Aviv Poland Journey: Day 5 (Auschwitz + Birkenau)

The Auschwitz complex is an embodiment of the horrific crimes committed by the Nazis against the Jews of Europe, it was the site of the extermination of roughly 1.1 million Jews. Visiting Auschwitz today was one of the most confronting experiences of my life to date; everywhere I looked I was surrounded by hauntingly iconic images of where the forefathers of the Jewish people, my people, were subjected to treatment that is not fit for cockroaches let alone human beings. The first stop of our tour was the unbelievably well-known gate to Auschwitz one reading ‘Arbeit macht Frei’ or in English ‘Work makes you free.’ Everywhere you look there is more cause to feel uncomfortable, whether it is the lines of barbed wire or the barracks which once held thousands of prisoners who were arbitrarily murdered by a regime whose disregard for humanity is simply incomprehensible.

We entered block after block, each housing a museum dedicated to an element of the Nazis treatment and disposal of prisoners once housed in the rooms which we walked. One was labelled ‘extermination technique’ and another ‘death block’ to name but a few. Each was more challenging than the one which preceded it; there was a room filled with hair, another with shoes, another with suitcases and another with shoe polish each which immediately shocked onlookers due to the reality which it instilled upon events which seem impossible from statistics. I could not do anything other than look on in disbelief and attempt to reconcile the deep feelings of pain and anger which took over my body as I pondered the reason why these people and/or their families did not live on today. The fact is, that if these people were not born Jewish they would not have suffered the same fate. Despite my disbelief and utterly immeasurable sadness towards what I was witnessing, I simply could not cry. I couldn’t let my feelings out, something which really bothered me as I wandered halls which were not too long ago the living space of thousands of indiviudals who perished at the hands of the Nazis. We continued on in the camp, observing the site of the first mass murder by gas in human history as well as the harrowing ‘death wall’ were prisoners were shot, and then finally the gas chambers and crematorium where enormous numbers of murders were carried out by the SS and still I was unable to let my pent up sadness out, my tear ducts refused to co-operate with what I was feeling. A feeling of guilt came over me which I couldn’t understand nor reconcile, something I had never felt before and never wanted to feel again. We finished our tour with the new Jewish museum there, featuring a room encompassing names. I have a surname which is ridiculously obscure and not shared by many others I have ever come across, and so it was shockingly difficult for me to see an entire page of Rosengarten’s in the death lists at Auschwitz, needless to say it hit far too close to home especially when I saw a name identical to that of my brother Daniel.

Auschwitz 1 was emotionally draining and unbelievably difficult to handle for all of us but it was a completely different feeling when we arrived at Auschwitz 2: Birkenau. As we walked up to its symbolic gates we knew we were in a place of terrible suffering and we immediately felt a heavy atmosphere of sadness and depravity, you could almost feel what happened there. “All train tracks lead to Auschwitz” so the saying goes, as we walked along the tracks which run all through the middle of the death camp, all I could think about was the people who entered here and never left. People whose entire worlds and families were destroyed by the acts of other human beings. We entered barracks and heard of tales from inside the camps which brought to life the goings on of a place which housed such unthinkable evils in the past. Birkenau was not as emotionally difficult as Auschwitz but it brought different challenges. It was comprehending the reality that such a place existed and terrible things occurred on the very ground we were standing rather than the reality of the events themselves. We visited the former sites of the gas chambers and crematoriums of Birkenau which were destroyed by the Nazis, hearing all along the way of stories which were set on the ground on which we were standing. Harrowing stuff. Things of such evil and inhumanity that one cannot even imagine them taking place.

A few concepts bounced around in my head as we visited the most damaging and destructive site of all time 

for world Jewry. Firstly, how can these such a place have existed? Someone had to design and conceptualise a place where innocent people were exterminated group by group efficiently with malice a forethought, who, how and why? Do people nowadays still have the potential for such horrific acts? Secondly, we enter Birkenau by choice and leave when we want, our ancestors weren’t so lucky. Finally, where would Judaism be if the holocaust had never taken place? The population would be significantly larger, our culture would be far greatly advanced and most importantly of all, millions of worlds and families would still be intact.

