Wednesday, July 24, 2002
Gdansk, Poland: Shall We Gdansk?
We leave the gray of St. Petersburg for the gray of the Baltic Sea, headed for Poland. Semester at Sea has economically provided Soviet expert Ron to serve as our Interport lecturer for Russia and Poland, because he has firsthand experience studying and living in both.
Before Russia, Ron addressed my marketing class to complement the videotape I show about the establishment of the first McDonald’s in Moscow. He explained how impossible it was to get any decent food, even if you were an American with dollars to spend, in those pre-perestroika days.
The Women's Studies professor on-board had talked to us about the plight of women in the Soviet Union and how even in this day, there are young girls tricked into slavery. The students in my marketing class have brought examples of ads and cards for “dating services” that promise young, blonde Russian women for any man with the money to pay.
Students from the History course have taken the Siege of Leningrad tour and seen the perimeter where the Russians held off the Germans for 900 days, and the graves of those who starved to death, including the grandparents of the tour guide.
As we approach Poland, in the Core course, Ron describes the effect of the Second World War on that country, the collective guilt that the Poles felt and have tried to absolve for their treatment of the Jewish population.
The history professor shows shocking photos to prepare those who have signed up for the optional three-day trip to Auschwitz, if you can possibly prepare for such horror.
We need a break.
It turns out that Ron is also an expert at song parodies. As we passed Denmark, he organized some faculty, staff and Tony for a rendition of “Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen.” The day before we arrive in Poland, this group returns for Ron Linden's version of “Shall We Gdansk?,” including those famous lines,
Now that we're a part of NATO,
Just like France,
Take a chance.
Shall we Gdansk?
The best part is that we now have Rogers and Hammerstein going through our heads instead of one of Danny Kaye's weaker efforts.
We are more than halfway through our trip, and the excitement of approaching each new city is now mixed with a secret desire to nap. In Gdansk we are not close to downtown, but a short walk away is an easy tram system that gets us to city centre in 10 or 15 minutes. But the first day this means waiting in the line of college students at the ATM to get zlotys, figuring out how to buy tickets and which tram to take. I’m not feeling well, so Tony does all the hard work.
He uses the new zlotys to buy things at the. store, and it appears everything here will be as cheap as in Russia. Once I’ve had some juice and get to the train station in the heart of the town, I'm feeling a bit better but still a little queasy. Our students and faculty are all milling around, getting maps, trying to figure out what trains they can take for short trips on their own. The buzz is starting to get to me.
I need a break.
Out the station window I see the promised land—TGIFriday's. I need a burger. A big one. And I need it now. Tony and I slip away from the Americans and head to one of the most American spots around, Of course, many of the students soon follow, but my husband and I wallow alone in two cheeseburgers—with fries, an indulgence I never allow myself at home. And two big Polish beers.
Thanks, I needed that. Now we're back in travel mode.
That evening, we find the old part of Gdansk, a series of beautiful Hanseatic buildings, all gabled like those in Bergen, Norway. Amber is for sale cheaply everywhere—along with beer, ice cream, and Gofry, which we eventually figure out is a Polish version of a Belgian waffle.
Gdansk is one of those great European cities you can just walk around and enjoy, stop to have a beer or a meal, listen to street musicians. Because everything is so cheap, we eat away from the ship more here than in any other port. At one outdoor café I decide to chance the “steak of the house,” even though the waitress learning English can’t explain whether it is beef or pork. It turns out to be filet mignon done perfectly rare—for $6.
For us Gdansk is relaxing. We have signed up for only one trip, a meeting at the local development office to discuss Gdansk's current urban problems. Because of lack of jobs, people are deserting the center city for the suburbs, buying more cars and using public transportation less, and building new malls on the outskirts. Oh, my God, it’s turning into Florida! I tell her to come visit us to learn from America’s mistakes.
She shows us the offices of Solidarity and we tour the museum at the shipyards where the 1980 protests were staged. The students are interested in the video news reports of tanks rolling over strikers, but to them it is very long ago. Most were just being born along with the revolution in Eastern Europe.
But while Tony and I were strolling around Gdansk, eating desserts and drinking cheap beer, many of our students chose to have a different experience in Poland. They signed up for a three-day trip, leaving the first evening we arrived, to Krakow, Auschwitz-Birkenau, including the National Museum situated on the site of the largest Nazi death camp during World War II, and a nearby salt mine, one of UNESCO's World Cultural and Natural Heritage sites.
