Lidice's Memorial

After the war, a memorial was built on the land that had formally housed the town of Lidice. Moreover, just outside of the memorial, a new town was built. The town itself is beautiful and quaint. Every building there along with its streets has such an unassuming nature. Coming from the city feeling of Prague (which is magnificent in its own right) it was a welcome and much needed change. I had not realized how much I had been craving quiet. But alas, this post is not about the town but about the memorial that now remembers its horrific past. 

Before being there, all that we had been told was that the memorial was a garden of sorts. The word that was most often used to describe it by others was, "green." The whispers on the bus leading us to Lidice were that of genuine interest or perhaps more appropriately concern. We had been told that we could spend as much time as we liked there and that because of that we were to take a bus back to Prague on our own. The concern was how we were expected to spend all day with nothing before us but a plaque and grass. Thankfully, we were much mistaken.

The place is absolutely breathtaking. I wish I could live in the newly built town just so that I could walk through the park everyday. The memorial started in a building. As a group we watched a short film in a circular room and were left with the image of the village being bombed. Then we went though the rest of the museum on our own. The lighting was dark and there were voice overs and films to be found in the corners of the walls. Here and there were little stone benches with lone walls straight ahead flickering through pictures. Still, other walls were lined with photographs and names to go with them of members of the town or       depicting gruesome scenes that occurred near its end. The most touching aspect to be found was in a small room that showed a projection of hand written letters by the children of Lidice to their families before they were gassed in Chelmno. Each letter was accompanied by the gentle voice over of a child saying aloud what had been written in them. 

After that I walked out into the main causeway outside and I felt as if I had just stepped into a scene one would find in a Jane Austen novel. There was a long and narrow fountain along with these gorgeous but odd looking trees. They were short and instead of its branches standing outstretched and tall, they slumped over so that the tops of them consisted of all branches and its leaves hung low to the ground. Then I took a turn and began walking through the most stunning garden I have ever laid eyes on. There were flowers of all varying colors, set into interesting designs. Once I got to the center, all of the flowers were red roses in full bloom. I do not know how I managed it but to say that the timing was perfect, because from the moment that I had stepped into the garden, I had been by myself. No one was with me or near me. It was perfect. I found myself feeling as if I had been transported into a mixture of Oz and Wonderland. 

I then found my way further onto the grounds. It was so tranquil. I veered off of the path and chose to walk through the trees and on the grass. As I did so, I passed several statues and structures dedicated to various aspects of the town. I stopped by each one and would sing a quiet song. I ended up walking into the forest and stayed withing range of the openness of green. Eventually I made my way towards the small lake that was nestled nicely between the moderate hills leading up to the new town and the forest. I stayed along the lake for a while and hummed a soft tune here and there. Every once in a while I would stop to watch the waters surface that would only be disrupted by the occasional fish poking its head out of the water in hopes of catching a bug hovering just above the surface. After what seemed to short of a time, I made way to the bus stop and waved goodbye.  

Lidice's History

First, I'd like to start off with an apology. I had written my last blog post in a journal that I carried with me and then typed it up and posted it while I was on my plane ride home. Unfortunately, the blog post never made it. I was unaware of that until very recently and so I will try to post it again now. 

I was able to visit a town called Lidice that rests just outside of Prague. Before I tell you about what it was like, I must first tell you its story. The short version is that after the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in 1942, Hitler was incensed and demanded retaliation. Due to a suspicious note that was found in the aftermath containing the name Lidice, the revenge would be taken out on that town. Soon afterwards German troops invaded the small town and rounded up all of the villagers. They were separated into two groups: men and boys over the age of 15 and women with all remaining children. All 173 men were lined up against a wall ten at a time and shot. The 19 men that had been gone at work the day the town had been invaded were gathered later and also shot. The women, who numbered 198, were sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp. There were 98 children and of those a handpicked number was selected for "Germanisation." The majority and rest of the children were gassed. Moreover, the village of Lidice was utterly and completely destroyed. Even after being burned to the ground, it was bombed. Hitler's goal had been to literally clear Lidice of off the map and annihilate it. This was one of Hitler's acts of revenge and example to all others of what he was capable of; decimating an entire town.  

