Reflecting on Eastern Europe

We didn't visit this museum in Prague

I had been to Prague once, prior to our recent road trip. January 2003 on a study trip through Europe. We were there all of three hours. Most of which were spent in a nice and warm coffee house. In my recollection at least. I knew it was a beautiful city from what I did see and had wanted to go back ever since for a proper look. So, when this holiday came up and my sister said: "I would like to go on a road trip and I would like to head East..." Prague was a place that was going to be visited, without a doubt.

Synagogue in Prague.
Jews are an integral part of the history of most Eastern countries

The uneasiness started almost right away. We were going to be traveling to the former Eastern Block, That part of Europe that sends millions of people to the Western part to work. The part that seemingly seems to have quite a high crime rate. Steal cars, rob tourists. And of course it is a backward place. How could it not be: it was hidden behind this Iron Curtain for so long. 

King Charles IV of Bohemia.
The Charles Bridge in Prague is named after him

Well, my prejudices were exactly that: prejudices, because once we entered the Eastern Block, the roads did not change from nice tarmac to rubble. The signs were still the same. The houses were well-cared for. There were new businesses in shiny new buildings. It certainly wasn't grey and drab as I had feared. 

A little doggy on the pulpit in a church in Kraków

Our hotels were all shiny and reasonably new. The only place where we couldn't drink the water was Kraków, but since we only saw that after two days in the place... The food was good and there was plenty of it. The only thing that was really different was the fact that I didn't understand a word. Which makes for a more tense frightening uncomfortable time. I speak five languages, but none of the Slavic ones (like Czech, Polish or Slovakian) or Uralic ones (like Hungarian). 

Even through wars and communism, Poland remains Roman Catholic to this day.
Pope John Paul II 

In the end, the only sign we ever saw that any of the countries were still not completely out of the 'behind the Iron Curtain position' was in Slovakia and a little bit in Hungary and then only when in the small villages that no tourist ever sees. A bit more grey, a bit more drab, but still people owned cars and satellite dishes and probably all other mod cons. 

Inside the Cloth Hall in Kraków. Built as a  trading center, it has been used for that for centuries
The inner city of Kraków was on the very first Unesco World Heritage List!

Nobody stole our car (well our parents' car), nobody tried to rob us (or if they did, Brom must have scared them off) and the language barrier wasn't that big either. Most people we had dealings with spoke English or in some cases German. And in Budapest, there was one person who answered us in Dutch!

Beautifully renovated homes/farms in Northern Slovakia.
In the South, they had the same shape, they were just shabbier and a bit more drab

People went about their daily lives as they do everywhere else. The Iron Curtain had been gone for over 25 years and the young people had taken full advantage of that, dragging most of the country with them into the new age of freedom and possibilities. The Polish and Bulgarian people I work with on a daily basis should have prepared me for this, but I think my mind was stuck in the 1980's. I am pleased to say though: it has been dragged into the 2010's without any problem!

Solar panel field in Southern Slovakia

Will I be going back? Well, probably not to Kraków, mainly because we have seen all of the main touristy things. But there is Wrocław and Katowice close to Kraków, there is Warsaw and Gdansk and there are plenty of more rural places I would love to visit. Of Slovakia we hardly saw anything. Mountainous in the North with the Tatra mountains (beautiful) and quite flat and farmland in the South. I would like to explore a bit more though. 

Part of the Citadel in Budapest. Damage from the shooting taking place in the latter stages of WWII is still visible.
The grey concrete left of the windows had to be put in due to a very large hole made by heavy fire.

We only saw a tiny bit of Hungary and most of that was spent in Budapest, where we spent most of our time in one street enjoying a local green street fair thingy. So, Budapest is definitely on the list to see again. Plus Lake Balaton and the more Eastern parts of the country. I don't think we saw that much of the Czech Republic either. Prague for two hot and tiring days and that is about it. And yes, I would like to visit again. 