We rounded off our intense day with a Shabbat service at a synagogue in Krakow, we sung and prayed with the locals. It was an incredible experience, nicely contrasted with our views of the death and destruction of Poland’s Jews which we had witnessed at Auschwitz, we were able to see the fact that Krakow still maintains a vibrant Jewish community and that the Nazis did not win. Jews still live and pray in Europe, the religion is well and truly alive and I hope that this is always the case. I look forward to exploring more of Krakow tomorrow.

Jake

Aviv Poland Journey: Day 4 (Tereisinstadt)

It is only when one lays eyes upon a place where the Nazis engaged in the extermination of Jews can they truly comprehend the realness of the events that took place in Europe between 1939 and 1945. As we arrived at Tereisinstadt, a former ghetto/camp located in the north of the Czech Republic, we were greeted by an enormous cemetery overlooked by a huge magen david, forcing an immediate recognition of the atrocities committed to our people on the very ground on which we stood. A number of the graves were not even marked with names. We entered the ‘small fortress,’ a former Nazi control centre of the area where we watched a short propaganda film detailing life in the Tereisin ghetto as the Nazis wanted outsiders to view it. We explored further and were shown to barracks where prisoners of the Gestapo were held, not exclusively Jews, we entered rooms smaller than some of our individual bedrooms and were informed that these barracks were known to have held roughly 100 prisoners at any one time.

We made our way around the former ghetto, in which life bafflingly continues to go on as though nothing happened, stopping at various sites and museums with significance to the Jewish narrative of Tereisin which were scattered all through the current town. I simply could not comprehend how one can live on land knowing that such disgusting acts of inhumane indecency had taken place there. Visiting museums around Tereisin we gradually filled in knowledge about the history and fate of the Jews who had lived in this area, as well as their activities and lifestyle during the war years. It was very refreshing to see an emphasis placed on LIFE within the ghetto notably as cultural undertakings such as art, theatre, literature and music to name a few, rather than just a depressing focus upon the grim fate which most eventually received.

The living space of Jews during this time was simply deplorable, visiting a recreation of their conditions reinforced the harsh reality that Jews at this time were simply viewed as ‘untermenschen,’ to use the German, or ‘subhuman.’ Hundreds were packed into tiny rooms, you were lucky to have a bed as many resided on wooden floors in an area in which temperatures could be known to pass freezing; if someone died then it was your lucky day as you were in with a shot of securing a bed, this was the harsh reality. We continued touring around on foot until we reached the most harrowing site of all in the entire Tereisin area, the crematorium. Used by the Nazis to dispose of Jews who had perished in the ghetto, it was simply appalling to think that we were standing in a place where Nazis would inspect and cremate Jewish corpses and then shove them into small wooden boxes.

Outside the crematorium we conducted a ceremony of our own to honour the memory of those Jews who had spent time in Tereisinstadt. It features testimonies, poems, candle lighting as well as the recitation of the ode usually preserved for ANZAC Day. This inclusion ensured the consideration of nationality as well as religion when thinking of these historical events; as well as this, it got me thinking of the confusion that would have been caused for the assimilated Jews of the time some of whom who would perhaps have considered themselves primarily German or Polish or Czech or any other nationality rather than Jewish, as to why they were to be singled out for prosecution rather than any other citizen.

Following the ceremony we ate a packed kosher lunch and headed off to Krakow where we were to spend the night.

Something else really caught my attention today; throughout the day we passed various groups of other religions and nationalities, many of whom it seemed simply did not understand the gravity of where they were. Many walked past us, a group where many of the boys were wearing kippot, and continued as if nothing was different, chuckling and laughing to their friends. This peaked my interest, is this disconnection from the reality of the atrocities committed on the ground on which we stood due to a difference in culture? A lack of education? An immaturity? Or is it simply that we are sensitive to and connect largely to the events of the holocaust due to the fact that it directly effects our family heritage and lineage? This is a question which I could not answer, however I do depart with this final thought: in my opinion, there is no individual nor group in any society that cannot benefit from the lessons of the holocaust, it is only from seeing humans at their lowest point can one truly be thankful for the world in which we live today and not squander the freedoms which we possess.

