Our very long, full, first day in Warsaw

We started with the amazing hotel breakfast buffet, and we could go back again and again to fill up our plates. There are a variety of coffees, cappuccino, latte, tea, and fruit juices of all types.  Fresh breads, rolls, croissants, and breakfast pastries.  Sausages, goulash, pierogis, scrambled eggs, cheeses, fish, and cereal. Lard, anyone? You can spread it, like peanut butter, onto bread. 

We started our city tour at 9. a.m. in an air conditioned “motor coach” outfitted with a microphone so our tour guide could lecture as we drove around the city.  At first we drove up and down the wide, major boulevard built by the post-World War II communist regime for patriotic displays. Our tour guide remembers marching for hours when she was a school girl, during the obligatory and tedious May Day marches. We saw beautiful mansions in the embassy neighborhood, and current government buildings. 

look through and see
a reconstruction of
the ghetto walls

In a different part of the city we got off the bus to see the minimal remainders of the walls that surrounded the Jewish ghetto set up by the Nazis from 1940-1943, into which Jews from all over the city and different parts of Poland were sent to live in very crowded conditions. They were given about 250 calories per day of food, and many starved or died of disease.  Finally, several thousand per day were deported– sent away—on trains to Treblinka, a death camp.  The day before the last deportation was going to occur, on April 19, a group of young Jews revolted against the Germans. The fighting continued for two weeks while the Germans destroyed it block by block and killed everyone they found on the spot or sent them to the Treblinka death camp. The ghetto was so destroyed that the walls do not remain, but there are street markers indicating its location.

images of the ancient Judeans
in exile on the banks of the
rivers of Babylon

We then visited the Brodka cemetery.  It is a huge plot of land  with many many tombstonesm and each contains specific symbols of special nature along with names, dates, and other information that pertains to the individual.   

At the right is a glimpse down one of many, many lanes forming the quadrants of which one can navigate the cemetery. It gives the solemn, ethereal nature of this site in Warsaw.  It is, suffice to say, a lovely place. Although this and many sites are of a great, deep pain in Jewish memory, the cemetery is a peaceful haven for birds and other animals. It's quite a sight to walk around and witness the dedication that people have to the dead until this very day, as it is still in operation.

The photo on the left is a memorial dedicated to the child victims of WWII. The stones seen placed on the memorial and around it are an old Jewish custom; this is also seen elsewhere on many, if not all graves in the cemetery.

Another touching monument in the cemetery is dedicated to orphanage director and pedagogical expert, Janusz Korczak. Born in Warsaw, Korczak devoted his life to helping children and developed a teaching methodology similar to Montessori that allowed students to take control of their learning environment. He was well respected throughout the world, even among Germans. When the Jews were forced into the confinement of the ghettos and then transferred to Treblinka, Korczak turned down multiple offers for sanctuary to stay with the children in his orphanage to the very end.

Afterwards, we had a guided tour at the new Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews. It is a very rich and beautifuly presentation of one thousand years of history. Its seven separate galleries each describe a different chapter in Polish Jewish life. This blog will contain some student reports about it, but they are not yet ready. 

mall that looks like it's melting

After eating lunch, we were driven to and then walked into the Old Town. Warsaw is going through a humid heat wave that turns us Angelenos into limp rags.  Our official tour was over and we began to sample the treats: ice cream, slushies, souvenir shops, sitting under umbrella-covered tables to sip lemonade. But some of the group was so utterly exhausted by then that they returned to the hotel, showered, snacked, and napped. 

A second wind brought some us back outside, as far as the Old Town, to enjoy the night life. The streets and squares were filled with younger Poles enjoying themselves.  It was a hang-out-laid-back atmosphere, and such a relief to feel the cooler night air.

{contributors: Lesley, Robyn, and Samantha B.}