Not sure how it's already Wednesday night, days are really flying by here! 2 1/2 weeks left...keep wanting to round up to 3 weeks but I've got to be realistic.
Yesterday I had class all day...struggle to stay awake towards the end but I'm really enjoying the topics. I have this strong fascination for the period of 1930s to 1940s in Europe. I'm learning something new every day and I'm able to recall everything weeks after. Before Prague, I loved history but I hated having to read and listen to lectures, taking notes after notes but learning it here is a totally different experience. I'm able to see everything that we talk about, the Jewish ghetto in Prague, the concentration camps, the exact turn of where Heydrich was attacked and then died days later, the town that was completely demolished by the Nazis because Hitler was so upset after Heydrich's death, the secret synagogues....the list goes on and on. I'm so interested in learning everything I can, something my parents are probably pretty happy about! K I definitely feel like a total nerd after writing this...
I know all this information will stick with me because they're topics I've been interested in for awhile now. I couldn't even tell you how to draw a chair in organic chemistry anymore...shows how much that stuck with me! I wish I could take more classes but I know this experience is so pure that anything else won't live up to it.
Today my class went on a field trip to Terezin, a concentration camp about an hour outside of Prague. Terezin was actually a military fortress made by Joseph II in the late 1700s who named it after his mother, Maria Theresa. My professor is so knowledgeable about the most detailed subjects, it's amazing to listen to her. Some of my classmates don't appreciate it but their loss! This was the third concentration camp I've been to in a month and let me tell you, walking through it wasn't any easier. This camp was mostly a transport camp meaning it was a place that the Nazis would organize people to send to the East to be murdered. Over 80,000 Jews went through Terezin and over half went to Auschwitz to be gassed. What was different about this camp from Auschwitz and Dachau was that mostly children were there. The children were allowed access to paper, pens, and paint from which they created diaries, drawings, and paintings. We're fortunate because many of these forms of media were found and saved after the war. Each drawing or painting revealed who the artist was and their fate, making the work come to life. It's amazing how mature these children were, so thoughtful and passionate. I can't imagine how much more educated this world would be if these people weren't savagely murdered.
After walking through Terezin which is still a town with many inhabitants today, we headed for Lidice. Lidice is a town about 20 minutes outside of Prague. In June of 1942, a couple of Czech paratroopers attempted to assassinate Heyrich in Prague (eventually he did die days later but from blood poisoning from a piece of fabric in a puncture wound...so random). Hitler was extremely distressed after this because it's said that Heyrich would've been Hitler's choice for his successor. The Nazis searched for the paratroopers all over Prague and eventually were tipped off that the paratroopers had connections in Lidice. They went to this small village and murdered all of the men and deported the women and children to concentration camps. During this, they completely bulldozed the town, leaving just rubble. Many women and children from Lidice survived the war and came back to find that their home no longer existed. Where the town used to be is now just hills of grass. It's a story like this that really hits you about how terrible the Nazis were.
I'm currently reading In the Garden of Beasts which is about the US Ambassador to Berlin during the Nazi regime and I've learned even more about the context of the time period. We always think about the Nazis being these people who were extremely anti-Semitic but it's amazing how much of the world was anti-Semitic at the time. Really makes you think twice about everything we learned in high school about the Holocaust because some of our high ranking government officials were anti-Semitic. Learning about all this definitely makes you wonder about the what ifs. What if the world actually believed what was going on and did something earlier? What if Hitler didn't become Chancellor of the Weimar Republic? What if Hitler had gotten into art school in Vienna? So much could've been different.
Sorry if this post bored any of you but I just wanted to get my thoughts down and reveal some of the information I've been learning (yes I'm ACTUALLY doing school here, not just traveling!)
Yesterday I went paddle boating after class with my friend who was staying with me and of courssse it started pouring the minute we got out on our boat. Luckily it only lasted 15 minutes. Prague weather is so bipolar!
Class tomorrow and then off to Berlin Friday morning for the weekend! Can't wait to be back in Germany for a bit.
