To rebuild a city: Berlin

We are now in Berlin, our final destination. I first want to reflect on the immense amount of historical information I have received along this trip. From the British People’s War and France’s universal perception, to Poland’s unique experience as the Bloodlands on a different front, we have learned new narratives about a war we collectively find interesting to study. I have learned new ways of approaching and viewing events, agendas, and controversies. No two societies approached the war or its aftermath in similar fashions. Belonging to Fortress America can make this perception hard to understand, making trips like this that much more important. I am thankful beyond expression for having this opportunity.

The river Spree, running right through the heart of Berlin

Personally, Berlin has offered the most foreign theme of all our destinations. Not because they speak a different language. They actually speak good English. It also is not the culture. Berlin is a very young and international city. It is very inviting and safe. Instead, The German World War II theme departs the furthest from the American theme. In the aftermath of WWII, the Germans had multiple problems. First, they had lost the war. A defeated society loses agency over its historical narrative, and this is obvious across the city. We visited the Soviet War memorial, where the fallen Soviets are commemorated, and an entire walkway displays the united proletariat rising to defeat National Socialism (Nazism). The hammer and sickle is featured in every obelisk and stone structure. Likewise, the Soviet star follows you along the walkway toward the mass burial grave, which is topped with a Soviet man beheading a Swastika. Clearly the Germans had little say over this memorial.

a pure Sovietesque memorial

Germany also had to find its own narrative of the war. Germany had to recreate a national identity without bashing themselves. This is apparent in the Reichstag, or the parliament building. The original walls with Soviet transcriptions remain exposed in a handful of places. Architect Norman Foster believed exposing the writings, some of which say “Stalingrad to Berlin” and “Long Live Stalin,” would help remind and infuse a horrible chapter of German history into their modern version of democracy. The German government accepted this proposal, creating an exhibition on what happened in 1945 Berlin. Constant bombing from planes and artillery and street-by-street fighting destroyed large swaths of Berlin, and the Reichstag was not excluded. Including this painful reminder of the Battle of Berlin and subsequent partitioning. Germany was not united until 1990.

Red Army transcriptions on multiple walls in the Reichstag

They also had to accept their role in the Holocaust and other atrocities. They had to balance an accepting/analytical approach without denying/excusing their actions. Places like the Topography of Terror museum, which is located at Hitler’s SS police headquarters, described what happened in the cellblocks underneath the building. It explained the discriminate process SS officials used to lock up Jews. It explained how German civilians used the SS to remove rival shop owners, annoying neighbors, or unpopular colleagues. The museum held nothing back. It described a wave of terror without interjecting an excuse. It worked the SS into a story of shame and embarrassment. It also worked it into a story of right and wrong, and lessons learned. This created a narrative explaining the horrible facts of the Nazis while dictating the lessons Germany, and the world, had learned from the era.

Everywhere you look, you see the remnants of a terrible war. From the Soviet war memorials, to the Capitulation museum, to the language used at modern museums, Germany has taken a new tone to its past. Destruction of WWII Berlin allowed the city, along with the nation, to redesign its image. Germany has found a way to be proud of who they are, and apologize about their past.

painting depicting the bloody Battle of Berlin. In the background you can see the burning Reichstag

Finally, I cannot believe this trip is complete. It has been a wild ride. Our group of 23 Buckeye students came together, forging bonds that will last a lifetime. We truly are a band of brothers and sisters. I cannot wait to see how future groups enjoy their time abroad.
Prost!

After action from France

Over the course of the trip, it has become clear that each country we visit has its own unique themes in regard to their WWII history. In London, the city felt victorious. Its monuments and memorials of WWII were proud and invigorating. When visiting the sites or even walking through the streets London enveloped pride in its people and the cause towards victory. Here in France, the theme is not the same.

After visiting Pointe du hoc, as well as Utah and Omaha beaches, the monuments don’t display French national pride. Here, of course, the monuments and memorials are dedicated heavily to American and British infantry divisions who did their parts on D-Day. Along Pointe du Hoc and the beaches, you’ll find the memorials dedicated to the 2nd rangers, the 1st infantry, the 29th infantry, the 4th infantry and even the 101st Airborne Division. The 2nd Rangers have a statue of a dagger in the rocks on top of the hill commemorating their bravery. Whereas the 1st, 29th, and 4th infantry divisions have memorials displaying their creeds at Omaha and Utah beach. We even got the chance to see the memorial to Cpt. Richard Winters of Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division a short drive behind Utah beach. But we never came across any memorials to the French. Logically, it’s because they didn’t play as significant a role in the invasion as their Allies. But my point is that if there were any French memorials or monuments they were most certainly overshadowed by all those commemorated to its Allies.

Even the museums were flooded with American and British memorabilia. In fact, many if not most were American museums on French soil. The only hint of French pride was inside the American cemetery where there was an exhibit on a French infantry division who landed with the British at Sword beach. The American and British cemeteries were sprawling beautiful commemorations to their dead at D-Day. I saw them as massive commemorations from France to its liberators. What better way to honor your Allies than to commemorate those who sacrificed everything forever on French soil.  In Paris, the theme was very much the same. Besides the movie to De Gaulle which was just ridiculous. But again, there weren’t huge monuments or memorials to see that screamed victory over the Nazis or at least none that I saw. Paris was actually rather quiet. We even visited the Shakespeare and company which was an American bookstore during the war effort and enjoyed Patrick’s lecture on Americans in Paris. At the end of the day, this big city, unlike London, didn’t feel as proud in victory.

It was eye opening to come from a city where confidence in victory was so openly displayed around the town to a place or places where the tone is shifted from confidence and pride to respect and gratuity.  The French above all else show their respect to their liberators at both the beaches and in Paris. Here in France,

memorial to killed infantry inside American memorial cemetery Omaha beach

British cemetery

you won’t hear citizens remarking how France was triumphant after heavy fighting or lost too many of their men at the beaches. But what I did see and hear, was gratitude. I was in a bar in Bayeux where I met several French guys drinking and hanging out and after they realized I didn’t have an accent I told them I was American studying WWII in Europe.  All three of them turned to me and said “American! Hey you saved, us back then!” Of course, we were joking around, nor did I take it literally but even still, from its memorials to its people France most definitely respects its allies in the war.

Auf Wiedersehen, Deutschland!

During my time in Germany, I found that the main theme portrayed in museums about their history during WWII was the acknowledgement of their evils by blaming the individual Nazi party and not society as a whole. On our first day in Berlin, we visited the Reichstag building, which is the German parliamentary building that was established in the 1990’s. We received an amazing private tour from an official who works there and she explained the entire history of the building from the time before WWI through its current function in the German national government. Although the building was built in the late 1800’s, the Third Reich never used this building during its reign because there was a fire that burned most of the building in 1933. Hitler then used this fire as a plot to further condemn the communists (who were responsible for the fire) and increase his absolute powers in the government. However, during the Battle of Berlin near the end of the war, Soviet soldiers thought this building was the headquarters for the Nazis. So, they wrote graffiti all over the walls out of spite. This building currently is a testament to Germany’s acknowledgment of its crimes and a constant reminder of their past mistakes. When the government decided to use this building, they renovated the place but made strategically important design decisions that saved the history, of what they are both proud and ashamed, of the Reichstag. Therefore, visitors can see the preserved graffiti from Soviet Soldiers and the destruction from the early 20th century on exposed walls from the original building. These design choices also mean that visitors can see how open and honest Germany is about its past. In addition, at the bottom of the building, there is a display that showcases many metal boxes that look like bricks. On each was a democratically elected official from the end of WWI until today, in order to demonstrate the stable foundation of their government. The fact that they included both Heinrich Himmler and Adolf Hitler in this display emphasizes their view of how their history, even the most terrible part, is the foundation of their society today.

