Tuesday my husband and I returned from a three-week trip that took us to Krakow, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, and finally London. I began writing in a journal that I bought in a Jewish museum shop in Oswiecim (Auschwitz), down the block from the apartment where my mother, of blessed memory, lived until the Nazis took her to a ghetto, and then to a series of labor camps. But after touring each day, I was too tired to write. And so in my journal I'm still in Krakow.

I'm still processing everything  we heard from our various guides and everything we saw. Palaces, opera houses, monuments. Grand synagogues that are, for the most part, museums. Graveyards where we searched, mostly in vain, for family tombstones; other graveyards where we visited the resting places of renowned Jewish scholars.

People ask, "How was your trip?" I tell them it was wonderful and depressing, beautiful and tragic.

Comments

[Rochelle]

Pearl and Jeffrey, thanks for posting.

As I mentioned, I plan to write about my trip. I will say that visiting Auschwitz was not as horrific as viewing the documentaries I've seen over the years. And the visit seemed surreal in so many way: The day was obscenely beautiful--blue skies, cotton clouds, birds chirping. Acres and acres of grass. All this make it hard to visualize the horrors that took place. When I mentioned the grass to our Polish guide, he told us that when the camp was occupied, there was not a blade of grass in evidence--the inmates grabbed whatever grass was there and used it for food.

[Jeffrey Hitchin]

Back in March a friend of mine took a trip to eastern Europe where he visited Auschwitz. He took a lot of digital pictures and when he got back, he let me sit down with him and look at them while he explained what each shot was.

While I'm sure it was not as emotional of an experience as being there, I was tremendously moved. I can understand how draining yet wonderful each day must have been for you.

Glad to hear you've got a book underway. I'm looking forward to it!

[Pearl]

Hi Rochelle,

Glad to hear you had a getaway with your hubby.

I can imagine that for a very long time your brain will sift through all the sights/sounds and emotions that your trip evoked and captured.

No doubt "overwhelming" is an adjective to add to the list you already have.

Have an easy fast.