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30/07/2010
Bialystock region, NE Poland and arriving in Lublin
Ahhh I forgot the joys of hostelling- those random early hour wake up calls from lights on and drunkards stumbling in- at least it was only twice. I am use, from my Tel Aviv experience, the party being outside, in the garden (I am under the impression this is how things are in my Krakow hostel)- here it was not and it was fairly scare of lone travellers, mainly college students and older couples so didn't really get chatting to anyone, but I was only in the vicinity for 12 hours and that included about 8 hours sleep!!
This morning I headed out to the North East of Poalnd, the Bialystock region. The hostel breakfast of bread sufficed, but I couldn't find a cup to have tea so subsequently fell asleep in the car. First stop was the memorial site at Treblinka. This was very moving- Anna; my guide was very thorough, Artaud the trainee guard was full of questions.
The original holdings were destroyed at the Treblinka site as the last part of Aktion Reinhard in 1944. The death camp operated for 13 months and deaths at Treblinka are estimated from 80,000 to 1.5 million, considering the first transport just from the Warsaw Ghetto was 7,000 the former number seems a gross under-estimate. There were never more than 800 inmates at the camp (this was not the purpose) -their job was to complete all the day-to-day tasks at the camp, seen as too traumatic for German soldiers. Anna tells me, that like Sobibor (their histories are very similar) there was an uprising here too, by 200 inmates, 100 of which survived the war. This is very rare: quite unusual and exhibits great strength and determination particularly considering Treblinka's geographical position (it is 150m deep into a dense forest area. Whilst in the U.K we seem to focus more on victimhood and persecution- perhaps encouraging people to question the actions of victims and potentially reinforcing Bettleheim's "lambs to the slaughter" remark- in Poland the focus is on solidarity, fighting and matyrdom. The ticket explains how this theme is repeated throughout,the name of the museum is "Museum of Fighting and maytrdom".
Treblinka I however (which we did not go to- another 1 hour drive and nothing remains but the gravel pit) was the penal labour camp, mainly used for Polish prisoners and the adjoined execution site. Here 200,000 Poles were slaughtered.
The main memorial at Treblinka I was constructed in 1995, I ask "why so long?" and Anna replies "this is good question, but there is no answer". It was designed by 3 artists who won the competition and starts with a jagged concrete gate and wooden, symbolic railroad tracks and the platform arc. Accompanying these- lining the border of the camp- are strong 3ft stones (A previous customer has told Anna that they remind her of guards) a metre apart. From the arc, stones (to replicate a Jewish cemetery) stand one for each country from which people were brought here. This was the "sorting area", to the right, the main site is divided into four: gas hut area (this did not have Zyklon B chambers like Auschwitz, but used exhaust fumes- a long and even more disturbing process), "hospital area"- where children and the elderly were taken to be shot to keep the process fast, then behind are the site where the early corpses were buried and the later grid area where bodies were burnt to destroy the evidence. The whole process from leaving the train at Treblinka to leaving the gas chamber would take 2-3 hours maximum and each cargo had around 6,000-7,000 people.
The memorial is a high stone chimney with a crack down the middle- surrounded by stones, some with the names of regions or towns, only 1 with an individual's name "Korczak"- a man who dedicated his life to helping children and who, whilst offered a chance the escape Treblinka, stayed with the children till the very end. Anna tells me that the memorial is now embedded in concrete because when it was first built into the grass, some people would come here and dig up the memorial area looking for Jewish gold. Even after 1995- this is awful!
Like many of the memorials I have seen in the East this is very much a focus on commemorating and respecting rather than education, saying that the closed museum is being re-developed into a bigger site. On the way to Treblinka we follow 4 coaches, which go left towards the town Treblinka only to arrive moments later in the memorial car park. Anna explains how they are likely to be groups of Israeli teenagers. She explains how these groups usually make her feel uncomfortable, I am somewhat shocked and ask her why- she explains that they often come with their own armed guards as they think modern day Poland will not welcome them and that everyone here is anti-Semitic (to some extent you can understand this sense of caution, Polish is ethnically homogeneous today, but there are still some thriving, but small Jewish communities in the major cities who live peacefully) -But the site I see is disturbing- what look like 8 Mossad guards, scouting the perimeters, guns are not on display, but it is possible that they have them. I found this very disrespectful at a site which is to commemorate murders and to vy for tolerance amongst nations.
We leave Treblinka for the village of Tykocin, another 100km North-West. This was once an old shetl village- a mixture of Jews and Christians- a large ornate church and a wonderful synagogue stand in each square. There are no more Jewish people living here, but the synagogue (which survived the war as it was used as a store house, but caught fire in the 1950s) has been restored to its former beauty and is now a museum of Jewish culture- some religious artefacts and paintings of life in Tykocin occupy the space.
We have coffee and Szarlotka by the River bug then Anna shows me the site of the old Jewish cemetery- graves destroyed and overgrown- it is awful to see. To end the trip, on a lighter note Anna and Artaud take me to the Stork village and we go to the look out tower and "Stock watch", there are also lovely giant green dragonflies around- they are as long as my hand and have a wing span to match.
Artaud drives back to Warsaw, the Polish way (as explained to be my Anna) is to ignore signs. Over-taking on high speed, single lane roads is compulsory at regular intervals but only at speeds between 160-180km per hour. We get to Warszawa (over 200km away!) in 2 hours despite heavy traffic in the Praga district (Where The Pianist was shot).
Anna tries to help me organise a seat reservation, but it is not possible on the TLK to Lublin- which is a shame because standing up or 2.5 hours isn't fantastic. An old Polish gentleman offers his seat to me, but my pile of bags has become my writing table so I decline.
Apparently Warsaw was voted ugliest EU city in 2007- I think this is harsh- it is prettier than London! Little (almost nothing) survived the war and yet has been replaced mostly in the original Baroque / Gothic style. The city clearly consists of 4 styles of architecture:
-The rare pre-war red brick apartment blocks
-The Soviet 3-5 storey concrete blocks
-The replica Baroque/ Gothic of the romantic Old Town and religious buildings
-The post-communist skyscrapers of glass and metal housing the commercial hubs of New Warsaw
I arrive in Lublin not long after 21:00. The Old Town is beautiful (the first time I am actually staying inside the boundaries of one of the old towns). There seems to be less international tourists here than in the capital. I came via the turrets of the old town fortress, as night is beginning to fall, and with a live concert playing in the square. My hotel is so wonderful, yet very cheap, £41.70 per night. It is decorated like a 5* Ritz. In the square having a Greka Salate as a late dinner a young Polish boy is doing excellent tricks with fire- I think I have fallen in love with the city already!! It is completely worth standing up on the train for so long through the thunder storms for!
Eastern Europe is unbelievably romantic- I hope it never loses this magic!
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