So I decided to type up my diary from poland. I also decided to skip over the Prague part of the trip, perhaps I will type it up later. We did visit beautiful shuls and kevarim there as well as the ghetto that was there but I am not sure if people will find it as interesting as the rest of the trip. Just a note: I am making no edits, This is how I wrote at 18 years old.
So off to Poland..
4/8/00
I am sitting on the bus now waiting to leave. I am definitely not looking forward to this 12 hour ride at all. (we traveled from Prague to Poland after Shabbos, it was a 12 hour ride through the night) I took a dramamine about 10 minutes ago so that combined with my exaustion should be kicking in real soon. Shabbos was beautiful. Friday night Kabbalat Shabbat was Carlebach and absolutely amazing. Same goes for Shabbos day. After lunch we took a walk over Charles Bridge. We walked for 8 miles, wonderful on my feet! The singing and lunch/dinner and shalushudis was amazing.
4/9/00
Well, I almost made it. I never knew the meaning of a bad night sleep until now. Sleeping on a bus is not ideal. I slept in 1-2 hour intervals. I'd wake up either because my neck was in pain or because I desperately needed the bathroom. I have no idea how many hours I actually slept but whatever it was it defintely was not sufficient. We just stopped all of the busses in a parking lot by the hotel (in Poland) to Daven and eat. While we were davening 3 Polish guys from a higher floor in the hotel were screaming out in Polish and blasting music. I do not understand Polish so I do not know what they were saying. Maybe I was experiencing Anti-Semitism, maybe I was just expecting to experience Anti-semitism and they weren't doing anything at all.
We are in Warsaw now. We passed the Nozyk Synagogue. It is the only shul in Warsaw that still remains. We are now in the middle of what used to be small ghetto. After 1942, it was obliterated and was no longer Jewish. There is a church here and the reason for this is because according to Hitler, a Jew is someone that has one Jewish grandparent. A lot of people like this, still practiced Christianity. The Nazis told the Jews that they were moving into a Jewish Quarter, a special area just for Jews. They said it would be better for them. They didn't know it was a closed ghetto. There were only 230 calories per person per day. There were 450,000 people in little ghetto. There were people living in the streets and dying. The Germans then decided to increase the rations because they wanted to use these people for slave labor. 80 percent of the food in the ghetto was smuggled in by children under 12 who did not have to wear arm bands. They snuck out and stole food. Many were caught and killed. In the summer of 1942 300,000 Jews were sent from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka. Afterwards the remaining Jews began to plan the uprising.
We are now walking to the Jewish cemetary. The people that are buried here are the lucky ones that were able to be buried in a Jewish Cemetery, not like many other Jews. Many Gedolai Hador are buried here. The cemetery is on street called Ocapova which means moat. At the beginning of the war, the Jews were allowed to bury bodies here. After a while, the Nazis no longer allowed single graves. Jews would sneak into the cemetery and meet non- Jews from adjacent cemeteries to smuggle goods.
