MOSCOW AND THE GREAT EASTERN EUROPEAN CAPITALS

Note: I decided to put this out in 2 parts, since I’m falling a bit behind in my writing. Part 1 is ready now, so here you go. Moscow, Warsaw, and Kiev. 

Over 3-1/2 weeks beginning in mid-August, I traveled to 7 major eastern European cities. This is a part of the world that is completely new to me. I’ve never traveled in this region, and I found a very mixed bag of countries and history. It was all very interesting and remarkably emotional.

MOSCOW:

This was one of the destinations I was most looking forward to. And it did not disappoint. Moscow is a bustling, upbeat, beautiful, clean city with a history as complex as its current story.  First off, I learned that it is pronounced “Mosc-o” not “Mosc-OW”. There are NO minority people of color here. EVERYONE I saw was white (or Asian), including the tourists. There were busloads of cigarette smoking Asian tourists. I was told that it is easy to go to Russia from China—Russia (ie. Putin) wants good relations with China, so they don’t require a visa – and they are geographically close.

For a country that historically officially rejected religion, they have many churches with those famous “onion” spires. There are several cathedrals inside the Kremlin walls. They were saved by priests who convinced Stalin that they were prestigious. Still many more churches and cathedrals were destroyed or turned into other things. Kruschev famously put a swimming pool inside one prominent cathedral.

I also visited the Grand Chorale Synagogue, which miraculously survived the Soviet regime, hiding their observance of Shabbat and Jewish holidays. Today, it proudly functions as a Chasidic Orthodox congregation. There are 26+ Jewish congregations throughout the greater Moscow area…all Orthodox, Chabad or Lubovitch. There are no “conservative” or “reform” congregations.

There is a Museum of Tolerance, which was funded by the Jewish owner of a big-name soccer team, who also happens to be a friend of Putin’s. Putin “gave” them the location, a former bus garage, for the museum, which chronicles the history and suffering of Jews in Russia. This feels nothing short of a miracle to me…acknowledgement from Russia to the plight of the Jews.

As pristine and opulent as the city feels, I got the sense that the people are struggling in the context of supposed “democracy”. One person said to me she will be voting for Putin again, “because she doesn’t see anyone else who she thinks can do the job”. Clearly, they are unaware of the reports of political assassinations that have made the news in the US. Their information is obviously manipulated. During our presidential campaign, they were told that Hillary Clinton was planning to start a war with Russia, so their people were happy that Trump won. A few people questioned me about his behavior and acceptance by Americans.

Most Russian people seem to lament the loss of the Soviet Union. It is always called “Soviet”, and is occasionally elaborated as “socialist”, but never referred to as “communist”. There are reminders of “the glory days” everywhere…in mosaics and art in the subways, in the monuments and elaborate state buildings of the Kremlin, and in the collections of fine arts that I was able to enjoy at the Pushkin museum.

Russia did not disappoint. It was everything I thought it would be…and more.

 

WARSAW:

Like most of Europe, Warsaw was settled by royalty in the 1300s. They were an independent country until the early 1900s, with a thriving art, music, and intellectual culture.  And then, in WWII, Russia and the Nazis invaded Poland from each side.

At the time, more than 1/3 of Warsaw’s residents were Jews. They were rounded up and forced to live in the Warsaw Ghetto…over 100,000 people living in a cramped area, 8 to a room, and starving. They tried to maintain life as normal, while quietly organizing a resistance. They eventually attempted the Warsaw Ghetto uprising in 1943, which lasted a month in combat with the Nazis. They were inevitably overpowered by the Nazis and they were all sent to extermination camps. There was another (secular) Warsaw resistance uprising in 1944 that lasted 2 months, and also failed. The Polish people still acknowledge the anniversary each year.

Everywhere you go there is a monument to someone or a group of people who perished. Orphanages…the orphans and their caretakers. Hospitals…they killed all the patients and deported all the staff. Poets. Writers. Musicians. Doctors. Over 300,000 people were sent by train from Warsaw to extermination camps.

Over 80% of Warsaw was destroyed…bombed, plundered and burned. After the war, they attempted to rebuild the older historic palaces, churches and synagogues as they originally were. One synagogue survived the war – the Nozyk Synagogue — because the Nazis had used it as a horse stable.

Warsaw still has a long way to go, and I doubt they will ever fully recover, having eliminated an entire race of people. There is still barren property with overgrown weeds where someone’s home once stood. There is graffiti on many old buildings. And some bombed out ruins still remain as a brutal reminder of the death and destruction caused by hate.

There were a couple of lovely things about Warsaw, most notably the resilient and gracious people. I also enjoyed some of the native foods: specifically borscht, potato pancakes and pierogis. And the hourly changing of the guard at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on the huge plaza (made famous by Pope John Paul’s giant mass there), which was my view from my hotel room. Most charming were the stone benches at bus stops that had a button you press, and they played Chopin piano conciertos. God knows, they are trying!

But clearly, I found Warsaw to be very depressing (admittedly, the rainy weather didn’t help). The timing of my visit coincided with the white supremacist rallies that were going on in the US. Listening to our president speak without unequivocal condemnation of these violent, racist thugs sent chills to my core. A far greater president, FDR, also looked the other way when he knew of the plight of the Jewish people throughout Europe during the war. He and the US have regretted it ever since. Surely we must all learn from these horrors so that those 6 million Jews and 12 million overall deaths at the hands of the Nazis were not in vain and will never be repeated. NEVER AGAIN.

 

KIEV:

My grandfather was born there in 1904 and came to the US in 1906. His name was “Gris” and was changed to “Green” on Ellis Island. We had a “Greece Family Circle” for many years that had been instrumental in bringing family to the US during the turn of the last century. I was excited to visit the Brodsky Synagogue. (Hebrew readers: take note of the V’ahavta above the arc.) This congregation dates back to the  1890s, and had also been used as a stable during WWII. There’s a good chance that my grandfather’s father may have attended services here,

I timed my visit to Kiev accidentally coinciding with their Independence Day. It is only the 26^th year that they’ve celebrated it, so they do it with huge pride and fanfare. There were military displays and parades. Their president spoke at the gathering, and he entertained many high-profile world figures, among them US General Mattis who attended the festivities. They are determined to become a strong part of the EU and leave it’s history of Soviet dominance behind. This young democracy is clearly proud to be independent of the Soviet hold and they harbor strong and active resistance to the Russians (who recently attacked and took over Ukrainan Crimea, so the conflict continues).

The city of Kiev is elegant and beautiful with more than a few Russian-style buildings and onion-domed churches dating back to the 1600s. Two of their more famous churches are the St. Sophia Basilica and the Mikhailovsky Cathedral. They also have an excellent subway system that I was proud to master, and I enjoyed admiring the elaborate décor they have there, in keeping with Russian style. Kiev is a city on the cusp of freedom and participation in the European community with fierce independence.

 

Coming Soon! Part 2, featuring Prague, Vienna, Bucharest and Budapest!