4/10/00
Elior and I asked for our wake up call for 6. At 7:45 I got up to go to the bathroom. From now on, I guess we cannot rely on wakeup calls. We made record time though. 35 minutes to get dressed, bring our luggage down to the bus, eat, and make our lunch. We are going to Treblinka today. I am not completely sure what I am going to see there but whatever it is, I know I am not ready. I am on a bus right now on my way to Treblinka. On a bus, with comfortable seats. We have a lot of food, and we even have a bathroom. My parents, brothers and sister are safetly tucked away in their American beds right now, and last of all, I know where I am going. The driver just told us that we are going "Biazstock" which means East. The Jews on the trains were told the same thing. They had such false hope. It is truly unfathomable to me what they were going through. Before we go to Treblinka we are going to Tykocin, a shul. As we walked into the shul, they told us to close our eyes. Maybe to better the impact of the beauty. This shul is 400 years old. This was not a Chasidic town. The people in this town were very wealthy. This town was very famous for the taletot they made. The walls of the shul are very thick, it is built almost like a fort and was very often used as one. All over the walls of the shul are tefilot. Not everyone had a siddur so this is how they would daven. This shul, in a way is Hitler's dream come true. He wanted to make museums to dead Jews. People that lived here were killed by Hitler and now people pay to come here. We now are walking through the Rynek, the Jewish marketplace. Everything here is exactly how it was, I feel like I am walking through time. Life was good here until 1941. In June, the Russians pulled out of Tykozen and the polish take over. Himmler says the Geneva laws will no longer apply and prisoners will no longer get any respect. He wants to get rid of all the Jews at the same time. He set up the Eisanzgruin where they went through towns and slaughtered Jews. They would come into town and shoot every Jew they saw. They would line them up make them dig their own grave, strip them, shoot them and make their polish neighbor bury them. When they began the Final Solution they came to this marketplace and gathered all the Jews. One line would be women, children and sick and the other line men. They lined them up according to height. They made them sing Hatikva and put them into trucks and drove them into the forest. In the pits dug by their Polish neighbors, they are shot. Some managed to escape, but the next day are caught by Polish neighbors and are given to Germans. We are walking through the forest where they were killed.
We are almost at Treblinka. My stomach is absolutely churning. We are here. There is absolutely nothing here, it is hard to imagine what was here. It began as Treblinka I. The Commandants and SS lived here with the "Golden Jews" (selected Jews chosen to live to serve them) The SS had a wonderful life here. They had parties every night. On the edge of the place where they were burning Jews they were celebrating life. The first commander, Edrich appoints Stanghold to run Treblinka. He turns Treblinka into a killing factory. Stranghold would wear white gloves. He watched the killing but would never touch a Jew. After the war, he hid in Brazil. When he was captured he was asked why he had to torture, he said that by dehumanizing them it was easier to kill them. No names, no faces...just like a heard of sheep. The trains on the way here had people piled up to the ceiling without water, and without a bathroom. There was a bucket. The train smelled horrible. People were dying of thirst. There were live people laying on top of the dead. When the doors of the train opened, people were so happy to be outside. The clock at the station said 2:00, it always did. There was a large sign to greet them that said "You are at a transit camp, from here you will go to a labor camp. You must present your clothes, everyone must bathe before continuing the journey, give in all your belongings for a receipt and it will be redeemed later." They would see a building that looked like a hospital. It was really a facade. There were really pits there. Sick people were sent there and they were really shot and killed. The rest were sent from an undressing room through a tube with flowers around it that they had to run through. We are now going to take that route. The men and women undressed seperately. There were hooks to hang clothes up. They were decieved up until the last possible second. The barbers would cut their hair and make them think they were getting a nice haircut. After, they would run through the tube, they were whipped to make them run faster which caused them to be out of breath (out of breath made the gas absorb quicker) There were 13 gas chambers that were crowded and squished. Mothers are holding their babies and the doors are slammed shut. Within 20-25 minutes, everyone in the chamber was dead. There was no record keeping in treblinka, no one was kept alive. Afterwards everything was hidden. In August of 1943, the prisoners decided to rise up, until that point there was a high suicide rate. When they decided to revolt, they suddenly had a reason to live. The Gold Jews had access to ammunitions and they got the ukrainian prisoners to cooperate. The nazis decided to take a swim in the river. While this was happening the Jews dumped kerosene all over and set the whole place on fire and ran into the woods. 500 made it into the woods. The ss find some and killed a couple of 100. Others were killed in the forest. Their outbreak inspired other camps to break out. Nazis dug up dead bodies and burned them and spread ashes over the forest. They plowed over everything..."nothing happened here.."
November 3, 1943, Germans had had enough. They decided to finish the polish Jews off. Operation Harvest Festival- they gathered and shot 43,000 Jews in one day. Yanish Kortchek is the only person that has a stone here with his name. He was born in 1878 in Warsaw as Henry Goldshmit. He was a pediatrician and dedicated work to children. In 1912, he was the head of the Jewish orphanage in warsaw. He had no personal life, no family. He thought children should be treated as people within themselves. Within his orphanage he tried to restore faith in the world. When the anti-semitism got worse, his financial help began to dwindle. He had to raise money on his own. He went to Israel in 1934 to get money. As the war went on it became harder. Him and his head nurse began to prepare children for a hike in nature. He told them to be ready. He told them to be proud and not to cry. The Germans want to embaress them. When the SS surround the ghetto, 192 children were brought to umshlagplatz. Polish Jews tried to smuggle him out but he insisted on staying with the children until the end.