Jake

Aviv Poland Journey: Days 3 + 4 (Flight + Prague)

Leaving Israel, a country that represents hope and freedom for Jews everywhere, for Prague and Poland, a region of the world which has seen numerous atrocities committed upon the Jews, was somewhat of a bittersweet feeling. We arrived in the Czech Republic’s capital quite late, consumed some rather sub-par kosher dinner and headed off to our accommodation, the 4 star Duo Hotel; most were lucky to record 6 hours sleep for the night. All awoke bright and early the following morn, ready to take in the famous landmarks which Prague had to offer. Our first stop of the day was the Prague’s Jewish Quarter, which used to be the home of tens of thousands of Jews prior to the holocaust but today houses a community of just 1200. We visited the old-new synagogue of Prague which is famous for being the supposed birthplace and home of the mythical Golem, a legend which Jared and Toby informed us of at the site. Next up was the adjacent cemetery which was eerily reminiscent of graveyards featured in cinema thanks to the close proximity of it gravestones. We were reliably informed by our permanent guide Mark and Czech specialist guide Tom that the cemetery actually features as many as 12 layers of graves in some places… only adding to the uncomfortable occult vibe being felt by much of the group. It was an amazing site, certainly something you don’t see just anywhere in the world and for me a symbol of the deep roots of Jewish culture in Europe which go back thousands of years.

We were just getting started, we next headed to a synagogue which had been converted into a museum showcasing Jewish ritual and culture in a simplistic fashion; this was planned by Hitler and the Nazis to be a museum of the extinct race, showing how the Jews lived once they were wiped out. Whilst being a chilling reminder of Hitler’s plans to eliminate our entire race, it was somewhat of an odd museum for most, considering it featured items which we would just find in our own homes and which represent the majority of our Jewish identity. Following this we visited a synagogue which had been turned into a memorial featuring 80,000 names of those who perished in the holocaust. This place shook me more than any other we saw on this day; the names just didn’t stop, they filled every wall of the entire synagogue. And what’s more, as I examined the surnames on the wall I found one which stood out to me particularly, my own. This shook me greatly, I stared at the ‘Rosengarten’ for a number of minutes and the gravity of where I was and the journey I was undertaking began to set in. There were just too many names on these walls, however each was an individual, with a story, something which can too easily be overlooked when statistics inform memory.

The Spanish synagogue, built to house Prague’s growing reform community in the 19^th century, was our next stop, and it’s exquisite architecture and artefacts suitably impressed all. It featured a museum about the history of the Jews of the Czech Republic, detailing their grapples with anti-Semitism, experiences during the holocaust, as well as their struggles with assimilation. The history of this place grabbed me, whilst I believed I already had a fairly ample knowledge of both Jewish and holocaust history, it showed me that there is always another perspective, always more to know. We did not stay for long as our busy schedule dictated we keep on the move in order to see the entirety of the cultural and historical riches offered by the amazing city of Prague.

This was the extent of our Jewish landmarks for the day, next we headed up to the castle compound which featured a residence of the Czech president as well as the most unbelievably aesthetically pleasing church I have ever laid eyes on. St Vitus Cathedral was simply jaw dropping, the beautiful stain glassed windows coupled with the hand sculpted gargoyles and ridiculously high ceilings made the photographers of the group thank their lucky stars… of course this was the day I forgot my camera at the hotel. Our next stop was Prague’s love lock bridge, a symbol of love throughout Europe, and just up the road from it we visited the John Lennon Wall where people graffiti various messages of freedom. We also engaged in a song or two with a man who busks there almost every day of the year, it was a beautiful sight to watch the entirety of Aviv croon along to Wonderwall with the busker.  We soon crossed the famous St Charles Bridge, where we witnessed Klezmer music, various street vendors as well as amazing monuments dedicated to Jesus and other religious symbols. Quickly arriving at the town centre in which we were afforded an hour’s free time to do what we wished.