I have asked two of those who chose to go on this trip to join me to talk about their experiences. Dan, a junior at the University of Iowa, is an undergraduate in both of my classes and grew up in South Florida, and Kathryn, a student in the Pitt law program on board, is a second-year law student from Arizona State University. Welcome Dan and Kathryn.
Gypsy Teacher: What made you decide, back when you signed on for Semester at Sea, to spend your time in Poland at Auschwitz and down a salt mine? Dan?
Dan: As you said, I grew up in South Florida and made friends with quite a few Jewish people down there. The first reason I went was just out of respect for them, just to learn a bit more about the history of their people and their family members. The other reason I went was because I made a vow to myself that I would do something in each country that I could learn from and that I would take back home to tell my friends and family. I thought that this was the perfect opportunity for me to see something that literally was probably one of the most important things in history. That's why I decided to go.
GT: And Kathryn, you had seen some other places like this in Europe previously and chose to see Auschwitz too?
Kathryn: Yes, that’s correct. I'd lived in Eastern Europe, in Romania actually, which no longer has any Jewish population, and then I spent a lot of time in the historic sites around in Germany. I really felt called again, like Dan said, out of respect for the events that I had read about and knew that had occurred in Poland, to visit Auschwitz.
GT: On the ship they did a lot to prepare the students for what they would see. Did you find that what you saw there was what you expected, or was there some things that were, maybe, surprising? Or that really hit you when you first got there?
D: I think that they prepared us as well as they could. But I don’t think you could really; once you get there, as much preparation as you have, it’s still just hits hard. You try to realize and prepare yourself, but even though I had prepared myself for the most part, just seeing and feeling everything and just taking it all in—I don’t think anything could have truly prepared me for it.
K: I agree with Dan. It was just such a tragic event and has affected so much past, present and future, it’s a lesson about something that can happen. It was a potent experience and preparation was definitely well done here on the ship. But again I think there were a lot of things that were just difficult. Maybe not a surprise, but difficult to deal with while there.
GT: What was the main thing that struck you, that physically being there was different from pictures or from things that you had heard?
D: I didn't realize that it was more of a museum. When I got there we walked through the barracks—I’d seen the pictures in the history books of the front gate and the train tracks—but walking through there and seeing all of the shoes. I think the room that really changed me and scared me the most was the room full of human hair. An entire room filled with human hair of people who had died in the Holocaust. That was something that we hadn’t seen in books.
K: Seeing the suitcases with the people's names, the belongings, the hair, knowing that there were people who had identities and lives, like the group of us who were going through with our own individual identities. Seeing the contrast of this life with just the staleness and the museum-like atmosphere that we were visiting, that was definitely difficult.
GT: Neither of you is Jewish, but you both said that you had Jewish friends at home and here on the ship. I’m sure a lot of the students on the trip were emotional, but did you find that there was a difference? That people were helping the Jewish students to deal with it?
D: I think there was kind of a difference. I think that everyone dealt with it in their own way. I noticed that a few of the Jewish students did stick together almost as support because I think that they just had that connection. A lot of them had links to victims of the Holocaust; there were a lot more of them creating their own support for each other. I think that they really realized and knew in their own way that they had that connection to each other.
K: It was interesting because we were experiencing a very grave thing as a group, but we had a busy sort of tourist agenda. We went straight from Auschwitz to lunch and then on to the salt mines as you mentioned. So I didn't see as much of the effects of the emotions of individuals that I believe happened later at various points, before, during and after.
I know there are a couple of students who are Jewish on my hall and they had a lot of preparation for just going and visiting. I was really impressed with how much respect was given to the feat that we were undertaking—going and visiting and just taking the time to reflect. I think maybe that’s good; we combined doing something as a group, but then we took the time to retreat and then reflect as individuals.
GT: At Auschwitz itself or at Birkenau, did you see any students who went off by themselves to deal with it on their own?
D: There were quite a few, especially at the memorial. One of my roommates on the trip had grandparents who both survived actually being at Auschwitz-Birkenau and I noticed him going off. He actually walked over to one of the senior passengers on the ship and broke down. He was the most emotional of all the people that I saw because he had that direct link. There were quite a few people going off by themselves and reflecting, especially after seeing the memorial and reading the passages that were there.
GT: How did it feel, right after that experience, to go back into the “real” world? Like you said, you had lunch, and you went on the salt mine tour, which I think some students kind of enjoyed and other students weren’t happy about. For you, how did it feel, going from the camp to that?
