Eighty per cent of the buildings throughout the city were built after the war. The old town area was rebuilt in its originals style and finished in 1962. This reconstruction was done so well that it became a UNESCO World Heritage site, even though the town is a “copy”.
Next we visited inside the Royal Castle on the edge of Old Town. It was rebuilt between 1971 and 1984 at a tremendous cost. Furniture, accessories and lighting had to be reconstructed or were accumulated from other countries. There were many original paintings that actually survived because caretakers removed them before the Nazis had a chance to confiscate or destroy them. They were hidden in various locations including the basement of the National Museum, which one would think to be too obvious a hiding place. Wandering through the rooms of the royal residence we were inundated with detailed explanations of the furniture and artwork. One highlight for me was finding a bust of the nobleman, Ioannes Zamoyski. Karen Reese, Temple Sinai’s office manager’s maiden name is Zamoyski. We promised to look for any signs of her family heritage which includes a palace that we were unable to visit. The bust was the best we could do.
Upon leaving the castle we walked around the old town. In the central square was a statue of Syrena, the symbol of Warsaw, a mermaid who protects the city. To our surprise, on her shield was the pink ribbon for breast cancer awareness. It seemed quite fitting. After a short break for lunch we visited an imposing monument commemorating the 1944 Polish uprising against the Nazis. This revolt was at the end of the war by the Polish resistance movement whose symbol looks like a “P” on an anchor- etched on the columns behind the monument. The Russian army was on the eastern edge of the city but held back, leaving the Polish resistance vulnerable to the Nazi killing machine in Poland. During that time the Nazis were able to defeat the resistance and then destroy most of the city as an act of brutal vengeance. Some estimate as much as 90% of the city was leveled to the ground.
For our final stop of the day we visited the Emanuel Ringelbaum Jewish Historical Institute. We began with a short documentary movie about the Warsaw Ghetto. Even after being in the camps, this movie added more disturbing images of the Nazi barbarity. Displayed on the wall was an interactive map of cities, towns and shtetls that were once home to more than 3.5 million Jews. The Institute featured an exhibit and a small bookstore. We met a gentleman there, Yale Reiner, who helps people trace family roots. His contact information is familyheritage@jhi.pl. The Institute is located perpendicular to the site of the once Great Synagogue in Warsaw, now taken up by a high rise bank.
In the evening we gathered in the hotel lobby before heading to a private Chopin recital. Janusz, our tour leader and chaperone for the entire trip, won over all the women as he presented a red rose to each and every one. The concert was held at a musical library building. The pianist , an instructor at the Academy of Music and frequent concertizer was dynamic, and presented exciting renditions of the chosen pieces. The more musically knowledgeable members of the group, including Barbara Dechario, commented on the interpretation of the music as very different from how Chopin is played in the United States. At intermission we were offered glasses of champagne which added to the lovely ambience of the evening.
Our evening concluded with a group dinner at a typical Polish restaurant, Chiopskie Jadlo. It had a rustic atmosphere, and we sat at three long tables, prepared family style. The first course: herring prepared two different ways with bread. The vegetarians were offered slices of fried goat cheese. The main course: platters of various meats and polish specialties such as stuffed cabbage,piogies and potato pancakes. The amounts were overwhelming and the group may have dented the food but it looked like over 2/3 of it was left over. We were sorry for not being able to finish it and hoped that it will somehow be used.