Our tour guide was very honest with the German past and acted not as though she was describing the defeat for the nation during WWII, but more like she was describing the growth of the nation from that point on and displayed their successes coming back from this dark past.

In addition, when we visited the house in Potsdam where the Wannsee Conference took place, this theme continued. The Wannsee Conference was the meeting at which the major participants in the Final Solution gathered to discuss the logistics and organization of carrying out the genocide of European Jews. Because steps had already been taken in this direction to eliminate the Jews, this meeting was not where the final solution was decided. It was where it was made official and standardized, as was seen by the packet of documents discovered that highlighted the major points of the meeting with officials like Heydrich and Himmler. In this museum there was constant acceptance for the crimes committed in Germany, but it took more of an intentionalist stance in that it said the main group of Nazis were the masterminds behind all of it, placing all blame on them rather than on society as would be present with the functionalist approach.

Germany as a whole has made many strides to reconcile with its past, though it is apparent that society has accepted the actions of the Nazis and not necessarily their own collaboration involved with the actions of the Third Reich.

Occupied in Poland

During our time in Krakow, our visit to Auschwitz was a very humbling experience. In class we try to put ourselves in the shoes of the people we learn about to better understand their situation and the events that took place. However, when we came to the camp, we walked on the platform that led a million people to their deaths and we saw the shoes that were all that remain of many of the victims at Auschwitz. We saw the gas chambers and crematoria that were the greatest instruments contributing to the success of the Nazis in annihilating the Jewish population. The exhibit that made me the most emotional was seeing the two tons of human hair, collected from over 30,000 women, and the objects the Germans made out of the victims of this tragedy, such as rugs, rope, and socks for their soldiers. I think the site helped us understand just how many people died at the camp. In class we saw large numbers and devastating statistics, but understanding that over a million people were killed in this way is something that can only come from seeing where and how it happened in person.

I live in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. and have been to the Holocaust Museum many times. Each time I definitely felt overwhelmed with and saddened by the exhibits, but that was nothing compared to the absolute shock I received when I came to Auschwitz. The museum in D.C. had many similar exhibits to this site, such as a room filled with the shoes of the victims. However, instead of 5,000 pairs of shoes in a room, there were 70,000 pairs of shoes in the room at Auschwitz. The hundreds of thousands of artifacts helped me to understand just how many people were affected by and suffered from this tragedy in human history.

Visiting Poland as a whole was very interesting because it had a completely different feeling of culture from France and England. Not just in that their cultures are inherently different, but more that England and France have an atmosphere that portrays victory for and pride in their nations, while Poland has the atmosphere of defeat and occupation. For instance, in the Schindler Museum the majority of the exhibits are on general information about WWII, the Polish Resistance and resistance, and the tragedies that affected Poland throughout the war. The resistance with a capital R is referring to the official resistance movements, while those with a lowercase r refer to the small acts of resistance common throughout Poland at the time. At the end of the exhibit, instead of a portion on the victorious end to the war and the surge of national pride and honor, the Polish museum had an enormous picture of Stalin hanging on the wall. Poland became occupied by the Soviet Union after the war and continued to struggle under their lack of freedoms. So, Poland did not have a happy ending like the allies did. Poland did not recover after the war like the other nations did because they were immediately taken over by another power – the Soviets replaced the Nazis. This was very sad, seeing much of their struggles throughout the war and knowing that it never truly ended. This occupation after the war was seen all throughout he city of Krakow, especially in the architecture of many of the buildings. They had the classic Soviet, basic, concrete style of design that portrayed the sad, strictly controlled society they were forced to endure both before and after the war. However, even with the remnants of occupation around the city, Krakow has become a place in which people thrive in a new, rich culture that bloomed at the end of their Soviet occupation.

On The Thames

On May 8th, the Airbus A300 I was riding in slowly descended (after several sharp turns) into London Heathrow Airport. This was the end of a journey that started in Columbus, and I was relieved. To say that I hate flying would be an understatement, and I was white-knuckled against the arm rest for the full duration of the flight. I was a bit surprised at the people who were able to sleep for the ride as I went in and out of bouts of vertigo. Nonetheless, I made it with a friend, and met more as we waded through the UK passport check line.

After this, I went to a London Underground stop on the Piccadilly line. After seeing the Tube map, my memories of it and the way it works immediately came back to me. Based on experiences with a previous study abroad, I was able to lead my friends from Heathrow to Queensway station. Riding the Tube was a great experience, especially when you hear the British accented voice reminding one to “Mind the Gap,” or think of Londoners sheltering in the Tube during a Blitz attack in the 40s.

We have just arrived from England to France and I can not help but to think of what I experienced and learned. We toured quite a few sites during our time, including places like the Churchill War Rooms and HMS Belfast. The most awe-inspiring part of this trip happened at the Imperial War Museum during the World War I exhibition. Most of the museums that I have visited in the United States poorly cover that war, but the memory of it still seems fresh in Britain. One item that shocked me was a man’s glove which was left out during a gas attack and had shrank severely due to the chemicals. In another portion, an interview with a former soldier was highlighted, in which he claimed the war did not change him nor the country, asides from a poor job market. It seems that the human element gets washed away in

Result of WWI Gas Attack on Man’s Glove

favor of battles, casualty figures, and dates. Further from the Museum, my roommate and I found a monument that had been damaged by a German WWI bomb.

My best World War II experience came from Bletchley Park, where German Enigma was decoded for the Allies. The secrecy of the site is incredible, as it had some 10,000 workers but the purpose of the area was never disclosed. I was able to give a site report there based on an expertise paper I did last semester about the Double Cross system. This system found every German spy in Britain and either imprisoned them or gave them the opportunity to become a double agent to benefit the UK. The system was then used to lead the Germans to believe that an invasion was imminent in places like Bordeaux, Norway, and the Pas de Calais. One agent even was able to convince the Nazis that the D-Day landings in Normandy were a diversionary attack, meant to draw out troops from the Pas de Calais. This pinned many German divisions in the area and likely helped save numerous Allied lives. Bletchley also houses a recreation of the complicated Bombe machine, which was created by Alan Turing to crack the Enigma code. Bletchley itself was lovely, being a short train ride from London and situated in a sleepy village. After seeing all this, it is undeniable that Bletchley was one of the most important points in the war.

We now go onwards to Bayeux, where we will be able to see the Normandy beaches, and after that Paris. After learning so much more about the War and culture in England, I am excited to do the same here in France. I also look forward to reflecting on my experience there in the near future.

Sincerely,

Beau Bilek

Poland: Bloodlands

I have personally been studying the Bloodlands over the past semester. The Bloodlands, written by Timothy Snyder, refers to the regions of Poland, Belarus, Ukraine and the Baltic Republics during World War II. In these regions, between 1933 and 1945, fourteen million noncombatants were murdered. In places like Poland, Hitler and Stalin engaged in interactions that led to more mass killing than either side could have carried out alone. This was the context that framed my thinking as I traveled into Krakow.

Poland, except for the Soviet Union, suffered more casualties than any other country during the war. In fact, Poland lost 16% of its total population by the end of 1945, due to murderous policies imposed by Hitler and Stalin. Walking through Krakow reminded me of something Professor Mansoor, who taught World War II, stated about Poland losing its culture due to triple occupation. Unlike France, which was occupied for a short time, Poland suffered tremendously not only during the war but for about fifty years after under the Iron Curtain. Cities, like Warsaw, were virtually razed to the ground. Meanwhile, Krakow, the capital of the German General Government, remained almost untouched. Despite the mass repressions of the Polish inhabitants, the city itself never suffered as a result of warfare. When the Red Army approached Krakow, in 1945, the German’s blew up the bridges on the river Dunajec and retreated rather than defending the city – so little destructive street fighting occurred. This allowed my group and I to experience one of the very few Polish cities whose history remains intact.

