It's hard to believe that I am currently finishing my last full week of work here in Warsaw! Where has the time gone? I will say that it bittersweet to be at this point. In many respects, I am excited to return home, see family and friends and have an iced drink (it has sure been a while since there is no ice here) but I am really going to miss Poland! I have had such an exciting six weeks and had the opportunity to see so much but it has been challenging at times- all of it wrapped up into an experience that has helped me to grow and realize my true love of history. This is also the hard part about being passionate about so many things- I am so excited to start as an RN in high risk OB when I return but I love spending time in the archives and doing what I have been for the last six weeks! Both are passions that I am convinced I will be split between for a while...
This past weekend I had my last 'out of town adventure' where our office at the Family Heritage Center travelled to Lublin, which is a city in Poland about two and a half hours from Warsaw. The office staff going on this trip were: Ola (who I have worked closest with this summer), Szymon (who works between the Taube Center and Family Heritage), Adam (the other American intern), Anna (an intern at the Taube Center) and myself. Everyone but me headed to Lublin on a travel bus, while I opted for a train since I still had a couple of days left on my Eurail pass I wanted to finish before the end of these six weeks. I met them at a bus stop close to our hostel, dropped off my backpack and the five of us made our way to Brama Grodzka for a presentation that they had prepared for us.
This is Brama Grodzka. The three windows above the gate are actually all now part of a museum that details Jewish life in Lublin before WWII.
Brama Grodzka is one of the original gates that was an entrance to the Jewish quarter of the city. It is now a theater and has an exhibition that details Jewish life in Lublin before the war. Because the five of us are all involved with Jewish genealogical services to some extent, this presentation focused on their archives at Brama Grodzka, complete with an online 3D map that details pre-war Lublin. Having done some GIS mapping for my Cold War class this past Spring, I thought that this was a fascinating insight into how technology can play a key role in preserving history. I think I sat during this whole presentation with my jaw dropped in utter fascination of all that they were showing us. After its conclusion, the woman giving our presentation showed us around the exhibition: their extensive photo collections and testimonies from former Jewish inhabitants of Lublin.
A little hungry from walking around, we headed to place that Melissa recommended for lunch after her many summers in Lublin spent learning Polish. I had specific instructions for what to order when there- Melissa told me that their spinach and feta pierogis were absolutely delicious! I paired those with some creamed spinach that Adam and I shared. It was well worth all those greens! So yummy! After all of us finished our meal, we just sat talking in the sunshine, getting to know each other in a much different context, which was really nice.
After a few hours, we decided to get up and walk around the city a bit. Anna, who is actually from Lublin, had brought a tablet with her from the Taube Center. She had saved pictures on this tablet of what pre war Lublin looked like. As she took us to these places, she would also hold up the picture in front so that we could see the contrast between pre and post war Lublin. How fascinating to see what was once there and now what stood in its place!
This was really such a relaxing trip, which for this girl that had been roaming around what feels like all over God's creation, was a welcomed changed from non-stop sightseeing.
Our trip to Lublin was a pretty quick one- just an overnight adventure. We all got up on Saturday morning and headed for breakfast at a little cafe. One of my favorite things is to share meals with friends- but especially breakfast outdoors in the sunshine. We sat and talked for a couple hours before Adam and I were planning to head to Majdanek, the extermination camp about 10 minutes outside of the city.
Having been to Auschwitz, I felt going here that I was at least a little prepared for what to expect- to a degree. However, despite that these camps share many of the same traits, there are such vast differences as well. Majdanek was no exception. We took a bus, a short ride outside of the city, and looked across the street- facing the remains of what used to be a death camp.
Before coming here, I had heard from some people that Majdanek is unlike any other camp in the sense that it is not being preserved as a museum like Auschwitz, but would be closer to continuing its practices much easier than other death camps.
As you walk up the street to the main gate of the camp, there is a huge concrete monument on the edge. It is known as the Majdanek Monument to Struggle and Martyrdom and was built in 1969. Here's what greeted Adam and I on our way to the entrance:
After walking past the monument, we entered through the camp gate. There is a visitor complex before actually coming to certain buildings within the camp. Majdanek is unique because out of the 6 death camps used in the Final Solution, it is considered as the most well preserved, especially after Soviet liberation in July 1944.