Day 10 Krakow to Waraw

Day 10

Dzenh dobriy - good morning! Today is our last day in Krakow, with a morning tour of Polish historical sites, free time in the Old Town Square for eating, looking, and shopping, followed by Poland’s “Amtrak” train to Warsaw for just under 3 hours, leaving Krakow at 2:00 p.m. Henryk, our dependable bus driver, left with our luggage early to drive the 6 hours to Warsaw, after dropping us off at our first site, Wawel (pronounced “Vavel”) Castle and cathedral complex.
The previous evening gave us all another chance to explore the charming city center with its magnificent square, the Rynek Glowny, and the Cloth Hall, the Sukiennice, which inside is filled with stalls selling wonderful Polish crafts and gifts, such as wooden boxes, amber jewelry and ceramic pottery. Some of us found an intriguing vodka tasting shop with such flavors as wormwood and herbs, chocolate, blueberry, and many others. Most of the group found traditional Polish cuisine to round out the evening.
This morning our beloved guide Janusz, needed to pay a visit to a medical clinic to check out his hoarse voice. In his stead, we were fortunate to be led by his close colleague, Edita, who charmed us with her smile, her detailed knowledge of Polish history (and dates), and the “valued added” stories. Upon entering the complex, she regaled us with Krakow’s famous dragon tale: There was a dragon that was terrorizing the city. A young lad set out to slay the dragon. He offered the dragon a sheep stuffed with phosphorous. The dragon swallowed the sheep and then, out of thirst, drank water until he burst. End of dragon.
First stop in the complex was the courtyard of the castle of the kings built in the 14th Century. The novel Renaissance style of the building was copied by Polish nobles all over the country. Of note were the resident 136 large tapestries designed and made in Belgium centuries ago and ultimately moved from country to country to preserve them during the Nazi era. These tapestries were finally retrieved from Canada in the late 1960’s. We learned that during the Nazi era, the castle was the home and office of Hans Frank, head of General Government, the title of Nazi occupied Poland. His son used to bike in this very courtyard.

St Stanislaus (Patron Saint of Catholic Poland) Cathedral, high above .the Old Town Square, is the burial place of Polish kings. In their honor, the church is adorned with sarcophagi of silver, and all manner of precious materials, along with tapestries, a throne for the reigning archbishop, and decorative columns, friezes, and statuary, reflecting styles across the centuries. At the entrance of the cathedral, three gargantuan bones hang from one wall. The legend insists that these are the bones of the dragon, but we learned that they are, in fact, the bones of a rhino, mammoth, and whale. The centerpiece inside is the ornate silver reliquary of Stanislaus. Our guide also detailed the reign of young Queen Jedwiga (married at age 12 and from Lithuania) to King Jagiello, whose legacy in the early Middle Ages paid for the construction of the Cathedral. The king’s legacy is Jagiellonian University, the oldest in Poland and Alan’s alma mater from his summer course in 1988. A familiar chuckle was had by all as we observed the bricks in the wall of the castle complex engraved with the names of the donors who maintain the area.

From the heights, we descended into the Old Town Square. Once in the Old Town Square, largest in Europe according to our guide (and tourist center), first pause at small, very old church in the center of the square - St. Adalbert or alternatively St. Wojciecha - Joe and Elise’s namesake. From there, the Jagiellonian University where the highlights were buying JU hats, viewing a copy of Copernicus’s Manuscript and watching 3 foot high figures of King Jagiello and Queen Jedwiga circle in and out of two open windows under a ceremonial clock in the courtyard of the oldest university building, to music. According to our guide, when the clock mechanism works this Prague-like phenomenon happens 3 times a day - at 9 and 11 a.m. and at 3:00 p.m.

Left on our own at 11:30 a.m. the group pursued two separate and important missions - shopping (especially at the open stalls of the “cloth market” ) and indulging in hot soup or coffee to ward off the morning chill, and it was chilly! People watching in the square was only trumped by a statue of the large head of Eros, permanently installed from a 2005 open air art festival, lying on his side, with bands around the lower half of his eyes. Interpretation: Love is blind or Marriage is eye-opening. We also got to see/hear the famous bugler from a turret window of St Mary’s Church on the square. Historically, he played to warn the locals of the oncoming invasion of the Tatars, but was tragically cut off in medio res when an arrow hit his throat. Thus the bugling stops abruptly each time it is heard, in our times.

Sated from lunch, purchases (amber jewelry, local pottery, wooden boxes), and unexpected sunshine on a very cold day, we met up with Janusz and followed him for the 20 minute walk to the train station. Train left on time and off to Warsaw amid convivial bantering and food and vodka sharing, and the promise of yet another (and our final) destination.
Our arrival in Warsaw was smooth. We walked across the street from the train station into a beautiful modern mall. Upon arriving at the other end of the mall we crossed the street and immediately entered the Holiday Inn. People were on their own for dinner and began to explore the streets of the Polish capitol.