The Schindler Museum really highlighted the vast sufferings that occurred in this blood-soaked region. The museum is laid out in a way that makes you feel like you are walking through the history of Polish occupation and oppression from 1939 onward. The museum is constructed inside the remains of the Schindler Factory – made world renown in the film “Schindler’s List.” The wealth of information, partnered by the dark and unsettling architecture, really made this museum stick out in my memory.

The museum honors Oskar Schindler – who is credited with saving the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and ammunitions factories. One of my favorite quotes is by Edmund Burke, who states, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” This exhibit highlighted that Schindler did not arrive to Krakow as a hero, but as a entrepreneur. He was a common man who was able to achieve incredible deeds just by going against the norm. He was a good man who did something.

The Nazis aimed to destroy, not only people, but a culture. They tried to achieve this by destroying monuments and statues, prosecuting intellectuals, and banning languages. Yiddish and Hebrew were prohibited in public. As I learned in my Eastern European Immigration course, a language is the backbone of culture and national identity. To deny a language, is to deny a person right to their heritage. Polish works of art were also confiscated and Poland ceased to exist as of 1939. The timeline of the museum did not have a happy ending. While America was celebrating its “Good War” and Britain its “People’s War” in the end of 1945, Poland fell under the power of the Soviet Union. It was now under the leadership of a man who killed his own civilians no less efficiently than Hitler killed civilians of other countries. Poland would be force to compare the rulership of both murderous occupiers.

During our visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau there was a 60% chance of rain. These storm clouds, partnered with the small evening crowds, really produced an ominous and intimate visit. All over the world, Auschwitz has become the symbol of the Holocaust and the Holocaust as the evil of the century. While my research on the Bloodlands was centered on expanding this context, the camp really put these murderous policies into perspective.

Our visit began at Auschwitz I, which is the site of the original concentration camp. This part of Auschwitz was the work camp, where prisoners would be forced into harsh labor that would inevitably lead to death. Being placed in the work camp meant to prolong the inevitable. As people were forced to work in unsanitary and cruel conditions, they would become sick and fatigued. The prisoners, who did not die directly on the job, would later become unfit for work and be sent to the gas chambers.

Walking through these grounds was moving. We walked through Block 11, also called the death block. This was the camp jail. We saw the starvation cells, the standing cells, and isolation cells that were used to punish any camp resistance. We also saw the death wall, where the SS would carry out executions by firing squad. We saw where prisoners would be forced to do roll call twice a day, regardless of harsh elements, and where escapees were hung. During roll call the same number of people had to be present before and after a shift of hard labor, which meant that the prisoners would have to carry the dead to be counted before being sent off to the crematorium.

The displays of the prisoner’s possessions were the most affective parts of the exhibition. In these exhibitions the scale of the killings was really transformed into individuals. Many of these people, in the beginning of the Holocaust, believed they were being relocated and brought with them everything necessary to begin a new life. These rooms were filled with cooking supplies, combs, and other personal possessions. The rooms of human hair also brought the atrocities to life – here the dehumanization of the Nazi party was particularly evident. Nothing was put to waste in the camps – from using human hair for Nazi shoes to spreading the ashes of the Jews as fertilizer.

I was unsure of what my emotions would be while traveling through Auschwitz. I knew that this would be a somber site, but I wasn’t fully aware of the extent of the emotional impact it would cause. I broke down in the room of shoes. When the Soviet Union liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau, on January 1945, there were 43,000 pairs of shoes in the camp. This room, now, is piled floor to celling on both side with only a portion of that number. Looking around I saw shoes from all levels of society and all ages – even slippers of a toddler. I could no longer hold back my emotions and silently cried as I imagined not only the individuals in the shoes that suffered, but also the individuals whose shoes were not found. Unlike Auschwitz, the other death camps were completely destroyed and all evidence turned to ash. In the killing fields in the east and other areas of the bloodlands, the individuals is even farther from coming to life. As I looked at these mountains of shoes, I imagined what fourteen million shoes would look like. Each shoes held a life and a story that was carried to its death in similar areas for similar reasons. This room and memorial really brought to life the immense dehumanization of both the Nazi and Stalinist Regimes.

We also visited Auschwitz II, the death camp. Unlike Auschwitz I, the death camp only served one purpose – mass extermination. Here Jews, Gypsies, Soviet POWs, and many more were brought by cattle cars to make the long walk to the gassing facilities. Our guide told us, as we walked down death road, that many of these individuals were clueless of their fate. While this may have been true in the beginning of the final solutions, soon rumors had spread to many of the ghettos and by the end, I would argue, that many of these individuals were not ignorant. I imagined myself walking toward the funnel of smoke, looking at an old man struggling to walk beside me, and being herded like cattle to slaughter. There were little theatrics, unlike Treblinka, and as I was forced to undress to “shower” and herded into an underground block, my fate would have seemed clear. How terrible it must have been to stand in one of the four gas rooms, which were probably covered with claw marks from past exterminations, alone and cold with little to no lights.

Now only ruins of these four gassing facilities are left after the Germans destroyed them during their retreat. In fact, all of Auschwitz II is left in its original condition. This side of the camp has no exhibits – only a memorial to the Hungarian Jews and a large international memorial to all the prisoners who perished in these camps. The horrors of this camp and its people were real. This visit really brought to life the individuality and fate of each of the prisoners. This hollowing experience, I believe, was the most beneficial of the trip. Often historians become detached from the numbers – sites like Auschwitz really turn statistics into people.

On toward Germany.

Vive la France!

During our trip to Bayeux, we visited many of the D-day beaches and other monuments that focused on the history of these invasions and their effect on this area. For instance, we visited Caen, which was a major city captured by the allies after months of long, treacherous battle following the invasion of Normandy. At the Caen Memorial Museum, we analyzed the French perspective on the war as it pertains to their involvement in the war and opinion of the nations involved during the creation of the museum at the end of the Cold War. One point of note was that there was a large amount of reading, pictures, and videos throughout the exhibit, much more so than was in the British Imperial War museum. I noticed that the French identified some of their failures, which was not seen to the same extent in the British Museums. The French noted themselves for cooperating with Germany, but seemed to make many convincing excuses as to why they chose to do so and did not describe the full extent to their cooperation. This allowed them to distance themselves from all the responsibility of awful wartime actions they completely put on Germany. They emphasized the history and significance of their resistance that was present, but it was considered a smaller movement than they portrayed it to be.

The French also seem to give more credit to British and American actions by always including them in the casualty count and mentioning their efforts repeatedly, such as with the Lend Lease Act and the significance of the emergence of the United States into WWII. They included a large amount of information about the war in the Pacific, of which England did not do as much, and described the entire role of the United States in the war. This was interesting and different because the Pacific side of the war did not directly apply to mainland occupied France, while it was a factor in their liberation by the allies who were directly affected by the war in the Pacific. The French seemed to honor the U.S. much more than I expected, given that their alliance did not seem to be nearly as strong as the British-American friendship that the British museum portrayed. Regarding the Holocaust, the French made excuses for not protesting it and claimed that its existence at the time was just too inconceivable for their citizens to understand. They blamed most of the deportations on the Germans, but they had a large role in the deportation of French Jews to Nazi concentration camps. This falsehood was also seen at the Memorial des Martyrs de la Déportation in Paris. At this memorial, there was a display of about 200,000 light bulbs down a hallway that represented the 200,000 French who were deported to concentration camps during WWII.

http://https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7I0LERguVD4MVByVnE5WjBnQzQ

About 76,000 of these deportees were Jews. The memorial’s lack of recognition for the Jews in this situation and minimizing of the role of antisemitism in this event create a universal-suffering view of the Holocaust. This view can be controversial because although people want to recognize all who suffered during this time, many negate the importance of racism in this terrible event. Though this Memorial recognized the atrocities that happened to this innocent group of people, it did not recognize that the French played a role in their deaths which effectively made it a memorial to France’s ignorance during and after the war.