Hitler's plan backfired. After what was done to the village of Lidice and its people there was an outrage. Instead of the town's existence being forgotten, it became more well known that anyone could have anticipated. People even began to name their daughters after the village. A film was made within the last year depicting a framework for this event. I was fortunate enough to have viewed the film and I can report that it is quite moving. I highly recommend it and the link to more information on it is:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1754123/

        

To read the fuller story of Lidice (which I strongly suggest) you can visit this link: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/lidice_1942.htm

Visiting Poland: Part III

The third and concluding piece on my time in Poland that I want to talk about is walking through Auschwitz II, better known as Birkenau. Actually, that's a lie. I don't want to talk about Birkenau at all. I don't even want to think about it. I've avoided writing this blog since I went there about a week ago. Auschwitz I was originally built as Polish Army barracks. Birkenau is different because it was built specifically to hold and kill human beings. It's 20 times vaster than Auschwitz I. The death camp, Birkenau, seems to go on for miles with no end in sight. The stretch of the landscape appears to suggest that even if one would contemplate escape from this place, it would be futile because first one would have to find where the camp ends. 


I was uneasy about going through the gates of Birkenau. After passing through the entrance (nicknamed Gate of Death) a foreboding shadow swept across my mind. It was at first what I expected: destroyed buildings marked only by its outer frame or a post bearing a number to let passerby know that one once stood there, train tracks that make one feel sick knowing the numbers of souls it carried, fences embossed with barb wire daring someone to embrace it, watch towers that loom and cast fear with its shadow and bright lights every several feet that give off no warmth and like the insect that gets too close ends up lifeless underneath it.    


I was completely unprepared and caught off guard as to what the camp looked like. Birkenau was beautiful. There was grass growing everywhere and scattered here and there were pretty little wildflowers along with dog roses springing from the ground. The trees within Birkenau provided a tranquil forest that made one feel welcome to sit and read below its fresh branches. As strange as it might sound, I was genuinely angry that the camp was pretty. It was because I felt that from all the horrors that had taken place there, the land should honor that by staying ugly. It felt like the ground was in collaboration with the Nazis; trying to cover what had happened there so that no one who came back to that decrepit place would be able to find it. All they would see is the beauty there and continue their search for the barren ground that was so many peoples hell. 


Later that week we read a poem in class that changed my perspective. It was a poem about the Holocaust and at the end of each stanza there was a line that spoke of the earth healing itself by growing grass where there was once nothing but mud. It made me rethink how I felt and instead be grateful knowing that even the land is trying to heal. For all those who had once been kept there and for all those who died there, Birkenau is mending.

Visiting Poland: Part II

"Nothing gold can stay." These were the words that first entered my mind as I walked up the path leading to the infamous gate of Auschwitz. This may seem odd but it truly is what I thought of. The camp was built as Polish Army barracks and was never intended to be used as a concentration camp. In 1940 when the Nazis invaded Poland and began taking mass numbers of Poles prisoner they ran out of prisons to put them. The Nazis solution was to take over the camp we know now as Auschwitz and turn it into a prison for the Polish soldiers. It wasn't until about the year 1942 that the camp began to hold Soviet prisoners, Roma (the correct term for Gypsies) and Jews. So although the camp was built for a good purpose it was twisted and was not allowed to be kept that way by the Nazis. 


The second thing to cross my mind was the size of the place. I had been told beforehand that the camp wasn't that big but for some reason (perhaps the images Hollywood and other movies have presented) I still had this picture in my head of an overly large and threatening prison. However, Auschwitz is rather small. Instead of a vast land the feel was that of buildings that stood tall and loomed over you. Knowing what happened there made me feel like the buildings would grow taller and taller until they would meld into each other and block the sky from view taking all hope away with it. Even the ground was uneven and rocky. I had expected that for tourists they would have smoothed out the walking paths. I'm not sure why I expected that but I did (maybe it's some American standard way of thinking). It was necessary to constantly be watching where you put your feet. It made it all the more hard to imagine what it must have been like for all those who were held there. 


The last part of my time at Auschwitz that I want to tell you about is the gas chamber. I don't have much to say about it. It was the first gas chamber and hundreds of people could be killed at a time there. It was used for a relatively short period of time due to the fact that it was too small for the Nazis and their purpose. The feeling of being in the gas chamber was one that I'll never forget. It was cold and dark and the walls look like they're rotting. The floor, walls and ceiling all look stained and foreboding. The outside of the building is no better, having a large single brick chimney erupting from this small cement barrack. The only word that I can think of is: Why? 