Following this hour we reconvened and headed to the Jewish Community Centre at which we engaged in a delicious kosher meal before retiring back to our hotel for the night. Tomorrow sees the really emotional and difficult sights begin to appear on our itinerary, we visit Terezin, a holocaust ghetto and camp, as well as making our way to Krakow where we will spend the next few nights. Only time will tell how we all respond to such heavy topics.

Jake

Aviv Poland Journey: Day 2 (Yad Vashem Cont.)

Day 2 at Yad Vashem began with an experience which we were truly privileged to enjoy; listening first hand to the story of Chana Pick, a survivor of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and a childhood friend of Anne Frank. Her story was unbelievable, we heard of her luck to remain in her family home for numerous years of the war thanks to various coincidences as well as strokes of luck which saw her and her sister both survive the war in extremely unlikely circumstances. We hung on her every word, recognising how lucky we were to be hearing the account of someone who endured the horrifying events which many consider today a faded nightmare. For me, it brought home just how lucky I am to be undertaking is journey, as well as the recognition that we are the last generation lucky enough to be hearing from survivors themselves and as such it is our responsibility to pass on the stories we accrue on our journey.

Our next session was a workshop with our tour guide Jonathan in which we took a closer look at the ghettos of Eastern Europe, namely Lodz and Warsaw, and the lives of those who lived there. We heard of the inversion of traditional bread-winning hierarchy in Warsaw as children were forced to scavenge and smuggle food in order to feed their starving families. We watched and heard testimonies of those who had spent time in these shocking places, one testimony particularly resonated with me personally. One woman stated that she had gone on dates in which she had passed rotting corpses in the streets and simply ignored them, for me this represented the an alternate and shocking normality created in the ghettos and eventually the camps, wherein death and destruction were simply the norm and people strived to live as normal lives as they could to little avail. We compared the actions of the leaders of these ghettos, one of whom committed suicide when the Nazis came for their ghettos citizens and the other who sacrificed the children in order to save the adults, eventually saving 8,000 lives. A debate arose as to who had made the correct decision, an answer which simply cannot be answered as to our inability in 2014 to know the entire background of the decision as well as our incapacity to avoid the use of hindsight to make an objective deliberation.

Our next workshop delved into the end of the war, the establishment of displaced persons camps as well as life after the holocaust. We learnt of ridiculously snap decisions for marriage due to an unwillingness to be alone following the deaths of entire families. What struck me about this was that our ‘first world problems’ and thoughts of loneliness are simply insignificant and irrational compared to the situations which these people found themselves, a lesson which I believe my generation in particular must learn. Next up was a visit to Yad Vashem’s resource centre where we worked on ceremonies and presentations which we would present sometime over the next week, much research was undertaken. Finally, we spent roughly an hour in the visual centre, afforded some individual time with the enormous video database of testimonials, films and Nazi propaganda amongst other things, which is only available at Yad Vashem itself. We were informed that the video library contains over 60,000 individual testimonials, despite being worked on since 1995, which allowed me to reflect on the unbelievable amount of individuals whose lives were affected by this traumatic episode of human history which I hope shall never be repeated.

Jake

Aviv Poland Journey: Day 1 (Yad Vashem)

The holocaust is a time in human history which simultaneously repulses and intrigues people from all walks of life, especially young Jews due to its intrinsic role in the formation of their personal and family heritage and history. I feel as though in some way my Jewish education, both formal and informal, has led up to the next week or so in which I will visit the sites of some of the worst atrocities ever committed and consolidated hours and hours of learning about the Second World War and the genocide which it encompasses. Due to its importance on an emotional level to both myself and the entire group, I have decided to make a concerted effort to blog my thoughts and feelings each and every day of this journey through Prague and Poland.