Day 9 Auchwitz-Birkenau

Day 9
Auschwitz - Birkenau
　
Could we have imagined what we would see, how we would feel and react to this day? Our collective anticipation was palpable - some of us quiet on the bus, some queasy, some curious in order to be prepared, and some reflecting on the reports of prior visitors. The bus ride to Auschwitz through the countryside took one and a half hours. The camp abuts the town of Oswiecim, the Polish name for the camp, - either a “disconnect” to the gut-wrenching concentration camp, or conversely the proof that life goes on, and progresses from the past.
As the camp now welcomes well over a million visitors each year, according to our special guide for the day, Wanda, there are kiosks, a restaurant, and book stores on the site as park-like grounds surrounding the entrance and parking lot. Like Yad Vashem in Israel, the site is so crowded that we all wore earphones to hear our tour guide throughout our 2 and a half hours at Auschwitz. Wanda reviewed the historical context around the camp, offered all the significant dates for the Nazi invasion of Poland on 9/1/39 and subsequent establishment of the labor, concentration (Auschwitz I), and death (Birkenau, or Auschwitz 2) camps for the different victims in Poland - political prisoners, gays, gypsies, Poles’ hiding Jews, and Jews, the last of whom the only ones destined for the death camps. Auschwitz today is a museum, and to some surprise, clean, with building exteriors intact, pathways easy to navigate, and the vestiges of the Polish military baracks, the camp’s original purpose. It could have been a prison, at first look. It was entering the blocks (brick barracks), each dedicated to a different phase of life in the camp that uncovered the true nature of the site and peeled away our own composure. It should be mentioned that at the entrance, once again (first at Terezin) is written Arbeit macht frei (work makes one free). As Wanda reminded, this “freedom:” was only death here. We began in Block 4 focusing on extermination, with George Santayana’s famous quote on the wall in the foyer “the one who does. not remember history is bound to live through it again.” In this block are displayed all the statistics related to the number of Jews transported to Auschwitz from throughout Europe as well as photos extant from a German photo-journalist of the times, and also a model of the largest gas chamber/crematorium, the ruins of which we would later see at Birkenau.
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Block 5, perhaps the most unbearable to see, contained behind glass the remains of Jews collected by the Nazis - now colorless mounds of hair, suitcases painted with names on the inmates, their place of origin and birthdate - the privilege of labeling luggage was one way the Nazis allayed the fears of the arrivals and kept them in the dark as much as was possible about their future - also, the mounds of shoes, shoe polish containers, combs, brushes, kitchen utensils. . . . .remains of life snuffed out at a moment of living it.
Block 7 began with the quote: “This former prisoner’s barrack shows living conditions in the main camp Auschwitz I. They differed according to the period of the camp’s existence. The number of prisoners assigned to each barrack varied from 700-1000.” At the beginning of the camp, all arrivals were photographed for Nazi records, but as of 1943, tattooed numbers were used exclusively at Auschwitz because the Jewish inmates could no longer be recognized. In this block along the walls are rows of those who were photographed with both the date of entry to the camp and date of death. We noticed that the period from one date to another was 3 to 6 months for almost all. On display in the side rooms were both original and reproductions of bunks, long trench-like washing basins, and medical rooms used for human experiments.
Next we stopped in the courtyard between the barracks and the prison, where those who disobeyed the Nazis in any way were temporarily held and then executed at that spot, where a memorial wall stands.
Block 27 holds the memorial room. Much like the Hall of Remembrance at the Yad Vashem Museum in Jerusalem, this was our opportunity to stare at the memorial in the center of a large room, broken stones under glass, listen to Elise chant the memorial prayer, El Malei Rachamim, recite the Mourners Kaddish together, listen to the recorded, haunting male cantorial voice again chant the memorial prayer, and confront our own reactions and feelings to our experience at Auschwitz and all that happened there, as we shed tears and were so very silent for those who were silenced.
We walked down the second road of barracks to the edge of the camp to view the substantial house outside the camp where its commandant, Rudolph Hoess, and his family lived, outside the fence. He was served poetic justice as he was hung after the war (April 16, 1947) on gallows raised up just inside the walls in viewing of his former house.
We ended our tour of Auschwitz walking through a small gas chamber/crematorium.
After a short break, we bussed with our guide to Birkenau – Auschwitz II, the killing camp. We had no idea of its endless dimensions. While Auschwitz contained c. 30 barracks, Birkenau had over 300. The barracks had been destroyed by the Poles after the war. Later, leftover materials were salvaged and a row of barracks was restored so that visitors can more realistically imagine the scope of life and death in this camp. Strangely, the “heating systems”, that is, the chimneys were not destroyed. The onlooker sees miles and miles of chimneys soaring from the ground on both sides of a central “avenue” where the train tracks ran through the camp.
Birkenau is a T-shaped camp and the 5 crematoria were positioned across the top of the T so that new arrivals would not see their fate right away. We toured a barrack, having housed 400 and more where 50 would have been crowded. We were told that the “heating system” never worked, the 2 toilet rooms for all the prisoners were inefficient and resulted in rows of latrines affording no privacy, no possibility of maintaining sanitation, and continued diarrhea from the bread that was mixed with sawdust, making up the main staple of the camp diet.
We walked along the central axis, along the tracks to the memorial at the end between the destroyed crematoria. At that place, we lit memorial candles, and Rabbi Katz and Elise once more led us in prayer. It was a tender moment, made more so by other visitors, mostly non-Jews, stopping to listen with respect and emotion, along with our non-Jewish Polish guide. We walked back, noticing bouquets of flowers placed on the railroad track that ends abruptly at the top of the T (we were told that trees were planted at the end, now behind the memorial, to fool arrivals into thinking that the tracks extended beyond the camp and that this was not the final stop). All in all, it was the most difficult day of our journey thus far.
Contrary to the observation that Auschwitz I is too commercial because books are sold there in kiosks, food is sold in a small restaurant, and many of the barracks are now museums, our group agreed that the information and images displayed offered a compelling education on the atrocities committed here and at all the camps.