K: There was a bit of criticism about the agenda; going from one event to another. Interestingly enough, we dined at McDonalds of all places, right after visiting Auschwitz. I think for everyone in the group there was that uncomfortable feeling of, please, no, this is uncomfortable. But I reflected on that and thought, that could have been one of the best things that we could have done, to have some American symbol associated with such an event. I think now I’m never going to forget when I go home and see McDonalds or eat a Big Mac that uncomfortable feeling that I felt when we ate at McDonalds after visiting Auschwitz. That’s a good thing because I really think you can set aside a set period of time to visit a concentration camp, or to visit a death camp, or to visit Auschwitz. But to really take the time and reflect and think about the lives that were lost and what it means and how we can avoid things like this in the future—that’s what we need to do to avoid these things and to give respect to those who suffered and lost family members.
GT: What do you think is one of the main things you will take away from this? Dan?
D: Just an appreciation of everyday life. I think I took a lot for granted living in America; going to these camps makes me realize that it can be taken away in a heartbeat. I’m just really trying to appreciate every day and live every day to its fullest. Just appreciate the people I meet, the things I see, and the things I am able to do.
GT: For most of the students I talked to and the faculty who were on the trip, it is something they’ll never forget. So thank you for sharing your feelings with us.
Back on the ship, we set sail into the Baltic, west into the sun, and the sunshine of Gdansk has turned to cloudy, cold weather. This feels like Norway and Ireland again. Where is summer?
A whole day is set aside—meaning no classes or regular activities—for the ship to go through the Kiel Canal. The time has been scheduled months in advance. We clear the first set of locks in the morning, while many of us are sleeping in. We slip through Germany, cutting across the peninsula that it shares with Denmark. The friendly people in the beautiful houses along the water come out to wave at us, and a Royal Dutch Air Force plane dips its wings as a salute—perhaps to the lovely coeds exercising on the back deck.
Seeing this pretty part of Germany, in the Europe we have all been learning about for weeks now, one of the senior passengers asks the political science professor, “It all looks so beautiful now. How did all those horrible things happen here, not that long ago?”
Once we clear the lock at the North Sea end of the Canal, we are on to the beauties of Belgium. But we had to go through that passage first.
For the WLRN Radio Reading Service, this is Kathleen Dixon Donnelly—at Sea.
We leave the gray of St. Petersburg for the gray of the Baltic Sea, headed for Poland. Semester at Sea has economically provided Soviet expert Ron to serve as our Interport lecturer for Russia and Poland, because he has firsthand experience studying and living in both.
Before Russia, Ron addressed my marketing class to complement the videotape I show about the establishment of the first McDonald’s in Moscow. He explained how impossible it was to get any decent food, even if you were an American with dollars to spend, in those pre-perestroika days.
The Women's Studies professor on-board had talked to us about the plight of women in the Soviet Union and how even in this day, there are young girls tricked into slavery. The students in my marketing class have brought examples of ads and cards for “dating services” that promise young, blonde Russian women for any man with the money to pay.
Students from the History course have taken the Siege of Leningrad tour and seen the perimeter where the Russians held off the Germans for 900 days, and the graves of those who starved to death, including the grandparents of the tour guide.
As we approach Poland, in the Core course, Ron describes the effect of the Second World War on that country, the collective guilt that the Poles felt and have tried to absolve for their treatment of the Jewish population.
The history professor shows shocking photos to prepare those who have signed up for the optional three-day trip to Auschwitz, if you can possibly prepare for such horror.
We need a break.
It turns out that Ron is also an expert at song parodies. As we passed Denmark, he organized some faculty, staff and Tony for a rendition of “Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen.” The day before we arrive in Poland, this group returns for Ron Linden's version of “Shall We Gdansk?,” including those famous lines,
Now that we're a part of NATO,
Just like France,
Take a chance.
Shall we Gdansk?
The best part is that we now have Rogers and Hammerstein going through our heads instead of one of Danny Kaye's weaker efforts.
We are more than halfway through our trip, and the excitement of approaching each new city is now mixed with a secret desire to nap. In Gdansk we are not close to downtown, but a short walk away is an easy tram system that gets us to city centre in 10 or 15 minutes. But the first day this means waiting in the line of college students at the ATM to get zlotys, figuring out how to buy tickets and which tram to take. I’m not feeling well, so Tony does all the hard work.