I am no sitting here alone among the memorial stones. It is very hard for me to picture what went on here. The Germans did a very good job in hiding what went on. If I didn't know it, I would never know anyone was killed here. Scary...
The way they walked us through it and told us stories made me able to picture it a little better. I can't believe that I am sitting in a spot right now where many people were killed. We take everything for granted every day. I went to the bathroom on the bus on our way here- twice. I get claustraphobic, I never would have survived the train ride alone! What if I was there? I could have been! My life can (chas veshalom) easily turn from what they had to what they became. Atleast they did not know. The false hope the Germans gave them prolonged the feeling of dying for as long as possible. There are so many trees around me. Trees that are only fertile because of the asahes that were thrown there. This thought makes me sick. If I didn't know I'd say "wow, what a beautiful landscape. The trees are so green." Little would I know it's all with thanks to my ancestors and what could have been potential friends' ancestors.
After our alone time we had a tekes. I along with others read. I read a poem:
There is a sea of stones here, placed over shattered dead earth, rough edged and ripped from tehir places, each one a symbol of a town, a city, and those stolen from it. More died here each day then there are people I will ever know. How could this help? How could this massacre of the innocent have done anyone any good? As my body wanders through the maze, the very stones cause me to stumble, like desperate, withered, hands, clawing at me, dragging me down, not out of malice, but because they are so cold, so lonely, so empty.
After we all read we sang two songs. The singing brought tears to my eyes. I felt like all the voices singing were one voice. Afterwards we had a moment of silence and kaddish.
On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at the gur beis medrish, where Rabbi gave a dvar torah. We ate dinner at about 10:30 and then listened to Lady Emily speak. She told us of the trial that is going on in England right now. David Irving against Deborah Lipstadt. Irving is a holocause denier. Lipstadt is a Jewish Historian and wrote bad things about him. He is now suing her for libel. In order to win the case, she must prove that the holocaust actually happened. Tommorow they will reach a verdict. It is really scary that the verdict can totally change Jewish history forever.
Tommorow we will go to Mydonek.
Elior and I asked for our wake up call for 6. At 7:45 I got up to go to the bathroom. From now on, I guess we cannot rely on wakeup calls. We made record time though. 35 minutes to get dressed, bring our luggage down to the bus, eat, and make our lunch. We are going to Treblinka today. I am not completely sure what I am going to see there but whatever it is, I know I am not ready. I am on a bus right now on my way to Treblinka. On a bus, with comfortable seats. We have a lot of food, and we even have a bathroom. My parents, brothers and sister are safetly tucked away in their American beds right now, and last of all, I know where I am going. The driver just told us that we are going "Biazstock" which means East. The Jews on the trains were told the same thing. They had such false hope. It is truly unfathomable to me what they were going through. Before we go to Treblinka we are going to Tykocin, a shul. As we walked into the shul, they told us to close our eyes. Maybe to better the impact of the beauty. This shul is 400 years old. This was not a Chasidic town. The people in this town were very wealthy. This town was very famous for the taletot they made. The walls of the shul are very thick, it is built almost like a fort and was very often used as one. All over the walls of the shul are tefilot. Not everyone had a siddur so this is how they would daven. This shul, in a way is Hitler's dream come true. He wanted to make museums to dead Jews. People that lived here were killed by Hitler and now people pay to come here. We now are walking through the Rynek, the Jewish marketplace. Everything here is exactly how it was, I feel like I am walking through time. Life was good here until 1941. In June, the Russians pulled out of Tykozen and the polish take over. Himmler says the Geneva laws will no longer apply and prisoners will no longer get any respect. He wants to get rid of all the Jews at the same time. He set up the Eisanzgruin where they went through towns and slaughtered Jews. They would come into town and shoot every Jew they saw. They would line them up make them dig their own grave, strip them, shoot them and make their polish neighbor bury them. When they began the Final Solution they came to this marketplace and gathered all the Jews. One line would be women, children and sick and the other line men. They lined them up according to height. They made them sing Hatikva and put them into trucks and drove them into the forest. In the pits dug by their Polish neighbors, they are shot. Some managed to escape, but the next day are caught by Polish neighbors and are given to Germans. We are walking through the forest where they were killed.