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We have arrived back in the States but realize that the Blog is not over. There will be more posts this week Thanks for followng us.

Days 7 & 8 in Krakow

DAY 7 and 8 KRAKOW
Our departure from Budapest began slowly as once again our bus ran into heavy traffic (we left from the Dohany Syagogue). We finally got on the road for our Journey to Krakow. After our few free hours that morning, we did make a stop at the Holocaust memorial of bronzed shoes by the river. Between that stop, a lunch stop, and heavy traffic it took us over 9 hours until we arrived at the hotel in Krakow.
The scenery was extremely beautiful especially as we drove through the Tatras Mountains in Slovakia and Southern Poland. The group also had the extra experience of being in one more country, Slovakia, which was not entirely expected. We stopped at a rustic in appearance country roadside restaurant for a quick lunch. It was a log building with many stuffed animal heads mounted on the wall. There was a ram, a fox, a boar, deer and even a large pheasant. There were also embroidered dresses and blouses in the traditional folk style. We sat at wooden tables with benches, sometimes sharing them with strangers.
We arrived in Krakow which has changed dramatically since 1988, before the end of Communism. Our hotel was located a short walk from the walled old city and next to a Galleria Mall. The Andels Hotel is fairly new, lovely and modern and had a Japanese feel to its style. The rooms were beautiful with large bathroom facilities with both a large tub and a separate shower that had a glass partition between it, the toilet and the rest of the room. Even at the late hour a few of the group headed to the town center for dinner while others remained in the hotel.
Our first full day in Krakow began with much cooler temperatures than we had experienced up to this point. We drove over to the Jewish Quarter known as Kazimierz. When we arrived at the Szeroka square in front of the Remu Synagogue we were not able to enter because a group of Hasidim were holding a service. Janusz spent some time giving us an introduction. This neighborhood was established in the 14th century to give Krakow’s Jews a place to settle with special privileges. It also moved them out of other parts of the city. 22 years ago it had been quite run down but over the past 2 decades quite a bit has been done to restore old buildings and create a very lively and thriving neighborhood with a Jewish theme. The square is filled with restaurants and hotels as well as the two oldest synagogues. After a while we were able to enter the Remu synagogue before other groups because Janusz was friends with one of the two Jewish gatekeepers. Most of the Hasidic group moved outside the synagogue to the adjoining cemetery.
Remu (or Rama) was Rabbi Moses Isserles who wrote the Askenazic emendation to Joseph Karo’s Shulchan Arukh, (the set table) the major code of halacha. This commentary is known as the Mapa (the table cloth). This is the second oldest synagogue in Krakow; originally built in 1558 and restored a couple of times in later centuries. (We did not visit the oldest, the Old Shul, because of time restraints. It contains some Judaica but we had already seen quite a bit.) The Remu is still used for worship although not very large. The cemetery seems more organized than it did in 1988. It contains Rabbi Isserles’ grave and and those of other Tzaddikim. The Hasidic group was Vishnitzers from Israel. Besides praying at Remu’s grave they also gathered around one other. There is a wall in the synagogue that is made up of many pieces from broken stones. That way the stones remain as a memorial rather than for a secular purpose.
We walked a short way from the plaza and ended up near the Isaac Shul. This Synagogue has now been given over to Chabad. There is a wonderful story about the poor baker Isaac who travels to Prague seeking a treasure based on a dream. There he is caught by a palace guard who sets him free and allows him to return home. The guard said that he too had a dream but his was of a treasure under the floor of a poor Jew named Isaac in Krakow. When Isaac returns he finds the treasure and with his riches builds this very same synagogue.
We passed a building designated as a JCC (also not here in 1988). Near it was the High Synagogue, named not for the height of the building but because the worship space is on an upper floor. Nearby we arrived at the Temple Synagogue. It was Krakow’s attempt to create a non-Orthodox expression of Judaism. Many people call it the “Reform Temple” but its only changes were the mixed seating and a large organ. It may have also had the sermons delivered in Polish rather than Yiddish. It was a very lovely building that was built in the Moorish style of other synagogues we saw in both Prague and Budapest. Today the synagogue hosts both concerts as well as services.