He uses the new zlotys to buy things at the. store, and it appears everything here will be as cheap as in Russia. Once I’ve had some juice and get to the train station in the heart of the town, I'm feeling a bit better but still a little queasy. Our students and faculty are all milling around, getting maps, trying to figure out what trains they can take for short trips on their own. The buzz is starting to get to me.
I need a break.
Out the station window I see the promised land—TGIFriday's. I need a burger. A big one. And I need it now. Tony and I slip away from the Americans and head to one of the most American spots around, Of course, many of the students soon follow, but my husband and I wallow alone in two cheeseburgers—with fries, an indulgence I never allow myself at home. And two big Polish beers.
Thanks, I needed that. Now we're back in travel mode.
That evening, we find the old part of Gdansk, a series of beautiful Hanseatic buildings, all gabled like those in Bergen, Norway. Amber is for sale cheaply everywhere—along with beer, ice cream, and Gofry, which we eventually figure out is a Polish version of a Belgian waffle.
Gdansk is one of those great European cities you can just walk around and enjoy, stop to have a beer or a meal, listen to street musicians. Because everything is so cheap, we eat away from the ship more here than in any other port. At one outdoor café I decide to chance the “steak of the house,” even though the waitress learning English can’t explain whether it is beef or pork. It turns out to be filet mignon done perfectly rare—for $6.
For us Gdansk is relaxing. We have signed up for only one trip, a meeting at the local development office to discuss Gdansk's current urban problems. Because of lack of jobs, people are deserting the center city for the suburbs, buying more cars and using public transportation less, and building new malls on the outskirts. Oh, my God, it’s turning into Florida! I tell her to come visit us to learn from America’s mistakes.
She shows us the offices of Solidarity and we tour the museum at the shipyards where the 1980 protests were staged. The students are interested in the video news reports of tanks rolling over strikers, but to them it is very long ago. Most were just being born along with the revolution in Eastern Europe.
But while Tony and I were strolling around Gdansk, eating desserts and drinking cheap beer, many of our students chose to have a different experience in Poland. They signed up for a three-day trip, leaving the first evening we arrived, to Krakow, Auschwitz-Birkenau, including the National Museum situated on the site of the largest Nazi death camp during World War II, and a nearby salt mine, one of UNESCO's World Cultural and Natural Heritage sites.
I have asked two of those who chose to go on this trip to join me to talk about their experiences. Dan, a junior at the University of Iowa, is an undergraduate in both of my classes and grew up in South Florida, and Kathryn, a student in the Pitt law program on board, is a second-year law student from Arizona State University. Welcome Dan and Kathryn.
Gypsy Teacher: What made you decide, back when you signed on for Semester at Sea, to spend your time in Poland at Auschwitz and down a salt mine? Dan?
Dan: As you said, I grew up in South Florida and made friends with quite a few Jewish people down there. The first reason I went was just out of respect for them, just to learn a bit more about the history of their people and their family members. The other reason I went was because I made a vow to myself that I would do something in each country that I could learn from and that I would take back home to tell my friends and family. I thought that this was the perfect opportunity for me to see something that literally was probably one of the most important things in history. That's why I decided to go.
GT: And Kathryn, you had seen some other places like this in Europe previously and chose to see Auschwitz too?
Kathryn: Yes, that’s correct. I'd lived in Eastern Europe, in Romania actually, which no longer has any Jewish population, and then I spent a lot of time in the historic sites around in Germany. I really felt called again, like Dan said, out of respect for the events that I had read about and knew that had occurred in Poland, to visit Auschwitz.
GT: On the ship they did a lot to prepare the students for what they would see. Did you find that what you saw there was what you expected, or was there some things that were, maybe, surprising? Or that really hit you when you first got there?
D: I think that they prepared us as well as they could. But I don’t think you could really; once you get there, as much preparation as you have, it’s still just hits hard. You try to realize and prepare yourself, but even though I had prepared myself for the most part, just seeing and feeling everything and just taking it all in—I don’t think anything could have truly prepared me for it.
K: I agree with Dan. It was just such a tragic event and has affected so much past, present and future, it’s a lesson about something that can happen. It was a potent experience and preparation was definitely well done here on the ship. But again I think there were a lot of things that were just difficult. Maybe not a surprise, but difficult to deal with while there.
GT: What was the main thing that struck you, that physically being there was different from pictures or from things that you had heard?
D: I didn't realize that it was more of a museum. When I got there we walked through the barracks—I’d seen the pictures in the history books of the front gate and the train tracks—but walking through there and seeing all of the shoes. I think the room that really changed me and scared me the most was the room full of human hair. An entire room filled with human hair of people who had died in the Holocaust. That was something that we hadn’t seen in books.
