It’s 2:30 am here in Warsaw and despite the fact that I’m truly learning exactly what the meaning of “jet lag” is, I find myself wide awake. We’ve been in Europe for less than 24 hours and in Poland only for about 12, but already my mind is going. Maybe it’s the idea of going to Treblinka today, I mean I’m not sure one can truly grasp what it will mean to step foot in what was a death camp for the first time. It’s a terrifying idea, yet at the same time I don’t think any of us are truly prepared. How can we be?
Still, though, my mind is thinking of other things, as well. Particularly the Okopowa Street Jewish Cemetery, which we visited (as the rain poured on us, welcoming us to Warsaw) today…yesterday (I’m still so confused about what day it is!). The thing that really struck me about that cemetery, is it’s resilience to time. When the buses dropped us off near the cemetery, my only thought was “ummm we are in the middle of Warsaw, how can we possibly be in the right place?!” Yet as we walked in its direction, suddenly it appeared, surrounded by brick walls, guarding it, in a way, from what is a modern world. You see, Warsaw was almost completely destroyed by the Nazis after the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. So instead of a city full of old buildings and hundreds of years of history, Warsaw looks, with a few exceptions, like any other major city of the world. Even the Palace of Culture and Science, the tall clock tower building down the street from our hotel, which looks much older than the surrounding towers, was only built in 1955 during Poland’s occupation by the Soviet Union. There are very few pre-war relics in this place, a sad but true fact.
The Jewish Cemetery is one of Warsaw’s last links to the past. It’s a juxtaposition that I don’t think is lost on any of us: weathered tomb stones, weathered and worn are crowded together in a quiet, tree lined area, yet the skyline surrounding it pollutes the serenity with the images of office and apartment buildings. It’s a clash of history and modern day.
So while our journey here in Poland had barely begun, the lessons have long since started. History is who we were and has so much impact on who we are and who we will be. Therefore we have to do everything we can to preserve it. Just part of our responsibility in making sure the adage “never forget” forever hold true.