Love and miss you all, see you very soon!
Sbohem,
Whit
Yesterday I had class all day...struggle to stay awake towards the end but I'm really enjoying the topics. I have this strong fascination for the period of 1930s to 1940s in Europe. I'm learning something new every day and I'm able to recall everything weeks after. Before Prague, I loved history but I hated having to read and listen to lectures, taking notes after notes but learning it here is a totally different experience. I'm able to see everything that we talk about, the Jewish ghetto in Prague, the concentration camps, the exact turn of where Heydrich was attacked and then died days later, the town that was completely demolished by the Nazis because Hitler was so upset after Heydrich's death, the secret synagogues....the list goes on and on. I'm so interested in learning everything I can, something my parents are probably pretty happy about! K I definitely feel like a total nerd after writing this...
I know all this information will stick with me because they're topics I've been interested in for awhile now. I couldn't even tell you how to draw a chair in organic chemistry anymore...shows how much that stuck with me! I wish I could take more classes but I know this experience is so pure that anything else won't live up to it.
Today my class went on a field trip to Terezin, a concentration camp about an hour outside of Prague. Terezin was actually a military fortress made by Joseph II in the late 1700s who named it after his mother, Maria Theresa. My professor is so knowledgeable about the most detailed subjects, it's amazing to listen to her. Some of my classmates don't appreciate it but their loss! This was the third concentration camp I've been to in a month and let me tell you, walking through it wasn't any easier. This camp was mostly a transport camp meaning it was a place that the Nazis would organize people to send to the East to be murdered. Over 80,000 Jews went through Terezin and over half went to Auschwitz to be gassed. What was different about this camp from Auschwitz and Dachau was that mostly children were there. The children were allowed access to paper, pens, and paint from which they created diaries, drawings, and paintings. We're fortunate because many of these forms of media were found and saved after the war. Each drawing or painting revealed who the artist was and their fate, making the work come to life. It's amazing how mature these children were, so thoughtful and passionate. I can't imagine how much more educated this world would be if these people weren't savagely murdered.
After walking through Terezin which is still a town with many inhabitants today, we headed for Lidice. Lidice is a town about 20 minutes outside of Prague. In June of 1942, a couple of Czech paratroopers attempted to assassinate Heyrich in Prague (eventually he did die days later but from blood poisoning from a piece of fabric in a puncture wound...so random). Hitler was extremely distressed after this because it's said that Heyrich would've been Hitler's choice for his successor. The Nazis searched for the paratroopers all over Prague and eventually were tipped off that the paratroopers had connections in Lidice. They went to this small village and murdered all of the men and deported the women and children to concentration camps. During this, they completely bulldozed the town, leaving just rubble. Many women and children from Lidice survived the war and came back to find that their home no longer existed. Where the town used to be is now just hills of grass. It's a story like this that really hits you about how terrible the Nazis were.
I'm currently reading In the Garden of Beasts which is about the US Ambassador to Berlin during the Nazi regime and I've learned even more about the context of the time period. We always think about the Nazis being these people who were extremely anti-Semitic but it's amazing how much of the world was anti-Semitic at the time. Really makes you think twice about everything we learned in high school about the Holocaust because some of our high ranking government officials were anti-Semitic. Learning about all this definitely makes you wonder about the what ifs. What if the world actually believed what was going on and did something earlier? What if Hitler didn't become Chancellor of the Weimar Republic? What if Hitler had gotten into art school in Vienna? So much could've been different.
Sorry if this post bored any of you but I just wanted to get my thoughts down and reveal some of the information I've been learning (yes I'm ACTUALLY doing school here, not just traveling!)
Yesterday I went paddle boating after class with my friend who was staying with me and of courssse it started pouring the minute we got out on our boat. Luckily it only lasted 15 minutes. Prague weather is so bipolar!
Class tomorrow and then off to Berlin Friday morning for the weekend! Can't wait to be back in Germany for a bit.
Love and miss you all, see you very soon!
Sbohem,
Whit
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