Back to the Ghetto- The Jews had to construct walls and it had to be built within existing houses. They were commanded to board up windows facing the outside of the ghetto. If they stuck their head out, they would be shot. Any buildings that were beautiful were left out of the ghetto. Slota street is the southern most part of the small ghetto. It was the wealthy part. The northern part was more chasidic. There are 22 gates. At every gate was a Jewish, Polish and German policeman. The bricks on slota street are able to slide out and little boys sneak out to get food. A mother watches her son go and on his way back, she sees him shot. But, they are still starving so she must send another son. The 8 year old children are heroes in the ghetto. Sometimes Poles would risk their lives and throw bread over the fence. Adam Cnrnyakot writes in his diary that a kid under 12 who doesn't have to wear an arm band says "soon I will be old enough to wear an arm band." It's all they knew, it's the only way they grew up. The Jewish Police collaborated with the Nazis. They were desperate to save their lives. At first their job was just to help keep order but in 1942, their jobs changed. They had to kidnap Jewish people and bring them to umshlagplatz to transport them to Treblinka. If they did this their families would be saved. In Yom Kippur of 1942 was the last transport to Treblinka, they were all police. In the middle of the ghetto is a monument. What does it mean that the city of Warsaw put up a monument in the middle of the ghetto to honor lost Jews? It means they mourn their dead Jews but on the other hand they are not so sorry. It was a love/hate relationship. In order for peasants to do business with the polish elite, they had to go through a Jew. Local bars were all owned by Jews. There is no way a pole could avoid a Jew. When the Germans came in they figured they can take the Jew’s place but after they were gone things got worse and they realized they needed the Jews. So, the monument shows us that the poles miss the Jewish people even the hate they express shows that. The monument is built on the rubble of the Warsaw ghetto. On the bottom is a piece of black slate found in Sweden it was commissioned by an artist named Rappaport who lived in Warsaw. When he was out looking for the materials for the sculpture he came across this black slate that Hitler had planned on using to make a sculpture of himself at the end of the war. But instead, we have a hafooch, like Purim. The Brass on the sculpture was donated by a family from Ramat Gan. It symbolizes the ghetto uprising . in the middle it looks like someone is breaking out. This symbolizes Mordechai Anolevitch, the leader of the war. On top is his mother, this shows everyone that she had a part. This shows one side of the Jewish bravery during the Holocaust. The bravery not shown in the monument is the other kind. The kind that isn’t fighting. The kind where you teach your children torah and mitzvoth and make a minyan when you are not allowed to. Samuel Sigelbaum smuggled out of Poland and told everyone what was going on but no one believed him. He went to England and burned himself publicly. He wrote a letter saying he cannot live when this is happening to his people and asked that it be published. It was on the cover of the New York Times and still, no one did anything. Mordechai Anolevitch led the ghetto uprising. He convinced kids to lead this and the whole ghetto to go along with it. The young people were the only way to help because the adults were too busy looking for food. Young people smuggled in and out of the ghetto and had news from people that escaped Treblinka. They would receive notes in their pockets saying “Treblinka is dead” The young people began to believe what was going on. In order to have an uprising, they needed to list the opposition in the ghetto and there was a lot of resistance because of fear and they still thought they would survive. They needed help to smuggle in ammunition and other supplies but they needed powerful ammunition. January 1943, Himmler gives the order to liquidate the Warsaw ghetto and take 50,000 remaining Jews to Treblinka. They said they shouldn’t go like sheep to the slaughterhouse and decided to put up a fight. Himmler’s birthday present to Hitler would be on the first night of Pesach, he would liquidate the Warsaw ghetto. The Germans always use our holidays against us. They wanted to break us spiritually. Instead, we used our chag against them. After the Seder, the uprising began, some fought others went deep underground and stored food. The Jews all knew that that would be the last Seder of the Warsaw Ghetto. At 2 am, the Germans surrounded the ghetto. At 4, the fighters took their posts. At 6 am the tanks roll in and the fighting begins. The Germans were in a state of shock. They ran to nearby buildings but they were barricaded. On the first day, 200 Germans were killed and only one Jew. The fighting went on for 4 weeks. It took them 4 weeks to capture Poland but they couldn’t capture the Jews. Mordechai analovitch was hiding in bunkers with his friends. They decided to take their own lives rather than be killed by the Germans. Meanwhile, the Germans are burning down the ghetto to flush out people. They kill some and send others to Treblinka and others to Mydonek. While the ghettos are burning, the Poles are celebrating Easter. 21 fighters managed to escape by sewer pipes. People remained underground. They didn’t know the uprising was over. The umshlagplatz is the place where the Jews were forced to Treblinka, the gathering place. The Nazis told the Jews, we are taking you East on trains. They said that families would stay together, men would work and women and children would cook, they made them want to come. They packed everything and the Nazis would leave them here for days on end waiting for the train. When it finally would come, they couldn’t wait to get on. They were packed, uncomfortable, without bathrooms or food. They see signs pointing East and they believe the Nazis. After a 3 day trip, they arrive at a place with a beautiful train station. One way is East and one way is Warsaw. They tell them to get off and switch trains but first they can take a shower. They were very excited about this. After three days on a tight crowded smelly train, that is the best thing. They marched into the room. The last thing they saw in their lives is a parochet on the doorway that says “zeh hashaar tzadikim yavoh oovoh” After we heard this story, on the spot we all began to sing. Pitchu li shaarei tzedek avoh vam odecha zeh hashaar lahashem tzadikim yavoh oovoh…..
