Traveling Seminar to Poland
One big happy family: the JS and CES crew in Krakow's Old Town Square at night.
Bright and early Thursday morning, Jewish Studies and Central European studies met on a coach bus and took an eight hour drive to Krakow. Most of us enjoyed some sleep, reading, movies and music in anticipation of our exciting nine day trip throughout Poland. Upon arrival, we checked into our hotel, got ourselves settled, and then reconvened for what our program director Jarka likes to call our “funny city tour”. A great tour guide took us around Krakow’s old town and pointed out some interesting sites and funny anecdotes. I keep realizing how much my time with CET is teaching me, and one great example was on our tour. The ground in Old Town Square and throughout the side streets of Krakow is uneven, and it turns out this is because, as businesses began to grow and streets needed to be more functional, they would repave. However, they would just pave over parts that needed work, making some areas higher than others. I found this so interesting, especially because we found ourselves having to step or stoop down to enter shops and restaurants throughout the city. I will always think of this reason when I see uneven roads now!
Our Jewish tour of Krakow was fascinating. We saw the remaining part of the ghetto wall, many places where Schindler’s List filmed, and many other interesting sites. The Krakow Ghetto memorial installation was interesting- it is a lot of weathered-looking chairs lined up around what was the deportation square, to symbolize waiting to be sent to concentration and death camps. Some of the chairs are in the tram stop and everyday people use them while waiting for their trams. This integration into everyday life events makes the memorial that much more meaningful in my eyes, forgetting is not an option when it is a part of your everyday life.
Dora and crew: The survivor who shared her story with us after our meeting with her.
We went to Shabbat on Friday and met two very cool people. One was the director of the Krakow JCC, who gave us a great overview of how much Krakow’s Jewish community is growing and how it is thriving in culture, education, and practice. The center was beautiful, and the joy of Jewish life exhibited there is so different from what I had heard about Poland’s Jewish population, especially because I was under the impression that the community was so small. It is in fact larger than I thought, but a number cannot really be named- the face of the Jewish population is rapidly changing and more and more people are embracing their previously suppressed Jewish identity. The other great encounter was Dora, a survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau, who simply plopped down behind us in synagogue and asked us if we had a survivor, if we wanted to hear her story, and when she could tell us. Just like that, the day before our Auschwitz trip, we were able to hear a survivor’s story! She is 90 years old, which her demeanor and vitality would never have led us to believe. We did a little rearranging of our schedule and got to hear her story.
We loved all of the different tours and activities in Krakow and spent our free time really bonding as a group. We were glad to have a few more days together and to experience Auschwitz as a group before CES broke off to see some more of the Czech Republic on their way to Vienna as we headed to Warsaw.
Central European Students Take on Central Europe
The most exhausting and exhilarating week of our program came and went faster than I could’ve imagined. I had my doubts. All of my friends were planning their own Spring Breaks, mixing and matching cities from all over (Paris to Barcelona to Rome), and seeing friends from high school or college. But this trip was well worth it. We went from Prague to Krakow to Auschwitz to Brno to Mikulov toVienna, and then finally back home to our apartments.
We began boarding the buses at 6:00am for an eight hour-long bus ride to Krakow, still reeling from midterms stealing our sleep. And when we arrived, we jumped straight into a tour. The weather was fantastic—warmer than it had been in a long time—so we enjoyed the tour, starting in a city square with a huge floral market in the middle and a man picking Spanish guitar songs next to us. We passed a street with about ten churches on it. Our tour guide informed us of the old rivalries between rich families that led them to constantly build newer and “better” churches than others around them. Krakowwas crawling with churches. We also had the privilege of hearing a lecture about the Righteous Among Nations and seeing the Schindler Factory, which had an oddly small amount of information on Schindler himself.
We continued on to Auschwitz-Birkenau, walking through both concentration camps on a guided tour. Our tour guide was incredibly well informed, speaking to us quietly through headsets so not to disturb the solemn atmosphere or to interrupt others’ time there. We walked around, hearing all different languages and a couple of groups that held Israeli flags. It was a very odd experience for me, making for something I am still somewhat processing. But truly, whatever I say about the scenery or my thoughts on Auschwitz, it will not do it justice. It is something that you really have to experience for yourself.
Brno and Mikulov were quicker stops along the way. Brno was a bustling city. We visited the castle at the perfect time, hearing the bells play a rendition of Ode to Joy. We went to a bar near the hotel for dinner that night, and had great beer and a good dinner. The next day we bussed over to Mikulov. My next blog entry will describe our short trip there. Somehow in less than a day Mikulov managed to wow our entire group. It’s easily one of my favorite cities in all of Europe.