K: Seeing the suitcases with the people's names, the belongings, the hair, knowing that there were people who had identities and lives, like the group of us who were going through with our own individual identities. Seeing the contrast of this life with just the staleness and the museum-like atmosphere that we were visiting, that was definitely difficult.
GT: Neither of you is Jewish, but you both said that you had Jewish friends at home and here on the ship. I’m sure a lot of the students on the trip were emotional, but did you find that there was a difference? That people were helping the Jewish students to deal with it?
D: I think there was kind of a difference. I think that everyone dealt with it in their own way. I noticed that a few of the Jewish students did stick together almost as support because I think that they just had that connection. A lot of them had links to victims of the Holocaust; there were a lot more of them creating their own support for each other. I think that they really realized and knew in their own way that they had that connection to each other.
K: It was interesting because we were experiencing a very grave thing as a group, but we had a busy sort of tourist agenda. We went straight from Auschwitz to lunch and then on to the salt mines as you mentioned. So I didn't see as much of the effects of the emotions of individuals that I believe happened later at various points, before, during and after.
I know there are a couple of students who are Jewish on my hall and they had a lot of preparation for just going and visiting. I was really impressed with how much respect was given to the feat that we were undertaking—going and visiting and just taking the time to reflect. I think maybe that’s good; we combined doing something as a group, but then we took the time to retreat and then reflect as individuals.
GT: At Auschwitz itself or at Birkenau, did you see any students who went off by themselves to deal with it on their own?
D: There were quite a few, especially at the memorial. One of my roommates on the trip had grandparents who both survived actually being at Auschwitz-Birkenau and I noticed him going off. He actually walked over to one of the senior passengers on the ship and broke down. He was the most emotional of all the people that I saw because he had that direct link. There were quite a few people going off by themselves and reflecting, especially after seeing the memorial and reading the passages that were there.
GT: How did it feel, right after that experience, to go back into the “real” world? Like you said, you had lunch, and you went on the salt mine tour, which I think some students kind of enjoyed and other students weren’t happy about. For you, how did it feel, going from the camp to that?
K: There was a bit of criticism about the agenda; going from one event to another. Interestingly enough, we dined at McDonalds of all places, right after visiting Auschwitz. I think for everyone in the group there was that uncomfortable feeling of, please, no, this is uncomfortable. But I reflected on that and thought, that could have been one of the best things that we could have done, to have some American symbol associated with such an event. I think now I’m never going to forget when I go home and see McDonalds or eat a Big Mac that uncomfortable feeling that I felt when we ate at McDonalds after visiting Auschwitz. That’s a good thing because I really think you can set aside a set period of time to visit a concentration camp, or to visit a death camp, or to visit Auschwitz. But to really take the time and reflect and think about the lives that were lost and what it means and how we can avoid things like this in the future—that’s what we need to do to avoid these things and to give respect to those who suffered and lost family members.
GT: What do you think is one of the main things you will take away from this? Dan?
D: Just an appreciation of everyday life. I think I took a lot for granted living in America; going to these camps makes me realize that it can be taken away in a heartbeat. I’m just really trying to appreciate every day and live every day to its fullest. Just appreciate the people I meet, the things I see, and the things I am able to do.
GT: For most of the students I talked to and the faculty who were on the trip, it is something they’ll never forget. So thank you for sharing your feelings with us.
Back on the ship, we set sail into the Baltic, west into the sun, and the sunshine of Gdansk has turned to cloudy, cold weather. This feels like Norway and Ireland again. Where is summer?
A whole day is set aside—meaning no classes or regular activities—for the ship to go through the Kiel Canal. The time has been scheduled months in advance. We clear the first set of locks in the morning, while many of us are sleeping in. We slip through Germany, cutting across the peninsula that it shares with Denmark. The friendly people in the beautiful houses along the water come out to wave at us, and a Royal Dutch Air Force plane dips its wings as a salute—perhaps to the lovely coeds exercising on the back deck.
Seeing this pretty part of Germany, in the Europe we have all been learning about for weeks now, one of the senior passengers asks the political science professor, “It all looks so beautiful now. How did all those horrible things happen here, not that long ago?”
Once we clear the lock at the North Sea end of the Canal, we are on to the beauties of Belgium. But we had to go through that passage first.
For the WLRN Radio Reading Service, this is Kathleen Dixon Donnelly—at Sea.
posted by Kathleen at 1:38 PM
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