Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/08/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Nathan, Thank you for taking the time to post this poignant and moving photo/essay. I hope to visit some of those places myself before my time passes. With Arnold running for governor here, his close personal ties with Kurt Waldheim, ex Nazi atrocity participant, and Arnold spouting such campaign phrases as, "I know what the people want and I will tell them.", your posting was particularly timely for me. Thanks again, and keep the great photographs coming. Please relate to SWMBO our gratitude that she let you continue posting! Bob - --- Nathan Wajsman <n.wajsman@chello.nl> wrote: > In the midst of settling into our new life in the > Netherlands I do > continue to take pictures--it just takes a bit > longer to get them > scanned and posted, as SWMBO will make me sleep in > the garden shed if I > spend too much time on the computer while there are > still many undone > "honey-dos". So, with that... > > In week 29 I had to go to Warsaw for a couple of > days to take care of > some formalities related to my Polish birth > certificate. I have not been > to the city for 31 years, and obviously a lot has > changed since then. > Warsaw today is an impressive city in every respect. > But what I was > interested in during the few hours I had for > sight-seeing was the Warsaw > ghetto. Before the war, Warsaw had a huge Jewish > population. When the > Germans arrived in 1939, they confined the Jews to > the ghetto, and as > time went on, the boundaries of the ghetto were > moved to make the ghetto > smaller and smaller. In 1942-43 it was the Warsaw > Jews' turn to become > part of the Final Solution, and the Germans began > emptying the ghetto by > shipping the inhabitants to Auschwitz. In the spring > of 1943 a few > hundred Jewish men, knowing that they were going to > die either way, > staged a desperate uprising. It took the Germans > some weeks to quell it, > of course with the utmost brutality. At the end, the > last 14 fighters > committed suicide in their bunker. That was the end > of what had been the > largest Jewish community in Europe. > > After the war, the Polish government showed little > or no interest in > preserving the ghetto or even putting up any > memorials to what had > happened there. The monuments you see today were all > built in the late > 1980s or early 1990s and largely financed by > American and Western > European Jewish organizations. This says something > about the Polish > attitude towards Jews and also explains why the few > thousands Jews who > remained after the war largely left the country in > the 1960s and early > 70s. > > Here is the the view of the inside of the memorial > on Umschlagplatz, the > spot from where 300,000 Jews were deported to the > gas chambers. It is > quite a moving experience to sit inside the stone > structure and look out > on the normal life going on outside: > http://www.wajsmanphoto.com/2003_29.jpg > > A detail of the inscriptions inside: > http://www.wajsmanphoto.com/2003_29alt1.jpg > > The small stone monument on the spot where the last > defenders committed > suicide on 8th May 1943, surrounded by apartment > blocks. The > inscriptions are in Polish and Hebrew: > http://www.wajsmanphoto.com/2003_29alt2.jpg > > The ghetto as such does not exist anymore, except > one short street which > has been preserved as it looked before the war. > There are still small > shops on the ground floor, but otherwise the > buildings seem largely > uninhabitable: > http://www.wajsmanphoto.com/2003_29alt3.jpg > > And finally a detail from one of the courtyards: > http://www.wajsmanphoto.com/2003_29alt4.jpg > > All pictures taken with the M6 and 35mm Summilux, > the main and Alt1 on > Fuji Acros, the rest on Kodak Tri-X. > > The complete PAW index is at: > http://www.wajsmanphoto.com/indexpaw2003.htm > and comments/critique are always welcome and > appreciated. > > Nathan > > > > -- > Nathan Wajsman > Almere, The Netherlands > > e-mail: n.wajsman@chello.nl > Mobile: +31 630 868 671 > > Photo site: http://www.wajsmanphoto.com > > > -- > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html ===== Bob Adler Palo Alto, CA rgacpa@pacbell.net - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html