Anybody making cotton candy is civilised in my book
Here in Budapest, Hungary

Reflecting on Anne

Each red block represents one person.
A total of more than 100,000 red blocks stand in Westerbork

When my sister and I first started thinking about our road trip, there were a few places we really wanted to visit. Like Vienna and Prague. And when we looked at a map, we realised there were a few other places that we wouldn't mind having a look at. Like Kraków in Poland.

Teddies were taken, along with everything else

Once we had the basic outline of where, we needed to find the things to see. I didn't want to spend three weeks looking at churches only, so other sights were wanted. And near Kraków, there was concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz. 

Arbeit Macht Frei
The entrance to Auschwitz I

Neither of us had ever been there and we both felt it was something we needed to do. Then I realised that Anne Frank had been there for a short time and from that thought it was a hop and a skip to follow her road, through the first Dutch transit camp to Auschwitz and then on to the concentration camp in Bergen-Belsen, where I had been before.

Part of the possessions taken from the victims
Here pots and cups and such

Concentration camps are tricky beasts. They all served the main basic goal: get rid of the unwanted, but the way in which it happened was different. Westerbork wasn't really a concentration camp as such, it was mainly a transit camp: send people on to get rid of them. And they did: over 100,000 people were sent on to other camps and only a fraction of those survived.

The women's part of Auschwitz II (Birkenau)

Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II (Birkenau) were completely different. Here, the main aim was either work them to death or gas them to death, with a few other methods thrown in for 'good' measure. As long as they got rid of the Jews it was okay in the minds of the Nazis.

Part of the men's part of Auswitz II (Birkenau)

Bergen-Belsen was yet another camp completely. As calculated as Auschwitz, but completely different in its approach. Work them to death was the main aim, although in the end it was starvation that worked equally well.

The post in which Brom says goodbye to Anne, originally had the word died in the part about who survived. But they didn't die, they were killed. Bullets, gas chambers, thrown under a train, starvation. All with one aim: get rid of the Jewish population. 

Bergen-Belsen with the memorial in the background

Me and my sister talked about it several times. I know I am quite strict and like to follow the rules. Would I have gone along with them? Or would I have gone against them anyway? Would I have been brave or would I have cowered away? I don't know and I will hopefully never have to find out either.

Anne Frank

I wish Anne's diary had never been published. Because she would have survived or even better, because she wrote a boring diary about her life, without war and without hiding. I would have loved to have heard from her in other ways though: as the famous actress she wanted to be for example.

Photos 1-6: Gera

Photos 7-8: Mara

Photo of Anne: Anne Frank Museum

Brom apologizes

Coocoo

Over the past two and a half weeks I have been on holiday with two quite dopey girls. Although I must admit, they did behave quite good this time and didn't do too many strange things. Even if some people think it strange that they take me on holiday and let me write about it! 

The door to the prison in the castle where we had dinner with Andreas.
Yes, we had dinner in a castle!!

There have been several things happening during our road trip that I haven't told you about. Like the case of the missing car key. Which happened on the same day as the hole in the tire. 

One exhausted doggie on top of the mountain

Mara and Gera both had their own car key on loan from Papa (Mara) and Mama (Gera). And when they left Vienna they used Gera's key. On arrival in Augsburg Mara wondered where her key was. She looked in her suitcase: no. In her handbag: no. In her souvenir bag: no. In the games bag: no. In her back pack: no. When she phoned the hotel in Vienna, they told her to ring back the next day! 

ET Gera phone home!

The next day she thought she would first look through her suitcase again. She unpacked the whole thing and right at the bottom... was the car key! I think that was quite dopey.

The Dancing House in Prague

During our day in the Alps we spent the day with Andreas, a very nice gentleman. And even though he didn't like to go up in the cable car (even less than Gera), he took us up that mountain anyway, so we could have that beautiful view. He said he would have preferred to walk up and down those 900 meters! 

That's Andreas, right at the top!