The Caen museum romanticizes the idea of French resisters who were deported to concentration camps by the Germans to create sympathies for the French and make the historical account more in favor of France’s actions. Most notably, the exhibit condemned the strategic bombing by the allies because of its view of it being an “anonymous version of civilian annihilation” which mostly affected France before the D-day invasion. They also discussed profusely the heavy price France and Normandy specifically paid for liberation, which was a little shocking because the American perspective of D-day normally leaves out that information in favor of more heroic portrayals. Although the French typically included positive information about the United States’ involvement in the war, they excessively emphasized the terrors involved with their presence as well as it pertains to their bombing and destruction of the cities in Normandy.

The exhibits had less of an emphasis on the eastern front. But, this museum was built a year before the Cold War ended so anti-communist sentiment may have influenced that decision. The French did not want to glorify the accomplishments from nations that were communist at the time of the museum’s creation, preventing a large amount of recognition to be placed on the Soviet Union’s war efforts and contribution to allied success. The museum also claimed that Eisenhower “let” the soviets take Berlin, effectively invalidating the incredible sacrifice the USSR paid in its participation with the allies.

The Caen Museum, like museums in general, makes a political statement that idealizes its home nation and portrays a view of history that aligns with its social, political, and economic ideologies at the time. The refusal of the French to take responsibility for their collaboration with the Nazis was an effort to emphasize the tragedies they faced and establish a national sense of pride after the war literally tore France in half. This lack of acknowledgment was a comforting idea to France as it repaired itself from the war and needed a hopeful message for its citizens to believe in a successful future – for both themselves and their nation.

Always Remember

We were only in Poland for a few days. It’s safe to say Poland, specifically Krakow, thoroughly surprised me. It was absolutely beautiful. I would love to come back someday.

The Square

      

One of the days we visited the Schindler Museum, the next Auschwitz-Birkenau. The latter was the most powerful, for obvious reasons. For those of you who do not know the specifics, Auschwitz-Birkenau is made up of Auschwitz I, a concentration camp, and Auschwitz II-Birkenau, a death camp. The differences between the two are important. A concentration camp was meant for slave labor, and death was likely, but not certain. A death camp, justly name, meant certain death. Auschwitz I was first constructed to hold Polish political prisoners. Soon the camp became a prison for all those the Nazi regime deemed undesirable or sub-human. While a majority were those of the Jewish faith, Poles, Gypsies, Soviet prisoners of war, Jehovah Witnesses, those of the LGBTQ community, and countless others were sent to the camps.
Those sent to the camp were transferred in cattle cars. More than 40 people would be forced into one cattle car. Space was limited, so movement was not an option. Sometimes the trip to Auschwitz would take days, as trains arrived with victims from all over Europe. Food and water were not available for the duration of the trip. Many died before arrival.
Upon arrival the selection process began. With a wave of a hand a SS doctor would decided their fate. If one looked fit for work they went to the concentration; however, children, pregnant women, the elderly, the ill and those who looked unfit for work went to the gas chambers straight away.
While everything about this place disgusted me, what stood out was how the Nazis succeeded in escorting those deemed unfit for work to the death chambers. They told them they were to take a shower. As they arrived at the undressing room they were told to make sure to remember where they placed their things. As such, oblivious to their fate, the victims went quietly and calmly. They would never come back to collect their things.
After, the bodies were dragged out and looted for glasses, artificial limbs, jewelry, hair and any gold teeth. The corpses were then burned, and their ashes used as fertilizer for the fields surrounding the camp. Those who did not meet death by gas chamber were worked to death, died of starvation, illness, individual executions, and medical experiments. Thousands and thousands of people were killed en masse at this one camp.
The camp was about an hour and half ride from Krakow. I fell asleep for most of the ride. When I did wake up the first thing I noticed were train tracks. At first glance it was nothing surprising, but then I noticed areas which were overgrown with grass and weeds. I realized these tracks were not in use anymore and it all came together. Seeing those tracks and realizing where they lead made me sick to my stomach. Words cannot justly describe the emotions you go through while walking the grounds. Some words that do come to mind however are disgust and utter sadness. You honestly just want to scream “why.” How could someone do this? How could so many people be okay with this? The amount of hate and absolute lack of respect for human life that is needed is unbelievable.
Meaningless death occurred over and over on those grounds, along with torture, starvation and nightmarish medical experiments on children. As I write this, recalling the experience, all I feel is anger and sadness. There is no happy ending. Generations and bloodlines came to an end there. All we can hope is to take this as a lesson. A lesson for the need of love, or, at the least, toleration and respect for human life. As George Santayana once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Poland Blog

Given my experiences in communicating with the French locals, I braced myself for the worst as we headed eastward to Krakow. While comprehending French was indeed difficult, French is a Romance language that has many Latin cognates and occasionally words that are similar to English. Conversely, the Slavic tongue of the Poles is completely esoteric to me. Touching down on the runway, I knew exactly one word of Polish; at least in French I knew how to say “I don’t speak French.” However, strangely enough, Poland turned out to be far more similar to the United States than France and, if it were not for my lack of Polish language skills, would have given the UK a run for its money in the area of similarity. Most of the Poles that I interacted with were very friendly and spoke decent English, two qualities that I rarely found combined in the French people that I met. Likewise, Krakow is dotted with McDonald’s and KFC’s, and possesses a very posh, American-style shopping mall. Indeed, the combination of plentiful commercial opportunities and the weakness of the zloty to the dollar greatly contributed to my enjoyment of the location.

Other than the incomprehensible language and ready availability of affordable food and souvenirs, the Polish portrayal of history at the Schindler Museum and at Auschwitz-Birkenau was the more prominent difference between Poland and our previous locations. Unlike Britain and France, the Polish museums did not seem overly preoccupied with establishing a unifying, triumphant, or self-justifying national wartime narrative. Instead, the Polish exhibits aimed to provide a comprehensive, detailed, and largely honest overview of peoples’ wartime experiences, analyzing both general societal issues as well as the tribulations of specific groups. The Schindler Museum, despite its specific name, imparts upon the visitor an extremely immersive and engaging portrait of life in prewar and wartime Krakow for both Gentiles and Jews, utilizing an abundance of physical and anecdotal evidence to explicate the realities of the German occupation. While the museum’s notably scanty coverage of Polish collaboration could smack of a nationalistic bias, the conclusion of the exhibit with the brutal Soviet occupation and prominent recognition of moral ambiguity in wartime bolsters the conception of the museum as a display of diverse wartime tribulations rather than an exhibition with a pointed nationalistic agenda. Auschwitz-Birkenau similarly provides abundant and blunt depictions of Nazi brutality, albeit in a far more compelling and emotionally-distressing manner. By highlighting the many groups persecuted by the Nazis while not diminishing the great significance of the Jewish Holocaust, Auschwitz seems to impart to the visitor plain facts without a great amount of spin.