Today was the first day of the journey as we departed Kibbutz Galon and arrived at Jerusalem’s holocaust museum, Yad Vashem. This was my first visit to the massive compound, which we were informed stretches over 2 square miles,  which placed me in the minority with many other Aviv participants having visited this incredible museum previously. A few things struck me about this place which I had already heard so much about; firstly, the sheer size of the complex which I personally felt was a symbol for the humongous importance of the remembrance of these events to both the Jewish population as well as all of mankind.

We were introduced to our Scottish/Welsh tour guide Jonathan who acted as our walking holocaust encyclopaedia, possessing a hugely impressive memory which allowed him to simply recite huge chunks of German writing on command. Jonathan, who had already been a tour guide at yad vashem for 6 years, guided us through the valley of the communities which included the name of each and every European community which was destroyed during the Second World War, the number of names was astounding. We were given the opportunity to find the name of a community which held special importance to ourselves or our families.

Next we headed to the hall of questions in which we were given the opportunity to examine some of the deep questions surrounding the actions of the Nazis, such as “where was god during the holocaust?” and “how did people become mass-murderers” accompanied by expert or controversial opinions on the subject. This bred great discussion and led to deeper thought.

Our next major stop was the new Yad Vashem museum which chronicled holocaust history between 1939 and 1945 and allowed us to learn the history behind the events accompanied by testimonies, letters and other important artefacts. Jonathan manoeuvred and guided us through the museum until we reached the final room, which contained the names of roughly 4.5 million Jews who perished in the holocaust accompanied by the pictures of many. It was simply harrowing to see the unbelievable amount of people who lost their lives depicted in such an understandably large quantity. We were briefed about the following week and then headed to our accommodation at Bayit Vagan opposite Yad Vashem, we are to return to the museum in the morning.

Today posed several questions to myself, from both historical and emotional perspectives. Firstly, where does religion fit into our commemoration of such important historical events? Can we really include g-d in any discussions surrounding the cause and transpiration of the holocaust? Surely, there must be a separation between religion and academics but at the same time, a rabbi said something in one of the exhibits which really got to me; how come we take the good and don’t say therefore g-d exists? But rather, we see the bad in the world and take it as evidence that g-d does not exist? Food for thought.

Jake

Aviv: Yoms Hazikaron and Ha'atzmaut + replacement for Desert Experience

Only in Israel can the happiest and saddest days of the year be 60 seconds apart. I am of course speaking of Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut which were commemorated and celebrated on Sunday and Monday respectively, and are a crazily accurate depiction of the constantly dynamic and sometimes topsy-turvy lives lived by Israelis; often times, happiness and sadness follow each other far too closely. Our marking of Yom Hazikaron featured a moving ceremony held by MASA for every one of their roughly 10,000 program participants at Latrun including beautiful renditions of various songs as well as the paying of respect to many of Israel’s casualties of war and terror with special mentions to outstanding individuals who had fallen serving their country. Sunday also saw us arrive at Kiryat Moria, our accommodation for the next few days, and settle back into Jerusalem.

A majorly popular Yom Hazikaron commemoration for Israelis is Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl, we joined thousands of other Israelis there and paid our respects at the official service as well as with our own service and the laying of flowers on a grave of our choice. Following this we were let loose in Jerusalem for the next day and a half to celebrate Israel’s Independence Day in whatever way we chose; a huge night followed and fun was had by all! Tuesday night saw a bombshell dropped as bad weather prevented our desert experience from going ahead and our schedule for the next few days completely changed. The next morning we awoke and left Kiryat to the south of Jerusalem, our first stop was a short hike known as Sataf followed by a delicious lunch of schnitzel sandwiches which were delivered directly to us.