Now, that sounded very strange to us, but he had told us he was a runner. And not just any run either. A marathon was just for training fun. He ran mountain runs. He had done a 86 kilometer (which is over 50 miles) run in Switzerland, crossing six mountain tops. It took him 20 hours! He said he was the second to last to finish, but half of them didn't finish at all, so I thought he was a winner anyway!

Changing of the Guard at Prague Castle

On our way from Augsburg to our last hotel we had to cross some beautiful countryside. And all of a sudden we saw a sign for Wild Gera! And then not long after, we saw a sign for Tame Gera!! Of course we didn't have a camera at the ready and we didn't want to drive back, so we haven't got the proof. But we did look it up on Wikipedia and they said that the Wild Gera and Tame Gera are both contributary rivers to the River Gera. But that river has nothing to do with the town of Gera!

Dinner in Kraków

And then on Sunday night (after the Wild and Tame Gera) we arrived in a lovely hotel. Mara had been there many times before and she was recognised by the owner. Unfortunately Mara wasn't feeling very well and only had a tiny bit to eat. After that we went to our room so I could dictate what she should write about that day. Mara told me though: short and concise and if it can be even shorter, it would be even better!

Taking a selfie of the three o...

After she had written the very short version (in which I didn't even get to mention the name of the church: Vierzehnheiligen or Fourteen Holy Helpers Church in Bad Staffelstein), she put in some photos (a sheep with a bird instead of me!), closed the lap top and went to the bathroom to throw up! Fortunately she felt better after that.

Taking a selfie of the three of u...

When we had returned home, they wanted to open the front door, but both dopes had left the house keys in their suitcases! Gera was the first one to find it (Mara didn't even try) and then tried to open the door! Nope! Papa and Mama had CHANGED THE LOCK!!! 

Taking a selfie of the three of us in the German/Austrian Alps

Fortunately the garden door was okay, so once Mara got in, most of the luggage came in through the kitchen window (including me!) and then the big suitcases came in through the garden door. There was however a great yum waiting for me! So it wasn't all bad!

YUM!
Papa's home made apple pie.

Brom says goodbye to Anne

Coocoo

Today was our very last day of the road trip and we ended with a very serious visit. We started our road trip at Westerbork transit camp, where Anne Frank was sent after they had been discovered. Halfway through our trip we visited Auschwitz where Anne was sent after only a short while in Westerbork transit camp. And our very last visit was Bergen Belsen.

The little square in the top photo shows how much room each person got on the cattle car.
Enough room for a little orange teddy, but for 60-80 grown men and women it was not enough

As I told you Anne and her big sister Margot left Auschwitz by train probably in late October of 1944. After an unknown amount of time (likely about a week) they arrived at a small train platform on the 3rd of November. They were told to get out of the train and then forced to walk approximately 5 kilometers (three miles) to the camp. 

We are not seventy yet! (art by Zsuzsa Merényi, a Hungarian Jew who survived)

People were ill, underfed, cold, underdressed. They had to march, but basically could only drag themselves forward. It was a long slow procession to the camp. 

The camp was originally built to house the German workers who were building the military camp a short distance away. Once the war broke out, French and Belgian prisoners of war were sent there. Soon followed by Russian prisoners of war. The difference in treatment was terrible. The French and Belgians got food, a roof, medical care. There were only 600 of them. There were 21,000 Russians, surrounded by barbed wire and not much else. No shelter apart from the shelter they dug themselves, hardly any food, and no medical care.

Even though the camp is mostly known for the Jews who were killed,
they 'only' numbered a few thousand. Many more Russians (25,000), Poles (15,000),
resistance fighters and political opponents were killed here.

More people arrived: political opponents and resistance fighters. Thousands from all over the occupied territories were killed. Jews were there too: those who might get exchanged for imprisoned Germans in allied countries, those with 'foreign' passports or papers: Spanish, Portugese, (South) American and eventually those coming from other camps.

Anne wrote this while in hiding

As we know Anne had scurvy before leaving Auschwitz. Overcrowding, underfeeding, lack of medical care, bad sanitation and bad housing (like tents and bad baracks) wouldn't help her get better. And she didn't. In fact, she and her sister probably contracted typhus due to the lack of everything. 