Visiting Poland: Part I

This past weekend my classmates and I went to Auschwitz. We boarded a train on Thursday and 11 hours later we were in Poland. It felt like the hours that I'd spent reading on various topics concerning the Holocaust this past month was all leading up to this point. As if to say that I would soon be reaching the climax in the story that was my time in Prague. I was nervous and anxious about what awaited me there. 


Our first day we went to the Schindler Museum in Krakow, Poland. It was amazing (please excuse my use of an overly common word). The way the museum was set-up is optimal for educational purposes. It takes you through the years of 1939-1945 (the start and end of the Nazi invasion). It's a little hard to explain the actual set-up of the place but I'll try. It is a multi-level building that forces visitors to go a certain way to get to the end. Along the way are 4 cards that you can stamp as sort of signatures of where you're at in the war. 


The entire museum is interactive. You can watch videos of testimonies from those who were there and the maps are touch-screen and you can read about what was happening at different locations. Moreover, even the walls and floors are designed to mimic how the people felt at specific times. For example, the second to last room you enter is a dark tunnel that has a huge picture of Stalin to signify the start of the communist regime and the floor consists of uneven and bumpy mats. The message is that even after the war no one could find solid ground to walk on. 


The entire experience was impacting and well orchestrated. I would highly recommend it to anyone who might find themselves in Poland. I very much hope to find myself there again.       

This picture is of a written decree by the Nazi Party to a Polish University. It really made me stop and think. 

The White Lady

Sorry I haven't posted anything for a while. The past week and a half has been extremely busy! 


I got to visit a place called Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic. It has a castle sitting upon one of its hills and my favorite part about it is its legends. To be honest, I'm a sucker for legends! I love the idea of something being so odd or wonderful that the people around utilize it to give birth to their own form of entertainment.

There was a woman named Perchta von Rosenberg who was young and beautiful. She had a happy life growing up but when she became of age her father forced her to marry. So she married an older man named Jan von Lichtenstein and he was absolutely horrible to her. It's said that she would write letters to her brother pleading him to take her away from her wretched husband. However, because of the time and how scandalous a divorce would make her and the family look, he refused. 


Eventually, the tides began to turn for her. Her husband became very ill and called for her on his death bed. Perchta came to him and asked her forgiveness for the way he treated her. She point blank refused to forgive him. As a result he became even angrier and cursed her to roam the castle forever! 


Over the years she has appeared to different people in and around the castle. She is known as the Lady in White. If one sees her it is of the utmost importance to take notice of her gloves. If she is wearing white gloves then the news she wants to tell you is great but if she's wearing black gloves... The last recorded sighting of her was in 1938 and she was wearing black gloves. The common belief is that the news she wanted to convey was on World War II and the invasion of the Nazis in the then Czechoslovakia. 


Whether or not this legend is true really doesn't matter to me. But it is so much fun to hear about it and be where she definitely was. Unfortunately, no one saw her while we were there in town. Who knows, maybe next time...

Walking on History

Today I had the privilege of sitting at the same the table while listening to a man named Dr. Rick Pinard. He works for RadioFreeEurope RadioLiberty (rferl.org). What this radio station does is send independent information to countries all over the world whose government has taken control of the news and media. Their tagline is "free media in unfree societies." He talked about what they did in the Czech Republic (then Czechoslovakia) when the Nazis' had infiltrated all news stations. Dr. Pinard shared with us how the slow and calculated their infiltration was in taking over the country.   


He is also an expert in the Holocaust in general but specifically in the Czech Republic. He told us that the very building in which he was speaking to us in had housed three Jews who were taken to death camps. None of them survived. It was an odd feeling to know that the place in which I was sitting was home to three human beings who were forced to leave and taken to their deaths. Dr. Pinard also went on to point out all of the different buildings surrounding us in Prague that were filled with history directly linked to terrible and sometimes courageous stories from that time in history. It was then that I truly realized how fortunate I was to be here in Prague. I am learning about the Holocaust while walking the same streets and touching the same buildings that Nazis' and Jews walked along and touched. Wow.