The South-Eastern part of Poland as well as much of the Ukraine and a few other areas are known as Galicia. We use the term Galitziyaner for a person from this area as opposed to the Litvaks who came from Lithuania. We visited a museum dedicated to Jewish culture of Polish Galicia. It contains many wonderful photos; some from the past but most of what remains in these towns in recent years. There are pictures of destroyed and restored synagogues. There was also a picture of a synagogue that is now used as a furniture warehouse. Our docent was an Austrian young man who is doing national service in a foreign country. Why was he at this museum - because it was the only museum that offered such an internship.
Lunch time! People spread out to a few nearby restaurants to sample such things a pirogis, potato pancakes and hearty soups. These foods wash down well with some Polish beer (Piwo, pronounced Pivo).
Back on the bus for a short ride over to the new museum at the Oskar Schindler factory. The museum opened this past summer and tells the story of WWII both for the Polish citizens of Krakow and the Jewish community. It is creatively set up as the visitor walks through the maze - like and often dis-orienting path of the exibition. It contains multi-media presentations beyond the pictures and collected items on display, primarily testimonies from people who lived through those terrible years. One video featured the testimony of Professor Jerzy Vetulani, who I had met in 1988, and spent time with him and his wife and son. Jan ran into a Jewish man, a survivor (of the Plaszow camp – see below) from Israel who returned with his son, who now lives in the US. He was describing all the details in the photos – his own childhood. Most of us felt it was too little time in this museum.
From there we drove over to Ghetto Heroes’ Square. This is a plaza that commemorates the place from where many were sent on the transports from this ghetto of Podgorze. There are many empty chairs spread throughout the plaza signifying the emptiness left behind with the loss of these victims. On the corner is the famous drug store (apothecary) called the Pharmacy Under the Eagle that was run by a Polish Catholic, Tadeausz Pankiewicz. He was the only non-Jew who chose to remain and operate a business in the ghetto. From his store he was able to help many Jews.
Our final stop in our day’s tour was the site of the concentration/work camp, Plaszow, on the edge of the city. There is nothing left of the camp. On the top of a hill is a large Soviet period monument. It is an abstract sculpture of sad-faced and downtrodden human forms. There are also two much smaller monuments that were put here in honor of Jewish victims. The larger of the two was erected by the Jews of Krakow for the thousands of Jews from Poland and Hungary who were tortured, murdered and incinerated. The second, put up in 2000, pays tribute to Jewish Hungarian women who were in Plaszow before being sent to Auschwitz. The Soviet monument de-emphasizes the reality of the Jewish deaths and was dedicated to all nationalities murdered by the Nazis. For some, this area seems to be nothing more than a park. As we were standing and listening to our guide Janusz, there were two young women sitting nearby on a bench just talking and laughing. We also saw people walking by and baby carriages being strolled around. For us, these simple leisure activities were out of place on the grounds of a concentration camp.
Spielberg filmed much of “Schindler’s List” in and around Krakow. The authorities would not let him construct a replica of the concentration camp on the actual sight. We could see a row of trees not too far from the camp. Behind them was the location of the set. After a couple of years it was taken down and nothing remains of it.
The dinner this evening was at Restaurant Ester on the main square in Kazimierz. We were supposed to meet with Rabbi Tanya Siegel but she never arrived. Earlier in the day she told Janusz she’d be late due to a Beit Din, a rabbinical court. She leads the small liberal Jewish community. Since I knew nothing about this group it would have been informative to hear from her.
Dinner was lovely and we were entertained by a small klezmer trio. There was a singer, an accordion and a clarinet player. Their music was enjoyable with a small catch. Everyone noticed the cross around the neck of the singer. We were told the other members of the trio were also not Jewish. This brought up the irony that we witnessed a rebuilt Jewish quarter, synagogues, museums and culture in Krakow. However, except for a gatekeeper at the Remu Synagogue, we encountered no other Jews.