In the middle of the monument is a break with a tree. That tree symbolizes us, it is the tree of life.
Afterwards we went back to the hotel. We were finally in our rooms and finally got to eat at 10:30. After dinner we were finally able to shower and go to sleep. Tommorow, we will go to Treblinka.
So off to Poland..
4/8/00
I am sitting on the bus now waiting to leave. I am definitely not looking forward to this 12 hour ride at all. (we traveled from Prague to Poland after Shabbos, it was a 12 hour ride through the night) I took a dramamine about 10 minutes ago so that combined with my exaustion should be kicking in real soon. Shabbos was beautiful. Friday night Kabbalat Shabbat was Carlebach and absolutely amazing. Same goes for Shabbos day. After lunch we took a walk over Charles Bridge. We walked for 8 miles, wonderful on my feet! The singing and lunch/dinner and shalushudis was amazing.
4/9/00
Well, I almost made it. I never knew the meaning of a bad night sleep until now. Sleeping on a bus is not ideal. I slept in 1-2 hour intervals. I'd wake up either because my neck was in pain or because I desperately needed the bathroom. I have no idea how many hours I actually slept but whatever it was it defintely was not sufficient. We just stopped all of the busses in a parking lot by the hotel (in Poland) to Daven and eat. While we were davening 3 Polish guys from a higher floor in the hotel were screaming out in Polish and blasting music. I do not understand Polish so I do not know what they were saying. Maybe I was experiencing Anti-Semitism, maybe I was just expecting to experience Anti-semitism and they weren't doing anything at all.
We are in Warsaw now. We passed the Nozyk Synagogue. It is the only shul in Warsaw that still remains. We are now in the middle of what used to be small ghetto. After 1942, it was obliterated and was no longer Jewish. There is a church here and the reason for this is because according to Hitler, a Jew is someone that has one Jewish grandparent. A lot of people like this, still practiced Christianity. The Nazis told the Jews that they were moving into a Jewish Quarter, a special area just for Jews. They said it would be better for them. They didn't know it was a closed ghetto. There were only 230 calories per person per day. There were 450,000 people in little ghetto. There were people living in the streets and dying. The Germans then decided to increase the rations because they wanted to use these people for slave labor. 80 percent of the food in the ghetto was smuggled in by children under 12 who did not have to wear arm bands. They snuck out and stole food. Many were caught and killed. In the summer of 1942 300,000 Jews were sent from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka. Afterwards the remaining Jews began to plan the uprising.
We are now walking to the Jewish cemetary. The people that are buried here are the lucky ones that were able to be buried in a Jewish Cemetery, not like many other Jews. Many Gedolai Hador are buried here. The cemetery is on street called Ocapova which means moat. At the beginning of the war, the Jews were allowed to bury bodies here. After a while, the Nazis no longer allowed single graves. Jews would sneak into the cemetery and meet non- Jews from adjacent cemeteries to smuggle goods.