While Poland, like many ex-Eastern Bloc countries, has witnessed a distinct uptick in nationalist sentiment in the last two decades, the stark and pervasive horrors conveyed by the museums that we visited conveyed to me not that the Poles lack a national view of World War II, but rather that the Polish conception of the war is far more sober than that of Britain or France. Given the immense human losses suffered by Poland during the war and the following 40 years of Communist repression, the Poles seem to believe that they have little to celebrate or extract from the war other than its horrible realities.

Exploring My Polish Roots in Kraków

Dzień dobry, Poland!

Hello Krakow!

 

What an adventure it was to explore my father’s hometown! I was not sure what to expect when it came to Krakow, but I was not disappointed. Poland was my favorite location we have visited so far for several reasons, and I wish we could have spent more than 3 short days in Poland.

 

May 22

Most of Monday was spent traveling form Paris to Krakow, Poland. We began the morning bright and early with a flight from Charles de Gaulle International Airport (which was highlighted by a sighting of an A380 landing and a Concorde proudly on display by the Air France hangar) with a short layover in Brussels, Belgium. Then it was on to Krakow, giving us an arrival time around 3pm by the time we got into town. Our first order of business was a site report about the Bloodlands, which included most of Eastern Europe during WWII, and the atrocities that took place in this region. The day was concluded with a trip into the old town square of Krakow, which absolutely took my breath away.

Old town center in Krakow.

After entering through an old brick arch, I was met by a wide street of shops and restaurants, which then led to the town square. The town square was a bustling center of activities, ranging from breakdancing street performers to horse drawn carriage rides to diners enjoying the views from the various beer gardens. I was immediately struck by the humble beauty of this town, – its historical architecture and lively atmosphere gave it a personality unlike any other city I’ve ever experienced before. Here, it was not hard to imagine my father as a child, running around the town square with a obwarzanki (Polish pretzel) in hand, exploring the market, the church, and everything in between. Beau, Natalie and I decided to dine al fresco in one of the beer gardens in order to experience Krakow in the best way possible. We enjoyed a classic Polish dinner of various pierogis, paired with a large class of Zweicek (SP?) beer.

Better yet, we got to return to the Puro Hotel, which is the crown jewel in the assortment of hotels we’ve stayed at during this trip. The rooms, sparkling clean and refreshingly chic, were controlled by tablet and boasted features such as heated bathroom floors, color changing LED accent lights, a LCD flat screen TV (with English-speaking channels!), fluffy plush beds, touch-control temperature displays, and a toilet that actually flushed. In comparison to the hellhole that was the Ibis hotel, we had found ourselves in an urban Polish oasis, and to this day, we still cannot praise the Puro hotel enough.

That night, a group of us decided to go out and explore the Polish nightlife in downtown Krakow. We ended up at an underground club, where we proceeded to dance the night away with locals and other fellow travelers. As much of a bonding experience as we had in Bayeux chatting and snacking by the pool, I am now a firm believer in the notion that you truly don’t know someone until you’ve seen them dance. That being said, I now have a profound respect for some of the people on this trip that, up until now, had seemed fairly unassuming about their ability to cut a rug.

 

May 23

Our first full day in Krakow began by attempting to navigate the city by way of the tram system. While not as foolproof as the subway systems in previous cities, the tram was reliable and ultimately got us (close enough) to our destination, the Schindler Museum. Having never read the book or watched the movie (Schindler’s List), I had limited information on what the museum would actually be about. I was surprised to see that the museum was not about solely Oscar Schindler’s factory and his covert Jewish rescue operation behind it, but more about the history of Krakow as a whole. It covered the time periods from the formation of Poland, mainly focused on the post-WWI government and diplomacy of Poland, and how the German invasion in September 1939 affected Poland and, more specifically, Krakow. It was a very reading-heavy museum, containing more plaques and signs than it did artifacts and objects. While they were interesting to read, after a while it got very tedious, and I soon found myself either skimming the signs or just skipping some of them altogether. My favorite aspect of the museum was the way it was laid out. Each section of the museum was themed to fit the time period, and showed the progression of events in Krakow’s history. The Nazi Occupation Room featured several massive Nazi flags and banners, multitudes of Nazi propaganda posters, and a floor made entirely of tiles covered in swastikas. The room really gave you an immersive experience, which was all too telling of what it must have felt like to be under Nazi occupation, constantly surrounded by a very omnipotent presence. The Jewish Ghetto room was meant to emulate the feeling of being trapped inside the Krakow ghetto during the Nazi occupation. It featured a gravel floor, barbed wire fences, and a stark white lights, illuminating the bland, off-white walls featuring pictures of the actual ghetto. This atmosphere was meant to represent the bleakness of existence within the ghetto, and it was not hard to see how being trapped in an environment like this would rob people of their hope for a better future.

After the Schindler Museum, we had short break before our next meeting back in the hotel. During this time, Beau, Natalie and I took it upon ourselves to complete the “Bucket List” of destinations in Krakow that my dad had sent me. Such locations included the Wawel Castle, the Wawel Dragon statue, the Sukienice Market, and the Kosciol Mariacki church.

Wawel Castle

Thankfully, we were able to see all of these landmarks because the city is so easy to explore on foot. The architecture was incredible in both the Kosciol Mariacki and the Wawel Castle, and the Sukienice Market was teeming with people hunting for the perfect souvenir from the local vendors.

The dragon!

My personal favorite was the Wawel Dragon because dragons have been a favorite “animal” of mine for as long as I can remember, and I was delighted to discover that not only did the statue breathe fire every few minutes, but the mascot of Krakow was a dragon, making souvenir shopping for myself very easy.

Later that day, we had a group meeting in the hotel to discuss what we had seen on the trip thus far and what we had taken away and learned from each of the locations we had visited. I was once again impressed with the thoroughness in which my classmates were able to answer extremely thought-provoking questions and the depth in the lessons they took away from each of the locations they visited. It was interesting to see how each person interpreted the museums and cites we visited, and it introduced me to perspectives that I never would have imagined on my own.

The day was concluded by a quest to find the highly coveted Polish delicacy called gołabki for dinner. Being a personal favorite of mine, I was dead set on finding the most authentic gołabki in town. Based on the recommendations of a local waiter from a previous restaurant, a group of us visited Chopin Restaurant, which he claimed to have the best gołabki in Krakow. Upon ordering, we were dismayed to find out that the restaurant was sold out of not only gołabkis, but pierogis as well. I could not believe that a self-proclaimed authentic Polish restaurant was sold out of not one but TWO of the most quintessential Polish dishes. Brokenhearted and dejected, we left and began the quest for another Polish restaurant that served gołabki. Thankfully, good gołabki is not hard to find in Krakow, and we soon found ourselves wandering into an unassuming little restaurant called Polski Smaki.

Found the gołabki – mission accomplished!

I knew we had found the perfect place when I walked in and was immediately hit by a smell that instantly reminded me of my grandparent’s kitchen. I approached the counter and nervously asked if they served traditional gołabki with mushroom sauce, and I was soon presented with a steaming plate of two large, meaty gołabkis smothered in mushroom sauce. One bite and a dash of Maggi sauce later, I was in heaven. I won’t say that they were better than Grandma Stella’s homemade gołabki that my brother and I were basically raised on, but for the equivalent of $4 U.S. dollars, they came pretty darn close.

 

May 24th

Our last day in Poland was a heavy one. We visited the concentration camp of Auschwitz –Birkenau in the afternoon, and for one of the very few times in my life, I found myself absolutely speechless.