DAYS 5 & 6

Days 5 and 6
Hungary
Our visit to Hungary was brief and hurried. After a midday flight on a propeller plane from Prague we were picked up at the airport by Henryk, our bus driver until we depart for the States. Actually when we walked outside of the terminal (again 100% luggage arrival) he was not there. Janusz, our tour leader, found him a road level above us at the departures area. Construction prevented busses, but not cars, from coming to the arrivals zone. The trip into Budapest took longer than expected due to heavy traffic and more construction. Traffic and tour delays became an ongoing problem for the two days. At times we found ourselves circling around for 10 minutes in order to make a single turn.
We met our guide Peter Kovacsi outside of the Dohany Synagogue, built in 1859 in the popular Moorish style of that era - same style as both the Spanish and Jerusalem Synagogues in Prague. In order to enter the synagogue and the other sites on that property we had to go through an extensive security screening one by one. It was Friday afternoon so we hurried into the synagogue, second largest in the world after Temple Emanuel in New York City. The group was amazed at both its size and beauty. A few hours later that evening we returned for Kabbalat Shabbat services. The majority of Hungarian religious Jewry practices a unique stream of Judaism called Neolog. It falls somewhere between Orthodox and Conservative: separate seating for men and women but no formal mechitza. On Friday evenings there are both an organ and a choir with women’s voices. Elise was politely asked to remove a kippah because it is not the custom of this congregation. I was told that Neolog has moved closer to orthodox and that practices often depend on who is the rabbi at the time.
We were informed by two young men that the cantor who led the entire service was a substitute. One of these young men who desires to study to become a rabbi apologized for the cantor. He had a strong voice but many of his tunes were unfamiliar to our group. At the end of the service the rabbi, dressed in a black clerical robe, donned his tallit and gave the three-fold benediction, the Yivarechecha, which was all he did in the service. We met a group from Tiferet Israel (formally known as The Temple) from Cleveland. We would see them again Shabbat morning at the Reform synagogue.
On our afternoon tour after we left the synagogue we walked over to the Jewish Museum in the same complex. This building is located on the spot where Theodor Herzl was born. A museum highlight was a stain glass window dedicated by a patron named Wertheimer. Alan Wertheimer brought on the trip an elaborate family tree and believes some of the branches lived in Budapest. Other pieces of note in the exhibit included ceramic seder plates, unusual channukiyot, one with a miniature Napolean figure and others with a Polish and Habsburg Eagles perched on top. This engaging collection also inluded a small section dedicated to the Holocaust and a few of the Righteous among the Nations, including Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat, who saved many Jews by issuing them Swedish documents to keep them off the transports heading to the camps.
The central courtyard of the museum became a Jewish graveyard in the final days of WWII. The preset grave stones aren’t necessarily set over their namesakes, but reflect names of Hungarian Jews who died in the Budapest Jewish ghetto. At the end of the courtyard is a block shaped white stone synagogue called the Heroes Synagogue. It is much smaller than the Dohany Synagogue and is used in the winter so that the larger building does not need to be heated. The Heroes Synagogue was built after WWI to honor Austro-Hungarian soldiers who died fighting for the Axis powers. One of our group, Julie Griesinger, had shown me a picture of a great uncle who sent a picture postcard to a family member just before he departed from Pague while serving in the Austro-Hungarian army.. He was killed shortly after that. Such soldiers were honored by that synagogue. Yet again, a member of our group was able to make a connection with what we saw.
Behind the Heroes Synagogue is a silver weeping willow tree that also looks like a menorah. Its construction was funded among others by Tony Curtis in honor of his family, who were Hungarian Jews. On each leaf is a name of person who died at the hands of the Nazis. It stands not far from another memorial to the Righteous among the Nations. This memorial consists of a free-standing stained glass window, a black grave stone etched with more names and a number of small pillars with more names.
We hurried back to the hotel but once again traffic and construction made what should have been a 5 minute ride into a 20 minute circuitous journey. In less than an hour we met in the lobby to walk over to the Dohany Synagogue for the service described above. Upon its conclusion we walked over to the Carmel Kosher Restaurant for our Shabbat dinner. After Kiddush and motzi many were surprised by the “gefilte” fish that was our first course. It was a slice of boiled fish , stuffed in the middle, perfectly appropriate since gefilte means “stuffed.” The meal that followed included soup, goulash with barley, and potatoes prepared three ways for the vegetarians.. The dessert was fruit compote. We concluded the dinner with song and Birkat Hamazon.
