I will be working over the summer and next year with 9 or 10 other students, fellow blogger Allison included, on a photo exhibit. Our hope is to compile an exhibit of our photos and have them displayed with a bit of Holocaust education in each of our towns - which will stretch from New Brunswick to the west to Chicago.
The evening out was fun, albeit stressful and including another long walk, but we ended up splitting up and going our own way. The poor waiter at bar #1 was overwhelmed as we took up the whole bottom level of the bar, spoke another language, and wanted to request songs we were familiar with. Needless to say, his stress showed as he definitely didn't give us the respect and warm welcome I received earlier this week for being Canadian. Either way, a fun night of just good chats and laughs and delicious (but oh! so strong!) beer. The alarm clock came too soon this morning though.
This morning we visited a Jewish cemetery, which houses 200,000+ tombs. The cemetery survived the war as it was along the edge of the ghetto, and we even saw a sewage drain which was used to escape and smuggle Jews out of the ghetto.
A bus ride followed as we visited the town of Tykochin and their synagogue, now functioning as a museum on Jewish life in Poland during and pre WWII.
The synagogue, a beautiful old building with hymns and traditional artifacts around the room, is located next to the town square. Roughly the same size as the Boyce market in Fredericton, the square functioned as this prewar but was a temporary ghetto as the Jews were rounded up and walked to the forest, located about a 10min drive outside of the town. Their fate, you can guess.
The town of Tykochin is a beautiful traditional-looking town with many wooden homes, farms and wooden fences. And cows. Funny how one cow in a front yard tied to the tree like a dog can cheer me up like this; as Mayor Woodside said last week to me, it is important to focus on these giggles and laughs to not be overcome with emotion fully.
As we drove to this forest, the bus was silent as traditional Hasidic music softly, solemnly played. Walking into the forest, I felt such a weight on my shoulders, such a presence in the area and despite the sun and the heat, I shivered with goose bumps.
There are 3 grave sites, laden with Israeli flags and commemoration pieces - roses, Stars of David and traditional memorial rocks laid around the monuments. A testimony was read here which sent shivers down my spine, goosebumps everywhere. There is not a single survivor of this town of roughly 3000 Jews. All were lined up, shot, and fell into these mass graves. I am not only struggling to understand what it would be like to lose everyone, but to watch your family - whole community - be shot. I can't even begin to try. It hurts too much but never will enough.
Walking back to the bus, we overheard Pinchas (I think?) singing a Hebrew hymn which echoed through the woods, drowning out the birds, rolling smoothly through and around the trees. We stopped in silence with heads bowed. An eerie but beautiful feeling. And I knew I was doing the right thing. I will remember the sights, sounds, smells forever. And I will now always feel these emotions. I can never forget. And that empowers me. So you will never forget either.
We then visited Treblinka extermination camp. The buildings are no longer there but there is a beautiful monument of stones with country and town names of Jews that were brought to the camp. There were little to no survivors from this camp.
Tonight is the closing ceremony; time to say goodbye to good friends and beautiful people and hello to the future of change.
Peace, and love.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone, from Warsaw/middle of I don't know where Poland.
Location:Warsaw and surrounding areas, Poland
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