Trip to Terezin or "Just another Europe story that I'm blogging about to fill the time until I do something interesting again"

Classes haven't started yet and work is a little slow right now, so I've got some time to catch up on my Europe blogging.  Better 4 months later then never at all I guess.

Terezin 7.30.2010

That morning, Gary and I woke up early to help Jade and her mom haul their luggage…all 5 bags….to the airport.  But, we wanted to help them save some bucks from not having to take a cab.

 We must have looked like quite a scene dragging all those bags down to the metro, then back up to the bus that takes you to the airport.  We said our goodbyes before they went thru security as they headed back to America.  Once we lost sight of them in the airport, we hopped back on the bus to head back to the city.  We stopped at a McDonalds so Gary could try their version of a sausage McMuffin.  We wanted to use the McWalk….an outdoor walk-up ordering window, but it was closed at the time so we had to go inside to order.  Gary got his McMuffin and commented that the meat definitely tasted different, but it was really tasty.  As he was eating, I took a couple of pictures of the Pilsner beer that they offer there.  Then I got scolded by the manager for taking pictures inside the McDonald’s.

  “No Photo!  No Photo!”  I’m not sure why, but there were a lot of places where you were not allowed to take pictures or you had to pay a special fee (usually only a couple of American dollars) in order to take pictures.  Anyway, we made our way to the bus terminal at Holeśovice where we would leave for Terezin.  While waiting for our bus to arrive, Gary and I shared a slice of pizza from one of the venders at the metro station.  I’m not sure which was more interesting:  the fact that there was a pizza place open at 9 in the morning on a weekday or the fact that as we ate our slice of pizza we watched a guy open up his kiosk that sold porn DVDs and magazines. 

Regardless, our bus arrived right on schedule at 9:30 and we left Prague for our day at Terezin.  The bus ride was about an hour through the countryside.  Once we got close to our destination, other people started getting off the bus at other various stops.  Of course, we had no clue which stop we were supposed to get off at.  Luckily, a nice girl recognized that we were clueless Americans and she told us which stop to get off at. 

Terezin is a fortified town, which means it’s completely surrounded by a wall with just a few roads in and out that go over a mote or a river.  Outside of that wall is nothing but countryside, so it felt like our bus just dropped us off in the middle of nowhere.  It was originally built as a military post before the Germans took it over and turned it into a Jewish Ghetto.  There’s a small and large fortress which are connected by a road and they are about ½ mile apart.  Our bus had dropped us off at the small fortress first.  The small fortress was the ‘prison’ part of the camp.  It was where most of the Jews died from hard work, lice, disease and malnourishment.  It was also where the SS officer’s quarters were.  Once we got our tickets and entered the small fortress, we were on our own, but luckily there was an English speaking tour just in front of us so we ended up following them and listening to the tour guide talk about Terezin. 

 According to our guide, Terezin was one of the camps that the Nazis had filmed some of their wartime propaganda at.  They made a few films to ‘showcase’ the lovely conditions that the Jews were living in and to prove to the world that they were not being treated poorly.  One of the bathrooms we went in to had a long row of sinks with mirrors.  It was used to show that the Jews had proper access to water for drinking and bathing.  Our tour guide pointed out however that this particular bathroom was completely fake because the Jews never used it since there was no running water to any of the sinks.

  The things that the tour guide spoke of were reminiscent of all the terrible things you have heard that the Nazis did.  There were shooting ranges where they would practice on human targets. 

 There were killing walls where they would line up people and shoot them because they broke the rules. 

 And there were rooms where people would have to sit in complete darkness for months at a time. 

 It was really sad and very sobering.  After the tour ended, we spoke to the nice lady at the ticket window and she gave us a small map and directed us as to how to get to the larger fortress. 

 During our short walk, it was at this time that we started to feel as if we had entered some kind of twilight zone episode.  There was no traffic and it was eerily quiet.  To add to the creepiness, people actually still live and work in the larger fortress.  I’m not sure what the population is, but I got the sense that they do not have a lot of money now that they aren’t under German or Soviet control.  Wikipedia says there are about 3000 people living there, but we probably only saw 20 people total there and 10 of them were tourists.  There are a lot of buildings in disrepair and there are a few signs and buildings that were very 1960’s Russian-communist-looking. 

Also, as we found out on our tour of the smaller fortress, the crematorium where they disposed of the bodies is located in this part of the town.  And to help you find your way to the crematorium, there were signs with arrows pointing you in the right direction.  Helpful, but very odd. 

 Since we didn’t know how long it would take to go through all the museums, we first headed towards the crematoriums.  Not a lot has to be said when looking at the pictures.

At first, the Nazis took time to place each person's ashes in a small, wooden box marked with their name.  As the number of dead increased, they couldn't keep up with the wooden boxes, so they made paper boxes instead.  Eventually however, because there were just too many people, they stopped placing people's ashes in the boxes all together and just dumped them somewhere.  Some boxes were collected at the end of the war.

 

After the crematorium, we wandered thru town and went to another museum that held Jewish artifacts.  There was one wall that had drawings from the little kids that where in the ghetto with their parents.  It was so sad to see what these kids drew and to think of all the terrible things that they saw at such a young age. 

After the museum, we had a lot of time before our scheduled bus return at 4:30pm, so we went to a small coffee shop and sat down for a bit.  There really wasn’t anything else to do or see in this small town, so we wandered around until we stumbled upon our bus stop that would take us back to Prague.  Across from the bus stop was this sign.  So, to kill time, was went to look at the sign.  It had some information on the town and it was a map showing where different things were.  You could also push a button and it would tell you different information based on what language you chose.  As we were standing there and staring at the sign, this disheveled man approached us.  He seemed friendly and he said hello and stretched his hand out to shake.  I shook his hand and so did Gary.  Then he pointed to the sign and asked if we spoke German.  I said no, English.  So, he thought he was helping us out by pushing the English button on the sign.  At this point, we could see where this was heading, so we gave each other a sideway glance, said thanks, and took off for one of the museums to use the bathrooms.  I had to go to the bathroom, but Gary had to use it to wash his hands or he was threatening to cut his arm off after touching that man.  Once we got back to our bus stop, we were glad to see other tourists starting to gather.  Our tickets were for the 4:30 bus, but we were hoping to get on the 3:30 bus instead.  As we sat there and waited, we watched this man approach other tourists who would wander over to the talking sign.  He performed the same schtick over and over.  Approach unsuspecting tourists, make friends and shake hands, show them how to use the talking sign, ask for money. 

Since there wasn’t a lot of people waiting at the bus stop, he went thru all the people rather quickly.  So, he started re-approaching the ones he had already bothered the first time.  He came over to us again.  Gary shook his head and refused to shake his hand and I shouted “No! Ne! Nein!” at him.  He got mad and walked away mumbling something under his breath.  As we watched him get yelled at by other tourists, he eventually took a break to whip out his junk and pee on a tree that was about 5 feet from the bus stop.  I about died when I actually saw his penis.  At this point, the 3:30 bus finally arrived.  We weren’t sure if we would be able to get on because no one speaks English and they are kind of particular about bus tickets and times and such.  So, we hoped for best and got in line to get on the bus.  I leaned over the shoulder of the couple in front of us and saw that their bus tickets were also for 4:30 just like ours.  I felt better knowing that someone else was trying to leave early as well.  Luckily, they spoke Czech, so they talked to the bus driver and convinced him to let them on early.  Once we saw that they were getting on, we clambered onto the bus right behind them and sort of pretended that we were with them.  So, the bus driver looked at our tickets and gave us the go-ahead to get on early too.  Thanks goodness because I don’t think I could have spent another hour there.