Back to the Ghetto- The Jews had to construct walls and it had to be built within existing houses. They were commanded to board up windows facing the outside of the ghetto. If they stuck their head out, they would be shot. Any buildings that were beautiful were left out of the ghetto. Slota street is the southern most part of the small ghetto. It was the wealthy part. The northern part was more chasidic. There are 22 gates. At every gate was a Jewish, Polish and German policeman. The bricks on slota street are able to slide out and little boys sneak out to get food. A mother watches her son go and on his way back, she sees him shot. But, they are still starving so she must send another son. The 8 year old children are heroes in the ghetto. Sometimes Poles would risk their lives and throw bread over the fence. Adam Cnrnyakot writes in his diary that a kid under 12 who doesn't have to wear an arm band says "soon I will be old enough to wear an arm band." It's all they knew, it's the only way they grew up. The Jewish Police collaborated with the Nazis. They were desperate to save their lives. At first their job was just to help keep order but in 1942, their jobs changed. They had to kidnap Jewish people and bring them to umshlagplatz to transport them to Treblinka. If they did this their families would be saved. In Yom Kippur of 1942 was the last transport to Treblinka, they were all police. In the middle of the ghetto is a monument. What does it mean that the city of Warsaw put up a monument in the middle of the ghetto to honor lost Jews? It means they mourn their dead Jews but on the other hand they are not so sorry. It was a love/hate relationship. In order for peasants to do business with the polish elite, they had to go through a Jew. Local bars were all owned by Jews. There is no way a pole could avoid a Jew. When the Germans came in they figured they can take the Jew’s place but after they were gone things got worse and they realized they needed the Jews. So, the monument shows us that the poles miss the Jewish people even the hate they express shows that. The monument is built on the rubble of the Warsaw ghetto. On the bottom is a piece of black slate found in Sweden it was commissioned by an artist named Rappaport who lived in Warsaw. When he was out looking for the materials for the sculpture he came across this black slate that Hitler had planned on using to make a sculpture of himself at the end of the war. But instead, we have a hafooch, like Purim. The Brass on the sculpture was donated by a family from Ramat Gan. It symbolizes the ghetto uprising . in the middle it looks like someone is breaking out. This symbolizes Mordechai Anolevitch, the leader of the war. On top is his mother, this shows everyone that she had a part. This shows one side of the Jewish bravery during the Holocaust. The bravery not shown in the monument is the other kind. The kind that isn’t fighting. The kind where you teach your children torah and mitzvoth and make a minyan when you are not allowed to. Samuel Sigelbaum smuggled out of Poland and told everyone what was going on but no one believed him. He went to England and burned himself publicly. He wrote a letter saying he cannot live when this is happening to his people and asked that it be published. It was on the cover of the New York Times and still, no one did anything. Mordechai Anolevitch led the ghetto uprising. He convinced kids to lead this and the whole ghetto to go along with it. The young people were the only way to help because the adults were too busy looking for food. Young people smuggled in and out of the ghetto and had news from people that escaped Treblinka. They would receive notes in their pockets saying “Treblinka is dead” The young people began to believe what was going on. In order to have an uprising, they needed to list the opposition in the ghetto and there was a lot of resistance because of fear and they still thought they would survive. They needed help to smuggle in ammunition and other supplies but they needed powerful ammunition. January 1943, Himmler gives the order to liquidate the Warsaw ghetto and take 50,000 remaining Jews to Treblinka. They said they shouldn’t go like sheep to the slaughterhouse and decided to put up a fight. Himmler’s birthday present to Hitler would be on the first night of Pesach, he would liquidate the Warsaw ghetto. The Germans always use our holidays against us. They wanted to break us spiritually. Instead, we used our chag against them. After the Seder, the uprising began, some fought others went deep underground and stored food. The Jews all knew that that would be the last Seder of the Warsaw Ghetto. At 2 am, the Germans surrounded the ghetto. At 4, the fighters took their posts. At 6 am the tanks roll in and the fighting begins. The Germans were in a state of shock. They ran to nearby buildings but they were barricaded. On the first day, 200 Germans were killed and only one Jew. The fighting went on for 4 weeks. It took them 4 weeks to capture Poland but they couldn’t capture the Jews. Mordechai analovitch was hiding in bunkers with his friends. They decided to take their own lives rather than be killed by the Germans. Meanwhile, the Germans are burning down the ghetto to flush out people. They kill some and send others to Treblinka and others to Mydonek. While the ghettos are burning, the Poles are celebrating Easter. 