Next up we headed to a system of underground caves which were previously used as escape tunnels but now allow members of the public to crawl through the system. It was certainly not for the fainthearted or claustrophobic as the bravest of us headed in and some for a second time. Our final stop of the day before arriving at Kibbutz Galon, our accommodation for the next few days, was the biblical Valley of Ella where, it is told, that David famously bested the behemoth known as Goliath prior to achieving the kingship of Israel. After a short discussion as to the reliability and truthfulness of the torah and other religious texts we headed off to our accommodation. We were shocked to see a kibbutz far nicer and better equipped than those which we had stayed in earlier in the program.

Thursday featured a viewing of ‘The Wave,’ a film which features the dangers of blind faith from a holocaust perspective, followed by discussions surrounding our expectations and inhibitions for our upcoming trip to Prague and Poland. The day was rounded out by some fun games before bedtime and our release for yet 

another free weekend.

Another awesome week down, 50 days to look forward to!

Jake

Aviv Community Program: Last Week in Ra'anana

The final week of community program could not have gone quick enough for some as the most frequently used terms in the Ra’anana camp somehow managed to be “anxiety” and “I’m done” by a long haul thanks exclusively to the females residing there. As the countdown to our final volunteering session at Leket pushed into overdrive the excitement to move on to an exciting new chapter of the program peaked, for some, Ra’anana had transformed from the world’ greatest location into a never-ending hellhole. Sunday was Yom Hashoah, the day in which Israel nationally recognises and mourns the 6 million Jews who perished in the holocaust, Ra’anana’s commemoration was nothing short of remarkable as almost the entire population turned out in Yad Levanim, the town centre, for a moving service. Despite it being conducted entirely in Hebrew it was still unbelievably relatable and emotional.

Monday Tuesday and Wednesday all began in the same way, featuring volunteering at Leket dividing various fruits into their places and divvying up orders, following this we headed back to the Mircaz Klita (absorption centre). Monday night saw our first peula in the lead-up to our impending trip to Poland in which we addressed some harrowing statistics about the holocaust and discussed our thoughts and feelings about Poland and the holocaust itself. We were also assigned the biography of a real person whom we could relate to throughout our emotional journey. Tuesday was a special day in which the madrichim treated us to a lavish lunch at Bleecker Bakery at the Raanana Mall, food which plainly and simply made the food which we had been making ourselves seem like complete and utter tasteless filth; later that night we were further treated to a movie. Wednesday night, our last in Ra’anana featured a peula run by Amir about the Israel’s history focusing mainly on its many wars and their effects on Israeli society.

When Thursday finally arrived the girls could hardly contain their excitement, our final session of Leket was over before we knew it and the excruciating task of packing up our apartments came and went; until finally we were allowed our final leave of absence. Some headed to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem whilst others dispersed to various other destinations across the country, as the curtain closed on a great month in Ra’anana on community program.

I don’t usually share the nuisances of my own personal free weekend however I have chosen to make an exception this weekend due to the unbelievably amazing surroundings which I found myself in. Myself and three school friends (Sam, Eli and Haim) from Sydney managed to find accommodation smack bang in the centre of the old city of Jerusalem, a 5 minute walk to the Kotel, which I found myself attending at each and every opportunity including in the middle of the night. Friday night was particularly special as we found ourselves joining in dancing and singing with soldiers at the Kotel before participating in a kabbalat Shabbat service with many other Australian gap-yearers, Shnat people, IBC and many others; as we looked around at where we were I was absolutely struck by the amazingness of my surroundings, the kotel, a place of ground-breaking spiritual gravity. We had arranged to be sent to a Shabbat meal at a family following our visit to the kotel, and soon found ourselves at a dinner in the middle of Mea Shearim (Jerusalem’s most religious neighbourhood) alongside a rabbi, his family and roughly 20 yeshiva students. At first, I was quite uncomfortable in such a foreign environment but quickly enough we got into the conversation and soon found out these were just people like anyone else. It was an amazing experience and an awesome weekend, one which I simply felt I had to put into writing and share.

Another awesome week down, 56 days to look forward to!

Thanks for reading!

Jake