Infamous sign to the Auschwitz I entrance – “Work makes you free”

To say that this visit was a powerful experience would be an understatement, and I still feel that the words to describe this place do not exist. We arrived around 3:30pm for a guided tour around Auschwitz I that would then continue on to Auschwitz II – Birkenau later in the day. Auschwitz I, at first glance, did not strike me as the foreboding, evil place that it once was – it was oddly serene there, with the tall trees swaying in the gentle breeze and the birds singing in the wooded backdrop. I was struck by how quiet the camp itself was – there was no outside noise aside from the birds, and it seemed as if the camp itself were a skeleton of a former living entity. We toured some of the reconstructed barracks that had since been turned into exhibits to display various photographs, maps and dialogues. The enormous gravity of the place struck me once I entered the “Evidence” building that housed artifacts of the victims that were recovered from the camp after the liberation. One exhibit chilled me more than any others: the seven tons of human hair that were recovered and on display in a massive case along the length of the room.

Inside Auschwitz I

The guide explained how this hair was removed from the victims to be used in the production of textiles and cloths by the Germans during the war. To see these tangible human remains made it real to me: these were people, and even this massive amount of hair was not even close to representing the total number of people killed at that camp. I was shaken, and found myself walking through the rest of Auschwitz I in a bit of a haze. The trip inside Crematoria I, the only remaining crematoria left intact at Auschwitz, was downright disturbing in every sense imaginable. I wanted to get out as soon as I walked inside, imagining the tiny, dark room filled with living, breathing, people, which would then become suffocating, dying people. Although this experience was disturbing, I think it was necessary for people to experience that atmosphere to truly understand the gravity of the entire Auschwitz I complex and the atrocities that took place there, and how it has affected history ever since. To be standing in the location where so many innocent people lost their lives at the hands of evil leads one to understand why people must prevent any such type of evil from ever arising again.

We then transferred to the Auschwitz II – Birkenau camp, which was built as an addition to the original Auschwitz I camp after the order for the Final Solution was implemented.

Entrance to Auschwitz II – Birkenau

The first thing that caught my eye was the infamous main gate, referred to as the Gate of Death. Surrounding the gate, miles of barbed wire fence, once electrified to deter any possible escapees. Upon entering the camp, I was at first shocked to see that there was not much to see. Most of the wooden buildings had been burned down and the crematoria had been blown up by the Nazis before they abandoned the camp. All that remained were the brick barracks, the guard towers, the train tracks, and the brick chimneys from where the wooden barracks once stood. They ranged as far as my eye could see, and sit was eerie to see their skeletal remains looming in the distance. The entire camp was silent – it was like standing in a vacuum chamber, with nothing to hear but the wind blowing through the old buildings, a sound so lonesome and haunting it chilled me to the bone. Visiting Auschwitz gave me a much better understanding of the operation of the camp and just how much planning the Nazis had put into the systematic extermination of millions of people. Seeing pictures of Auschwitz is terrible enough, but being there, standing on the same ground where 1.1 million people lost their lives, made me truly understand the seriousness of what happened there and connected me to the energy of the location in a way I never imagined possible.

Miles upon miles of barbed wire.

It was as if I could feel the sorrow, pain and hopelessness flowing through the air, much like the way it flowed through the empty, abandoned barracks. It is an experience that was entirely unique, and I still find the feeling it evoked in me hard to put into words. That being said, I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have gone to such a location, and can say that it truly made a lasting impact on me in a way that I will remember for years to come. I also think it is important that this place remains open to the public so that others may have the opportunity to have their own powerful experiences at this historic location.

 

Never Again

We began our next leg of the trip with a flight from Paris, a connection in Brussels, and finally landing in Poland on May 22nd. I spent most of my time exploring the city of Krakow with Katie and Beau, including visits to the Wawel Castle, St. Mary’s Church, and local market. We were largely guided by a list provided to Katie by her father, who spent his early life in Krakow. Wawel Castle was built for King Casimir III the Great and is built in the styles of medieval, renaissance, and baroque periods of architecture. It is one of the most historically and culturally significant sites in Poland and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Originally built to house the kings of Poland, it now contains an art museum. We made several stops to the market at the city center which once played a more vital role in the city but now houses souvenir goods. Polish Eagles and amber jewelry, apparently quite popular with the locals, were incredibly popular. We paid a visit to Saint Mary’s Church in the Main Market Square (after Katie purchased a shirt to cover her bare shoulders) to see the gothic architecture and its wooden altarpiece carved by Veit Stoss. Every hour, a trumpet is played from the tower, with the tune breaking of mid-stream to commemorate a 13th century trumpeter who was shot in the throat while sounding the alarm before the Mongol attack on the city. It was founded by King Casimir III the Great and completed in 1347. The main group stop aside from our final day was the Schindler Museum, which examined not only World War II but its origins and aftermath. This was a different perspective that what I’ve seen thus far. The material on Oskar Schindler’s aid to the Poles who worked in his factory was only a small piece of an exhibit that moved through the war through different rooms set up to detail the experiences of different population groups throughout the war. Unlike the other countries we’ve visited, the war could not be neatly bookended in Poland. The destruction of the war was followed by a forty-year Soviet occupation of sorts. In the present day, the Polish people are still developing a new national identity through museums like this.

Our final day in Poland was spent at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Auschwitz I is primarily a museum, with displays in several of the barracks and some preserved to provide a sense of daily life for inmates and guards. Auschwitz II Birkenau is what remains of much of the camp and purpose-built for the Final Solution. It is what the average person imagines when thinking of what a concentration camp might look like. It is a place that can be visited, the history can be learned, and attempts can be made to imagine it, but I found it to be beyond comprehension. I was struck by my lack of emotion walking through the camp, as I had anticipated to be shaken by my visit. Even now, I have yet to process my feelings completely. I’ve found that I’ve become frustrated with my reaction (or lack thereof), but it seems that my experience was not unique. After discussing this with other students on the trip, I’ve found that many people feel the same as I do. There is a disconnect of the history from the location in my mind, as though it was a story I’d read and not atrocities tied to a location and committed by other men and women. Thus far, I’ve settled on the idea of the camp as a stark reminder of history that cannot be denied. The camp is a monument to the importance of tolerance and it stands to remind people that never again can a megalomaniacal leader be allowed to coopt a nation’s power and, in a genocidal rage, attempt to eliminate a population group. Despite its power, it is disheartening to know that genocides have continued to occur across the world without regard for this lesson.

Paris

May 19

Our first day in Paris was one that will certainly be remembered, but not for a good reason, unfortunately. Our hotel, the Ibis, had a promising lobby that filled us with the hope of a fresh Parisian breakfast every morning and a swanky bar and lounge for us to socialize in after a day of touring. However, what we were met with was a 3-hour delay due to only one of our 25 rooms being ready by the time we got there. What followed can only be described as a series of unfortunate events (a la Lemony Snickett): a small room filled with the luggage of 23 travel weary students, room keys that did not work even after 3 trips to the front desk, rude staff, dark, dingy rooms hardly big enough for one person to live comfortably, let alone two, air conditioning that didn’t work, windows that didn’t open, and Wifi that was virtually nonexistent. Not exactly the kind of accommodations you’d expect from a world-class city like Paris.

Despite these setbacks, we were determined to make the most of the day and took a trip to the Memorial des Martyrs de la Deportation. This memorial was the Parisian’s way of officially recognizing the role they played in the Holocaust and their collaboration with the Nazis in their deportation of Jewish citizens. Upon entering, this memorial felt more like a crypt than a monument to those lost to the horrors of the Holocaust. It was underground and extremely claustrophobic in nature, with tight tunnels and low ceilings.

Entrance to the memorial for the Deported Jews during WWII.

