Back in Warsaw

Our Last day in Warsaw went very smoothly compared to the rest of the days. Once we arrived in the hotel after the long and interesting train ride we went to bed and woke up in the morning just in time for the dreamy breakfast. After that we came into the room to get ready. We left and decided to devote the whole day to walking around ghetto Warsaw, starting at its southern border- Sienna Street. This street was important to me because of the fact that Mary Berg (a girl who wrote a diary which I read) lived there at first, until they were sent to Chlonda Street. Just by Sienna Street we saw a fragment of the ghetto wall still standing. This was to show the border- Later that part of the ghetto was cut off, “the little ghetto” as the war progressed. Than we walked to Chlodne Street, where Mary Berg moved to. Adam Czerniakow, leader of the Judenrat in the Ghetto also lived. It was a wealthy street, and along that street was where the bridge connecting from the “big ghetto” to the “little ghetto” was. We saw Adam’s “white house” and walked along the street. After that we visited the Korzac’s orphanage (the one that was originally located outside of the ghetto, before they were forced to relocate). We also visited the Jewish cemetery. I don’t think I have ever seen a cemetery so big in my life. This moved me because it showed how many Jews lived before the war in Warsaw (though there were many, many more). We visited the graves of some famous people, including Adam Czerniakow. The cemetery was surrounded by a tall fence made of bricks, and in the entrance the place seemed never ending. We never had time to walk through all of it, or even nearly half of it. We then left to eat lunch at an Asian Kebab (restaurant) which also served Shawarma in the middle of Poland. We walked to Pawiak street in hopes of finding the prisoners Jail in which many Jews, and non-Jews were held- some prisoners of war (from other countries), and also Polish citizens. This was where Mary Berg and her family spent most of their time in the Ghetto; they were not treated as badly as some of the other prisoners. They were there as “exchange” prisoners from America. Some People in the Pawiak Jail were tortured in the basements and many killed- it was a feared place by all inhabitants of the ghetto. The Nazis put it there to scare the Jews and warn them. We finally found the Prison (after visiting the Jewish park which was used to be the hang out spot of the Jewish people before the war, and was NOT included in the ghetto boundaries during the horrible times). There was a monument built for the prison. Other than empty space and a some what of a renovated basement building nothing was left. There were memorials for all of the fallen polish citizens and Jews. The place seemed to be very highly respected and honored by the Poles because most of the prisoners were polish fighters. It was getting cold, and late- and we knew we had a long night ahead of us. We stopped at a bakery to eat some sweet baked goods and drink hot coffee (since the lady did not understand we wanted TEA). We then took a cab to the hotel.

Yanush Korzak memorial in the cemetery

Old ghetto houses on Prozna st.

Another old house of the Ghetto where the Jewish ghetto poet Schlengel used to live. Schlengel wrote the words to the song "Kan Hatachana Treblinca" from Poliker's Avak VaEfer record (Yakov Gilad's mom, a survivor, translated it to Hebrew) :

The rennovated house in Chlodna 20 and Zamenhof colorful grave in the cemetery, There is a street called Zamenhofa and another one called Esperanto, which is the international language that Zamenhof created.

P.S- I wanted to take pictures of the elegant hotel, so at about 10:00 I went down to the lobby to photograph. I left the keys in the room. I came back and knocked on Ely’s door. No answer, I thought he was still in the shower and couldn’t here me. So I went and knocked on Mom’s door. After about 30 minutes of knocking back and forth I decided to go down to the lobby and ask for a key to room 555- he said no one was in that room. Turns out I was on the wrong floor knocking on the wrong doors- no wonder no one answered…