On Shabbat morning we went to the Jewish Community Center which houses one of the two Reform Synagogues in Budapest, Beit Orim. The rabbi, Fernec Raj (pronounced Roy) is Hungarian born but served his rabbinate in the US. After retiring from a congregation in Berkley, California, he was approached by a group who were forming this congregation to be their founding rabbi. In his sermon to us, he related the story of his uncle, also a rabbi and killed in the Holocaust by the Nazis. He felt the memory of the loss of his uncle and his uncle’s son compelled him to accept the position here, in order to honor them. He said he had no choice.
At the service Rabbi Raj was warm and gracious to all the visitors, our group and the one from Cleveland. He invited Elise to sing Nisim bechol yom and Psalm 150. Alan and Judy Wertheimer were honored with an aliyah and the hagba (lifting the Torah) honor was offered to me (Rabbi Katz). The young Hungarian cantorial soloist, Flora, was singing at her first Saturday morning service as the congregation usually holds services only on Friday night.
After services we were invited to a lovely Kiddush lunch prepared by members of the congregation, and had a chance to talk with congregants - among them a recently married couple and a couple soon to be married. Beit Orim is part of a revival of Progressive Judaism along with a second congregation, Sim Shalom. They are not recognized or supported by the formal Jewish community and have great challenges just to keep afloat. Our group agreed that this was a wonderful encounter and we were glad to have the chance to worship in this setting (even the prayer books were in Hebrew and English).
We spent the remainder of the afternoon touring Budapest. We met with Peter, our guide at the hotel. We drove to a central plaza known as Heroes’ Square. In the center is a large monument with statues of seven men on horseback representing te seven Magyar tribes that came to Hungary and settled the land. Here are also two large arc shaped structure with statues of many Hungarian Kings. On the top there are two statues representing War and Peace. Finally in the front there is a memorial to the unknown soldiers. There are two museums on the two sides of the plaza; one for fine arts and the other for ethnic art. Behind the plaza is a large city park that contains a large municipal pool, a Lunar Park, a zoo, and a large facility with thermal hot baths.
Later we crossed the river from Pest to Buda to the Castle district that looks over the Danube. We were unable to enter its famous Cathedral because of a wedding but did get a glimpse of the bride as she exited her car. We went up on the Fishermen’s Bastion once a defensive position and now an exquisite viewing terrace.
While some window shopped in the small stores in the Old Town of Buda, I went with our tour leader to pick up good Hungarian wine for havdalah later that evening. We bussed back across the river and passed the Parliament building which is the second largest in Europe after London. We stopped at an unobtrusive park full of families enjoying the beautiful day, and in the middle of the park is a monument dedicated Raoul Wallenberg. Once again Peter shared the terrible story of the plight of Hungarian Jews. Peter it seemed to all of us, is an extremely, sad, depressed and pessimistic person not only in regards to the past but also concerning the present situation for Jews in Hungary.
From there we drove to a place on the river where we embarked on a one hour boat ride on the Danube. It was a bright sunny afternoon and the views of the city from the river were quite lovely. It was a restful and enjoyable hour before returning to the hotel and going out for dinner.
The next morning before leaving the city and heading off to Krakow we stopped by the river. Once again we had numerous detours and traffic; this time complicated even more by a marathon. We walked down to a haunting memorial to Jews who were shot by the Arrow Cross, Hungarian Nazis, in the final days of the war even when the Germans were pulling out of the city. It consists of bronzed empty shoes making one think of the people who were no longer there. We found it very disturbing that the plaques spoke of the victims without saying they were Jews. No other Hungarians were slaughtered in this manner. Throughout Budapest and Hungary there is an attempt to ignore that most of the attrocities were directed against Jews both by the Germans and the Hungarian Fascists. Sadly, according to Peter there is a political party of the same philosophy with about 10% of the seat in parliament that exists and supported today. A final sad commentary.