It contained very little information in terms of signs and plaques to explain why the memorial was designed the way it was – its beauty was in its simplicity. It was also haunting to be in a memorial that presents you with so little information other than the names of the death camps where millions of people would go to die. The names of the camps, scrawled on the wall in dark red paint, force you to confront the amount of gravity those names carry within them. This memorial felt like a place for penance rather than for remembrance, and left me feeling chilled and slightly uneasy, a much different sensation that other memorials have made me feel.

 

May 20

Our free day in Paris was one for the books. Instead of trying to cram in as many touristy activities as I could in one day, I decided to take it slow and enjoy my time there by doing whatever I wanted to do, sans agenda. Charlie, Natalie, Rachel and I began our day with a trip to the shopping district to explore the smaller boutiques and the larger high-end designer stores, such as Hermes, Chanel and Coach.

When in Paris, you buy the bag.

We stopped into Longchamp, where I treated myself to a nice purse as a lasting souvenir of my trip to Paris. We picked up some traditional macaroons from Laduree, the most picturesque little bakery I’ve ever seen.

Girls day out in Paris – quick stop for macaroons at Laduree!

We then dined at an outdoor café for lunch, enjoying our day in true Parisian fashion. Brunch was followed up by exploring the streets along the Seine, and visiting the little bookseller kiosks to find unique and unusual treasures to bring home as souvenirs. The day was concluded in the most perfect way – meeting up with more people from our trip to enjoy cheap bottles of champagne and wine beneath the Eiffel tower at night. It was then that I realized that Paris wasn’t as bad as I originally thought it was, and it struck me that I had truly enjoyed every part of my day.

Saw the Eiffel Tower at night – take that, Thomas Rhett.

I was sitting under one of the most famous buildings in the world, surrounded by friends, sharing stories and laughing and just enjoying living in the moment. If the Parisian lifestyle has taught me anything, it is that sometimes, slowing down and living in the moment is necessary to appreciate the simple joy of just being alive to witness something as magical as the Eiffel Tower at night.

 

May 21

The 21st was a busy day for us in terms of learning. We began the day with a trip to the Musee de L’Armee, or the French Army Museum. The exhibit began with French military artifacts that dated back long before the WWII era, and while these artifacts were compelling, this era of history does not interest me as much, so I skipped ahead to the WWI/WWII exhibits. The French did a good job of telling the story of French involvement in WWII, but the thing that struck me was their massive emphasis on the French Resistance movement during the Nazi occupation in WWII.

Napoleon’s Tomb at Musee de L’Armee

We learned about the French Resistance movement and talked about it extensively in class, but ultimately agreed that, while it was good for morale, it was never organized and unified enough to make a significant impact on the outcome of the war. This museum made it seem like the Resistance played a much bigger, more important role in WWII than it actually did. My reasoning behind this is, considering France fell to the Nazis in only 6 weeks, they needed something to rally behind and to take pride in, and the Resistance movement is the only thing that really resonates with the people during this time. While the Resistance did carry out a large number of active and passive forms of resistance acts, it did not make nearly as big of an impact on the war as the museum made it seem like.

Furthermore, another form of historical embellishment was experienced when we entered the Charles de Gaulle wing of the museum. As you can imagine, this wing immortalized “The General” as a man who could do no wrong. The exhibit itself was shoddy, with a low-quality audio device that either 1) did not have the proper English translations 2) would not read the proper audio file to the corresponding exhibit or 3) would simply cut out in the middle of an audio presentation. Thankfully, most of the signs and plaques were translated into English, making the story slightly easier to follow. The exhibit glorified de Gaulle as the man who singlehandedly unified a broken nation and freed them from the clutch of Nazi terror. The already cheesy exhibit was followed up by a 20 minute movie about de Gaulle and his achievements in life. Such achievements include, but are not limited to: attempting (and failing) to escape from prison 5 times, “solving the human condition”, and liberating France after the invasion of Normandy, despite being excluded from all prior D-Day invasion plans. This movie was so blatantly Gaullist that it was hard to take it seriously and to take anything valuable away from it.

Shakespeare & Co. in Paris

We concluded the day with a visit to the Shakespeare & Co. bookstore, an English bookstore located in the heart of Paris, which became a prime target for Nazi censorship during the occupation. I never realized how much importance was placed on the censorship of books and literature during the Nazi occupation, but Patrick’s site report was certainly eye-opening and gave me a much better understanding of the historical significance behind this otherwise unassuming little book shop, tucked away in the Latin Quarter of Paris.

 

Honestly speaking, Paris was probably my least favorite location of the trip so far. It struck me as dirty and crowded and very unfriendly to foreigners. It was amazing to see the world-famous historical landmarks such as the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower, and I appreciate the fact that I got the opportunity to see them in person, but I am also extremely grateful that we only had to spend two and a half days in Paris. Onward to Kraków!

The First Footprints

France was the second leg of our journey across Europe. Our first stop was the town of Bayeux, which was our longest stay in a single place. A small quintessential French town, this community was liberated about five days after the Allies moved off the beaches at Normandy. We spent our time exploring the narrow, winding streets to discover both the food and the history that the town has to offer. There are monuments and plaques everywhere commemorating the rich history including that of the cathedral, the Roman wall, and the occupation throughout the war. The pace is sleepy and quiet like that of my own hometown, and yet it feels as though the buildings go on forever like that of a city.

The focus of our time in France was largely the D-Day landings on the coast of Normandy, which resulted in the liberation of France from Nazi occupation. The first beach we visited was Utah, which seems to have been relatively preserved over time. Omaha, however, now bears an abstract monument on the sands and vacation homes and souvenir shops on the shores. I felt an unexpected pang of irritation, as though it was a disrespect to what happened there. After thinking about this for almost a week now, I remind myself that the war has ended and life has gone on. People resettled and created a new, post-war normal that involves vacationing on what are clearly some beautiful shores. Pointe Du Hoc is a cliff overlooking the English Channel and is the highest point between the beaches of Utah and Omaha. The U.S. Army Ranger Assault group scaled the steep cliffs here and destroyed an area fortified by the German army with gun pits. The site stood out to me because it not only pays respect to the events it has seen, but it allows visitors to explore the bunkers the American GIs faced. You could still see the charred ceilings, and I distinctly remember a women quietly speaking to her husband about how the Nazi soldiers surely would have suffocated in these sealed rooms. It adds a very human aspect to all of the soldiers who were sent here, including those who were technically on the ”wrong side of the war.”

France still struggles with its identity as an occupied country during the war. Pointe Du HocIts people have been left to contend with not only those now recognized as the heroes of the Resistance, but collaborationists as well. Each museum we visited had its own take on how the collective memory of the occupation. At the Caen museum, efforts were made to highlight the resistance efforts while mitigating the role of the collaborators. I’ve found it is important to recognize that there were those who actively participated on either side, such as the Vichy government or the SOE, but there are those who were passive in their actions. By choosing not to act in certain situations, whether it be not denouncing a neighbor to the government or standing by as someone is wrongly accused, civilians all played a role.

The German cemetery as well as many of the French museums focus on peace. For Germany, it appears the intention is to both recognize the horrific tragedy the Nazi party inflicted upon Europe, as well as making sure it does not happen again. The display in the information center shares stories of the individual pain and suffering of those affected as soldiers as citizens of all creeds, as well as a demonstration of national programming that allows young men and women to ground their understanding of history in the place where it happened. French museums also bear a pro-peace sentiment through their imagery of the suffering born out of the occupation. There will always be a fear associated with another war, another fight on the homeland, another occupation.

