We were privileged to have Kathleen and Brianna visit us for four days. We knew Kathleen and her family when we lived in Fairfax, VA. She and Brianna (from Atlanta) are interning at the US Embassy in Athens, Greece for the summer. They certainly packed in a lot of sightseeing in the short time they were here. I was able to go with them a few days. We visited the Belvedere Palace, the Military Museum, the UN, Hundertwasserhaus, and an Austrian Heuriger. One evening we strolled around Stephansplatz and of course, consumed a little Gelato.
Belvedere Palace
(former residence of the Prince of Savoy)
This is a 15 minute walk from our apartment.
We really enjoyed eating one evening near the Vienna Woods at a Heuriger. These are typically family owned little outdoor cafes, each boasting it's own distinct wines grown in their vineyards. Bruce and Barbara joined us.
The Hundertwasser house, designed by Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, was built between 1983 and 1986. It features uneven floors, a roof covered with earth and grass, and large trees growing from inside the rooms, with limbs extending from windows. Hundertwasser took no payment for the design of the house, declaring that it was worth it, to prevent something ugly from going up in its place.
Within the house there are 52 apartments, four offices, 16 private terraces and three communal terraces, and a total of 250 trees and bushes. The Hundertwasser House is one of Vienna's most visited buildings and has become part of Austria's cultural heritage.
Greg was able to give the girls a tour around the United Nations building, showing them his office and describing what he does. It was a very hot day and we welcomed eating lunch in the air conditioned cafeteria.
The Heeresgeschichtlisches Museum (History of Military Museum) was the first Viennese museum. The styles of this town's oldest historic building range from Byzantine, Hispano-Moorish to
Neo-Gothic.
In five major sections the museum shows the history of the Habsburg empire from the end of the 16th century until 1918 and Austria's fate after the dissolution of the monarchy up to the year 1945.
Early Monday morning we traveled to Auschwitz, Poland by train with the Youngs (my cousin, Cindy, her husband, and four children.) We changed trains at Zebrzydowice ( a rather dismal looking train station) where we had our picnic lunch on a dilapidated, rusty old bench.
We went through this to get from one side to the other of the tracks.
It's a good thing we brought our lunch since there was not even a vending machine at any of the stations.
A little reading aloud of "The Mozart Question" purchased at the British Bookstore in Vienna.
Due to a language barrier we had trouble confirming that the Polish trains that we took were the ones called for in our itinerary. I couldn't help but think that the uncertainty and anxiety we experienced was trivial compared to that experienced by those disembarking at Auschwitz 70 years ago. When the rains began it seemed that tears were falling from heaven in grief for the atrocities perpetrated there. Indeed, it might not be inappropriate for Auschwitz to be permanently overcast and rainy. The Austrian train we got off felt luxurious compared to the dingy old train we boarded. Halfway between Zebrzydowice and Oswiecim the skies darkened portending the somber experience to come.
As we entered the grounds at Auschwitz our initial impression was that it appeared to be an innocuous and picturesque little camp. We were about to discover that this was far from the truth.
In the beginning only men were brought to Auschwitz. Those who could play an instrument were enlisted to compose an orchestra, not for entertainment, but to help the officers count the prisoners who were marched from the camp for their daily work detail and returned in the evening.
Members of the Polish resistance were among the first to be interred by the Nazis at Auschwitz. Much later, the Greeks, believing that there were better job prospects further north actually purchased train tickets from the Nazis. Thousands from most European countries (and as far away as 1500 kilometers) were taken to Auchwitz
We visited both the museum area and Berkinau (Auschwitz II-the larger concentration camp built to process and exterminate prisoners more efficiently.) The scale of the atrocities committed at Auschwitz were shocking, but the magnitude of the Berkinau extermination operation was staggering. Toward the end there were as many as 4000 a day who lost their lives. The highest price was paid by Hungary; over 400,000 Hungarian Jews were murdered in the gas chambers.
On their striped uniforms, prisoners wore symbols that indicated the Nazis' reason for singling them out: Jew, homosexual, government official, social deviant, etc. The SS hired photographers to make portraits of each prisoner when he was registered. Many of these portraits hang on the walls of the museum, each showing the prisoner's name, date of registration, and date of death. The average time between the two dates was only about three months. Starvation, torture, forced labor, and disease caused the death toll to rise quickly.
Berkinau
This is what's left of the gas chambers that were built outside of town so as not to be discovered. The SS bombed them to erase the evidence.
It was so difficult to see all the hair (men and women's heads were shaved) piled up in a large glassed in area, as well as hair brushes, eye glasses, and shoes. Especially difficult for me was all of the children's shoes.
We were glad for the comfortable hotel to retreat to at the end of this day. After a nice dinner with the Young family we saw them off to catch their night train to Prague. Greg and I had time the following day to walk around the town before boarding our early afternoon train This area has been so oppressed by war, holocaust, and communism, but there is presently an effort to spruce it up a bit.
We arrived back in Vienna two hours late after train troubles at Zebrzydowice. After 1 1/2 hours a new engine was located and attached to our train. Once again we had rain, cool temperatures, and dreary conditions as we continued on our way.