21 fighters managed to escape by sewer pipes. People remained underground. They didn’t know the uprising was over. The umshlagplatz is the place where the Jews were forced to Treblinka, the gathering place. The Nazis told the Jews, we are taking you East on trains. They said that families would stay together, men would work and women and children would cook, they made them want to come. They packed everything and the Nazis would leave them here for days on end waiting for the train. When it finally would come, they couldn’t wait to get on. They were packed, uncomfortable, without bathrooms or food. They see signs pointing East and they believe the Nazis. After a 3 day trip, they arrive at a place with a beautiful train station. One way is East and one way is Warsaw. They tell them to get off and switch trains but first they can take a shower. They were very excited about this. After three days on a tight crowded smelly train, that is the best thing. They marched into the room. The last thing they saw in their lives is a parochet on the doorway that says “zeh hashaar tzadikim yavoh oovoh” After we heard this story, on the spot we all began to sing. Pitchu li shaarei tzedek avoh vam odecha zeh hashaar lahashem tzadikim yavoh oovoh…..
In the middle of the monument is a break with a tree. That tree symbolizes us, it is the tree of life.
Afterwards we went back to the hotel. We were finally in our rooms and finally got to eat at 10:30. After dinner we were finally able to shower and go to sleep. Tommorow, we will go to Treblinka.
posted by Rebecca at 1:12 PM
7 Comments:
Rebecca, this is fascinating. I read it with a chill up my spine and a tear in my eye.
It is wonderfully written. I am so glad you had the foresight to keep a detailed journal of this important trip of yours.
Thanks Stacey. I hope you keep reading because as I visit the camps it gets more emotional, and much better.
spread the word! I think it is crucial, especially at a time like this that we NEVER FORGET!!
Rebecca-- I was also in Poland in spring 2000--with the NY Board of Jewish Education contingent of March of the Living. I was invited to join the group because deaf high school students were participating for the first time and I can communicate in American Sign Language. One day I would like you to see my photographic exhibit. It was shown at Long Island University (where I work) and the Hollis Hills Jewish Center (where I daven).
I'd like to share my most emotional experience with you:
Our group was standing by a mass grave near Lublin. An elderly couple was placing a memorial sign on the iron fence. After that was done, the man came to our group and, in Yiddish, explained that he had lived in the area, then moved to Israel where he became a Member of the Knesset.
He also said that most of his family were killed during the war and many were in the mass grave we stood by. It was his first time visiting this place. He then asked if we would say Kaddish with him.
All 200 of us davened together. We cried our hearts out. Many of us fell to the floor of the forest and we labored to walk back to the waiting busses. Everything became so real, so sad. Never will I forget that day or what happenned during those horrific times during (and after) the War.
Rebecca, you write beautifully--even when you were only eighteen.
May you continue to go from strength to strength.
--Jeff Lambert
Jeff, Your story brought goosebumps to my arms and tears to my eyes. Thank you for sharing it. I too have some amazing stories and if you continue to read you will hear them as well. I feel like everyone should visit poland but on the other hand it is so hard because by us going we are feeding the polish economy. Perhaps the concentration camps being their is their only source of income for their economy. It is very much a catch 22 situation. But, soon, there will be no survivors left. We need to tell their story. We can do this best if we were there too. Knock those holocaust deniers off their feet with our knowledge of the atrocities.
Thanks again for reading, have an easy and very meaningful fast!
ps- I would love to see your exhibit. Unfortunately, I never put together my pictures and probably don't know what all of them are anymore. I still of course have them though and would love to share them with you, perhaps you can add some insight.
Why did you leave out Prague?
frum- do you want me to add it?
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