The American cemetery sprawls as well, with thousands of white crosses interspersed with Stars of David. Families chose to allow their sons and daughters be buried here. The stones bear the name and rank, date of birth and death, and state of enlistment. There is little individuality—the cemetery is a monument to unity and sacrifice for country. The focus is on a whole image, not any particular individual. It is less a place of mourning for families and more about a monument to the American sacrifice to liberate France. When walking up, I was struck by the powerful message of the headstones. Each of those men and women gave their lives for their country, willingly or unintentionally. Together, they rest as a monument to the bravery of the United States.

The British cemetery felt smaller than the others despite an equal amount of sacrifice in the war. Headstones bear name, rank, messages from families, markers of their service, and more. It is yet another testament to the idea of the People’s War, with each headstone personalized to the man who gave his life for Queen and country. The cemetery itself is absolutely meant for the family to mourn the loss, with stones still surrounded by flowers and mementos. It is worth noting that there are many other stones here, including German, Polish forces, Czech, Italian, Egyptian, and more. Some men are buried together; often flight crews who could not be separated in the wreckage or possibly upon family requests.

The German cemetery sprawled across a field overlooking the ocean. The stones were simple and uniform, bearing name, date of birth, and date of death. Many stones lacked this vital information, possibly a sign of the haste with which the bodies were being collected or the length of their stay before being collected. The place seems to be a penance, an offering representing apology for acting as the “evil,” despite many of these men not intentionally fighting for the Final Solution but a Greater Germany.

Krakow

Out of all four countries on the trip, I definitely knew the least about Poland; I knew the nation was famous for its pierogis, but was a bit unsure of how they contributed to the war effort. Because Poland was not a major power during the war, rather a place of occupation, I did not know exactly what “box” Poland fit best into in my mind because it was neither an Axis or Allied Power. Our visit to Schindler’s Factory was very eye-opening to me because it forced the me to embark on the same journey as a typical Polish citizen during World War II and the postwar era. The museum was very well done in the sense that each room completely transported the visitor to a different war scene- even the ceilings were different in every room to fully complete each landscape- and no detail was left out. The number of displaced and enslaved Poles was staggering, and even though we discussed this in class, it took me being in the museum to fully grasp the gravity of the situation. I was also blissfully naïve to the fact that the Poles continued to suffer even after the war was over. I know that they did not technically “win” because they were not a part of the Allied powers, but considered the end of Nazi occupation to be a nice consolation prize. However, Soviet occupation, as shown in the museum, was hardly much better, so clearly the war did not end in 1945 for the Poles like it did for the United States.

 

       

 

The rest of Poland was actually very scenic and pretty. The square in the middle of Krakow was very picturesque with its old, beautiful buildings and numerous horse-drawn carriages. The atmosphere was bustling and lively as tourists and locals zigzagged from stand to stand in the markets. I also really enjoyed the Jewish sector of the city, a community that seemed to be very close and proud of their regrowth since the end of World War II. Finally, walking through the park was gorgeous, as there was lush greenery surrounding the pathway as far as our eyes could see and hip eateries and restaurants tucked just off the beaten path. The Poland I saw offered a sharp juxtaposition to the Poland that was occupied during World War II. The people were very friendly to us the entire time we were there, and were very happy to point us in the direction of good food and cheap drinks. Although the Poles were targeted and marginalized during World War II and the Cold War afterwards, it was nice to see that the nation was building itself back up and that old wounds seemed to be healing.

 

     

A tranformative experience

I am currently sitting in my hotel room, staring at the neon signs for American restaurants and shops. May I remind you, we are now in Poland. I have seen more KFCs and McDonalds within walking distance here than down High Street next to campus. I cannot name the closest KFC to my house. It is remarkable how universal the American culture is around the globe.

My beautiful attempt to capture “Americanized Krakow.”

Yet, Poland has really been a culture shock for me. Not in the usual sense of language and cultural norms, but in an historical perspective. We are now in the Eastern Front of the war. Particularly, we are in the bloodlands. The war washed over this area three times: the Nazi-Soviet joint invasion of Poland, then the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, and finally the Soviet offensive toward Berlin. These factors created a different narrative than we are used to. We are used to the story of liberation and joy, or stories of independence and perseverance. While these stories are available in Poland, they are not the collective narrative of World War II.

This became visible in the Schindler museum. Upon entrance, you are introduced to pre-WWII Krakow. When Nazi-Soviet forces invaded in 1939, Poland had existed as an independent state for only 20 years. Yet they had a distinct culture and identity. There was an entire room dedicated to Krakow’s personality before the war. A carousel-like exhibition introduces you to snapshots of Krakow’s festivals, churches, and markets. I could have spent hours learning about Krakow’s unique culture, but there is only so much time. You then transition into a section dedicated to anti-Polish sentiment.

Not everyone believed the Poles were worthy of independence. Particularly, Adolf Hitler called the Poles sub-human and unfit for self-governing. Prior to the treaty of Versailles, Germany ruled over around half of Poland. To Hitler, the Poles remained second-class subjects of Deutschland. Poland belonged to Germans, and the Slavs needed to be relocated. This sentiment justified Hitler’s division and conquest of Poland.

Hitler’s view of Poles as sub-humans helped us transition into Wednesday, where we visited Auschwitz. Auschwitz is about an hour and a half outside of Krakow in southwest Poland. SS leader Heinrich Himmler was in charge of placing and running the concentration camps. Himmler chose Poland as the main hub of camps because of its central location and its high concentration of Jews. Before WWII, 3.5 million Jews lived in Poland. By 1945, 90% had been killed.

I am currently at a loss of words. I have so many emotions over our visit to Auschwitz, yet none give the visit justice. None explain the atrocities persecuted there 75 years ago. As we walked along, a coldfront moved in, bringing a huge raincloud toward Auschwitz-Birkenau, the killing center of the camp. As we approached, half of the sun remained visible, creating an eerie feeling around the installation. I created distance between myself and everyone else so I could begin to imagine Birkenau 85 years ago.

Auschwitz II-Birkenau (death camp) from the crows nest in the infamous death gates.

Pictures and books cannot describe the feeling of walking the grounds at Auschwitz. You get to view piles of shoes, pots, pans, and hair from the victims. You stand where prisoners, sometimes naked in sub-zero temperature, stood for several hours during roll call. You get to walk through the first crematorium and gas chamber at Auschwitz. You can imagine the Jews, Gypsies, Communists and other prisoners who were promised a shower after a long train ride piling into the chamber. After being stuffed into the chamber, the SS locked the room. Using special slots in the roof, SS men dropped Zyklon (Cyclone) B into the chamber. Zyklon B was hydrogen cyanide in gas form, and turned the Nazi terror machine into an industrial killer. Zyklon B was the Nazi’s fastest and most efficient killing technique. Some died immediately, while others choked to death. The last few died banging and clawing the walls. After 30 minutes, Sonderkommandos, or specially chosen prisoners, entered the room and piled up the bodies. Some of the larger crematoriums (2-5) had special elevators to carry the bodies to the furnaces. After collecting the bodies, the SK threw a few bodies into the furnace, which took around 30 minutes. The remaining ashes were used as fertilizer.

This experience was transforming. As Americans, we learn and read about the Holocaust, but most never interact with the tangible history. To us it is a written tragedy that occurred across an ocean. We swear to never forget, yet do not grasp the level and sadistic nature of the Holocaust. Seeing the locations of industrial sized genocide with the infamous “Arbeit Macht Frei” (work sets you free) gate expanded my understanding and perspective across borders, across fronts, and across languages.

View from the side of the barbed wire only a few lucky prisoners would ever get to see again.