The Visitor Complex at Majdanek.
As we entered into the first building, the smells of the humid summer air combined with the remnants of such evils filled you as you took a breath and walked in. Here are some pictures of these first few buildings:
This is one of the rooms where prisoners were stripped naked and rinsed in carbolic acid. Behind where I am standing for this photo are two huge tubs that used to hold this acid waiting for prisoners to arrive.
The door that shut on the lives of approximately 80,000 people after the Final Solution was implemented at Majdanek between 1941-1942. It was pretty emotional to actually see the door to the gas chambers. At Auschwitz, in efforts to preserve the camp, I did not see certain things such as this. And also, because Auschwitz was such a large killing center, the Nazis destroyed the gas chambers to rid the camp of evidence so the only one that I walked through was in Auschwitz I. A very interesting experience- to mix the sights with such prominent smells...
Walking throughout the gas chamber, you also see remnants of Zyklon- B on blue stained walls- a sure sign that such evil had taken place here. This Zyklon-B gas was used in theextermination of countless men, women and children.
One of the interesting pieces of the day was that there were crows everywhere in the open fields. For me, crows have always served as a eerie bird- their noise playing a haunting soundtrack in this reverent place.
Many of the exhibits at Majdanek are in the former barracks of the prisoners. These uniforms were ones that were actually worn by prisoners interred at Majdanek.
The outside of one of the barrack buildings.
One of probably the most emotional and impactful parts of the day for me was actually walking into the barracks that housed the shoes of the prisoners gathered during Operation Reinhardt. This entire barracks is lined with shoes from one end to another, with a separate section running down the middle. Walking into this barracks, I instantly was caught by the smell of these shoes that were yet another reminder of the life that once filled this camp. The size of these shoes too- from men and women's feet to those of small children- nonetheless, all lives that were taken too early.
This is the hallway down the center of the barracks. The light in the back is coming from the doors opened at the other end of the barracks. It was simply a dark room with these cages of shoes filling either side.
As you walk from the barracks area, you reach a street- to the left goes back to the camp's entrance and to the right leads to the mausoleum located near the crematorium. This dome like structure houses the ashes of prisoners that were discovered after Soviet liberation. I don't think that this is something that you can truly prepare for- underneath this dome covering is a huge concrete bowl that houses these ashes without any form of covering over the top of them. All I did was stand there in utter sadness- seeing that this was exactly what the Nazis had set out to do and for these 80,000 people, were successful. What a humbling and such reverent moment to stand and remember...
After spending some time in silence here, I walked to the crematorium that is almost directly next to this structure.
This is the exterior of the crematorium from the top of the mausoleum.
A memorial to the graves of these men and women. Behind this gravestone is the place where the ashes of these prisoners were deposited after being cremated.
Inside the crematorium. This is the dissection table where valuables were extracted from the bodies after they had been gassed. Often times, it was looking on the prisoners for gold teeth and other precious items that the Nazis collected.
Part of the crematorium. Of the 80,000 prisoners murdered at Majdanek, approximately 61,000 of them were Jews.
After finishing looking through the crematorium, we headed back down the road toward the camp entrance in silence. I was walking next to Adam, but the two of us were spending time on our own-reflecting on what we saw.
We walked back to our bus stop and stood waiting for it to arrive. I was still digesting what I had seen. We arrived back near Brama Grodzka and I tried to catch a bus back to the train station to catch a 4:25 pm train. However, the next bus did not come for approximately 45 minutes. I had already parted ways with Adam who was leaving on a bus with the others at 5:30 pm.
I missed my first train but made my way to the train station and waited for the 7:13pm one. After purchasing my ticket, I went and sat in the window sill, looking out the window and truly processing the day. By 6:45pm, my train arrived at the station and I boarded to head back to Warsaw- a little bittersweet, especially being my last train ride, at least this trip.
My final train before departing from the station in Lublin.
While it was a wonderful weekend with friends, despite being short- Saturday especially filled me with many mixed emotions of going to Majdanek. While I am thankful I went- it is an experience I will never forget.
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