And finally,Vienna, the powerhouse of our trip. Our final three days were spent touring and taking inVienna. We listened to several lectures outlining the art history and contemporary history of the region, ate our way through Naschmarkt (which had fantastic gyros), and had free time to explore on our own. We passed grassy areas flanked by bright white columned-buildings. During free time, I went with several others up to the top of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, which honestly did not do the city justice but was fun, and later ate waffles at the Easter Market in front of Schonbrunn Palace, enjoying the verdant palace grounds as long as possible before the rain broke through the sunny day.
The Site of a Squashed Rebellion: Lidice
This quiet town has an incredible history, and without wandering far enough into what looks like a dog park complete with an information center, you would have no idea what it is: Lidice. In the last week, each of my classes has touched on the events of Lidice. To give a quick recap: during WWII, Hitler’s third in command, Reinhard Heydrich, an incredibly brutal SS officer who was in charge of Czech land, was assassinated by two British-trained Czech officers. This move, while successful in its mission, resulted in an intense manhunt for the culprits and made Hitler so angry that he annihilated the whole town o f Lidice and Ležáky.
From where we were standing, though, it was hard to imagine that a whole town bustling with families and business had actually been there. The area was covered with lush, green grass and occasionally a person would bike or walk through the cement paths. We started at the museum in the information center. Pictures of elementary school classes and families were up on the walls, videos of older people who had lived through it played on a loop, and a picture of all men over 16 (who had been shot to death) was projected against one of the walls—a haunting image. We walked outside to the monument in the park, a creative sculpture of the children of Lidice, each sculpted child with a unique face and expression. Next to the piece, people who had come to pay their respects had brought small toys of all colors and shapes. Some were miniature trains and others were little plastic dolls. Our group took pictures and then headed off to meet with a woman who had been a child in Lidice at the time and had been sent to a camp.
She spoke of her life and experiences with the Holocaust, something she admits to not having done for many years—a common theme for most Holocaust survivors. She explained how the children were taken from their parents, and her feeling of dread that she would not see her mother again. It was fantastic that she made it through everything and was still around to speak with us! She also shared passages of her book. I got to read a chunk to the group. Her husband, an incredibly sweet old man that I would be ecstatic to have as a Grandpa, took an innumerous amount of pictures of us as she spoke. We even got a group shot in. I only wished that I could speak Czech well enough to interact with him directly.
Venturing Out of the Anglicky Bubble
Our week of intensive Czech class started and finished, allowing me to better understand the Czech culture and language. Ever since our arrival, my friends and I have been attempting to read everything available—“attempting“ being the operative word, because after learning how to pronounce letters with the hatchek, I realized how completely off we’ve been. A hatchek over a “c” makes a “ch” noise, while a hatchek over the “r” makes a “jjj” sound, similar to the words “usual” or “treasure.” It’s odd but fascinating. I’ve begun to read signs out loud the way small children do, testing out the unfamiliar sounds on my tongue.
Czech is different than Spanish and French, two languages I have previously taken in school. There are more consonants in a row in this language than I’ve ever seen, and this comes from a person who went through a phase in middle school where I was fascinated by the word “angst” because that there were so many consonants in a row. I’m not going to sugarcoat it, it’s a difficult language, but our teacher is the most fantastic guy ever. He reminds me of that high school Spanish teacher that everyone loves. He’s taught us important lessons, from tipping (rounding up or giving a small tip) to understanding the culture better (i.e. that waitresses are short with you because they are paid by the hour and not by tips). Besides, today he brought in his guitar and rocked out to the Czech version of “These Boots Are Made for Walking” for us. He definitely makes Czech class fun and informative. I’ve heard that the other Czech teacher is actually a singer or musician. The kids in my apartment who are in that class are planning to see her perform sometime in the future.
As for performances here, I don’t know much about the music scene in Prague but my “Resistance and Dissent: Punk and Alternative Culture in the Czech Lands” teacher has promised that we will be attending a punk/alternative show. It will definitely be interesting to see what the Czech music scene is like and to see what crowd comes to a Czech punk show. One of our options for concerts is seeing the Plastic People of the Universe, a band that we have learned about in class that really caused a revolution in Czech culture by fighting against the Communist regime in power. My Czech apartment buddy has actually taken us to a pub where one of the musicians in that band frequents. According to her, he is a bit on the older side these days and sometimes happens to fall asleep randomly at his seat at the bar. I plan to keep coming back until I run into him. Besides, that pub is one of the cooler ones I’ve seen so far. It looks very underground: the walls look somewhat like a cave and there are candles surrounding the entire place. Playing from the speakers is a mix of Czech punk music and 80’s rock (American). A lot of clubs and bars in the area play either Top 40 American music from last summer (it can take a bit for music to travel, the same way it can take a bit from music to become popular in DC that is popular inCalifornia) or classic 80’s music. Honestly, I love it. As VH1 says, I love the 80s. And as does the Czech bar scene.
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