We are almost at Treblinka. My stomach is absolutely churning. We are here. There is absolutely nothing here, it is hard to imagine what was here. It began as Treblinka I. The Commandants and SS lived here with the "Golden Jews" (selected Jews chosen to live to serve them) The SS had a wonderful life here. They had parties every night. On the edge of the place where they were burning Jews they were celebrating life. The first commander, Edrich appoints Stanghold to run Treblinka. He turns Treblinka into a killing factory. Stranghold would wear white gloves. He watched the killing but would never touch a Jew. After the war, he hid in Brazil. When he was captured he was asked why he had to torture, he said that by dehumanizing them it was easier to kill them. No names, no faces...just like a heard of sheep. The trains on the way here had people piled up to the ceiling without water, and without a bathroom. There was a bucket. The train smelled horrible. People were dying of thirst. There were live people laying on top of the dead. When the doors of the train opened, people were so happy to be outside. The clock at the station said 2:00, it always did. There was a large sign to greet them that said "You are at a transit camp, from here you will go to a labor camp. You must present your clothes, everyone must bathe before continuing the journey, give in all your belongings for a receipt and it will be redeemed later." They would see a building that looked like a hospital. It was really a facade. There were really pits there. Sick people were sent there and they were really shot and killed. The rest were sent from an undressing room through a tube with flowers around it that they had to run through. We are now going to take that route. The men and women undressed seperately. There were hooks to hang clothes up. They were decieved up until the last possible second. The barbers would cut their hair and make them think they were getting a nice haircut. After, they would run through the tube, they were whipped to make them run faster which caused them to be out of breath (out of breath made the gas absorb quicker) There were 13 gas chambers that were crowded and squished. Mothers are holding their babies and the doors are slammed shut. Within 20-25 minutes, everyone in the chamber was dead. There was no record keeping in treblinka, no one was kept alive. Afterwards everything was hidden. In August of 1943, the prisoners decided to rise up, until that point there was a high suicide rate. When they decided to revolt, they suddenly had a reason to live. The Gold Jews had access to ammunitions and they got the ukrainian prisoners to cooperate. The nazis decided to take a swim in the river. While this was happening the Jews dumped kerosene all over and set the whole place on fire and ran into the woods. 500 made it into the woods. The ss find some and killed a couple of 100. Others were killed in the forest. Their outbreak inspired other camps to break out. Nazis dug up dead bodies and burned them and spread ashes over the forest. They plowed over everything..."nothing happened here.."
November 3, 1943, Germans had had enough. They decided to finish the polish Jews off. Operation Harvest Festival- they gathered and shot 43,000 Jews in one day. Yanish Kortchek is the only person that has a stone here with his name. He was born in 1878 in Warsaw as Henry Goldshmit. He was a pediatrician and dedicated work to children. In 1912, he was the head of the Jewish orphanage in warsaw. He had no personal life, no family. He thought children should be treated as people within themselves. Within his orphanage he tried to restore faith in the world. When the anti-semitism got worse, his financial help began to dwindle. He had to raise money on his own. He went to Israel in 1934 to get money. As the war went on it became harder. Him and his head nurse began to prepare children for a hike in nature. He told them to be ready. He told them to be proud and not to cry. The Germans want to embaress them. When the SS surround the ghetto, 192 children were brought to umshlagplatz. Polish Jews tried to smuggle him out but he insisted on staying with the children until the end.
I am no sitting here alone among the memorial stones. It is very hard for me to picture what went on here. The Germans did a very good job in hiding what went on. If I didn't know it, I would never know anyone was killed here. Scary...
The way they walked us through it and told us stories made me able to picture it a little better. I can't believe that I am sitting in a spot right now where many people were killed. We take everything for granted every day. I went to the bathroom on the bus on our way here- twice. I get claustraphobic, I never would have survived the train ride alone! What if I was there? I could have been! My life can (chas veshalom) easily turn from what they had to what they became. Atleast they did not know. The false hope the Germans gave them prolonged the feeling of dying for as long as possible. There are so many trees around me. Trees that are only fertile because of the asahes that were thrown there. This thought makes me sick. If I didn't know I'd say "wow, what a beautiful landscape. The trees are so green." Little would I know it's all with thanks to my ancestors and what could have been potential friends' ancestors.
After our alone time we had a tekes. I along with others read. I read a poem:
There is a sea of stones here, placed over shattered dead earth, rough edged and ripped from tehir places, each one a symbol of a town, a city, and those stolen from it. More died here each day then there are people I will ever know. How could this help? How could this massacre of the innocent have done anyone any good? As my body wanders through the maze, the very stones cause me to stumble, like desperate, withered, hands, clawing at me, dragging me down, not out of malice, but because they are so cold, so lonely, so empty.
After we all read we sang two songs. The singing brought tears to my eyes. I felt like all the voices singing were one voice. Afterwards we had a moment of silence and kaddish.
On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at the gur beis medrish, where Rabbi gave a dvar torah. We ate dinner at about 10:30 and then listened to Lady Emily speak. She told us of the trial that is going on in England right now. David Irving against Deborah Lipstadt. Irving is a holocause denier. Lipstadt is a Jewish Historian and wrote bad things about him. He is now suing her for libel. In order to win the case, she must prove that the holocaust actually happened. Tommorow they will reach a verdict. It is really scary that the verdict can totally change Jewish history forever.
Tommorow we will go to Mydonek.
posted by Rebecca at 1:26 PM
1 Comments:
Rebecca, this is chilling. I feel like I am there with you. It is so hard to wrap my brain around such evil. My heart aches for the suffering of our people.
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