NOT their grave, only a memorial stone
Their exact resting place is not known

I think the only thing that kept them going was being there together. In April 1945 the British arrived to horrifying scenes of dead and dying people. In fact, in the month after the liberation 13,000 people died, their only solace probably that they died as free people. Anne and Margot never saw the British soldiers or freedom. They were killed in February 1945, two months before liberation. Anne was 15, her sister Margot was 18 or 19. 

One of the 13 mass graves in Bergen Belsen
Only ten thousand or so names are known of all the victims.
Many more found their last resting place here.

Of the eight people hidden in the 'Achterhuis', only one survived, Anne's father Otto. Anne's mother was killed in Auschwitz in January 1945, her sister Margot in Bergen Belsen in February 1945. Hermann van Pels was killed in Auschwitz in October 1944, his wife Auguste was killed while on her way to Theresienstadt (Terezin) in April 1945, their son Peter was killed in Mauthausen in May 1945, only three days before liberation. Fritz Pfeffer was killed in Neuengamme in December 1944.

Brom goes to church

Coocoo

We are nearly home again, but today we had to drive a looooong way. All the way from the South of Germany to nearly the top! At least it felt like that.

But along the way we had a stop and visited a church. Mara had been there years ago and knew it was a pretty church, and bear, was she right!

The church was just sort of ordinary on the outside, but on the inside it was beautiful. A lot of paintings on the walls and ceilings, a lot of really pretty statues (apart from the saint without a head, I didn't like that one very much) and a lot of gold. 

The service had just ended when we got there, so we were able to get in and have a good look around. After about half an hour inside and then another three quarters of an hour outside, we continued on our way north.

Because it is a Sunday today, there were hardly any lorries on the road, which meant that the drive north was quite nice and easy and we arrived at our hotel in time for a nice dinner. 

Yum!

This will be our last night in a hotel and tomorrow we have one more thing to see before heading home.

Brom's Photo on Sunday 2016-35

Coocoo

When we went home after the concert in Vienna, Mara saw some shoes. I am not sure about them... I think it will be very hard to read the time when you're walking!

Brom goes upper

Coocoo

Today we had our very own driver. Gera's friend Andreas came to pick us up a little after nine o'clock. The original plan had been to visit Schloss Neuschwanstein, which is a castle and is beautiful. But the path we wanted to take up was closed because rocks could be falling. So, Andreas came up with a few other ideas.

View from the car

One of his ideas was to go through a very narrow canyon and that sounded okay to us. It only took us an hour and a half to get there, but the view was beautiful and we didn't mind one bit. The canyon was real good fun. It was narrow, there was water and there were fantastic views. 

Is it a ghost?
No, it's Gera in a little tunnel

It wasn't very long before we got to another part where we would have to pay and where it got steeper and less interesting, so instead we turned back, because Andreas had another great idea.

Getting a good view of the canyon

Close to the canyon there were several villages and in one of those villages there was a cable car up the mountain. Up and upper! And if we got on after two o'clock, we would get coffee and cake included!

Going up

Guess what we did: we waited for two o'clock, got on the little cable car and went up the mountain. And upper and upper and upper until we were upperst! And when we got there:

FANTASTIC, BEAUTIFUL, AMAZING, STUNNING, WONDERFUL, MIND BOGGLING, BREATH TAKING!

I think it is the best thing we have seen during this whole holiday! The views were so wide and magnificent it was unbelievable. We could see for miles and I felt even smaller than I already am. 

Mara said we started at a little over 1000 meters (over 3000 feet) and we ended up at 1900 meters (over 6000 feet). 

I wouldn't have minded staying there a bit longer, but we needed to get back for some dinner and then back to the hotel. But I really hope to be back some day to see some more of the Alps! 

Thank you Andreas for the beautiful day we had. I loooooooved it!

YUM!!!