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| At the Amsterdam National Monument |
Amsterdam has a completely different feel from Cologne, although I knew that. I knew that I was staying in a "party" hostel. Heck, my daughter had been to a party at that hostel when she was in Europe! Of course, everyone asked me if I would be indulging while I was in Amsterdam (for that is what you do!). Um, no, I was there for a completely different purpose and wanted to have my wits about me during that time.
It's an absolutely beautiful city, surrounded by canals. Little cobblestone streets and old buildings. The first thing I did after dropping my backpack off at the hostel (Flying Pig - was wonderful and yet again, right in the middle of everything!), was go on another of those "free walking tours." I had found the one in Cologne so amazingly informative that I thought it would be a wonderful idea. Amsterdam is a tourist town. It kind of left me wondering who actually lives there - and can afford to live there! (a small apartment costs around 1M Euro) The tour started in Dam Square at the National Monument. You couldn't miss the giant obelisk in the middle of the square across from the Royal Palace.
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| Flying Pig Hostel Lobby/Bar |
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| Royal Palace |
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| National Monument |
Our guide, Geert, began the tour by going through the red light district. Yes, there are scantily clad women in the windows, but otherwise it's basically a tourist place. What we learned was how intelligent the people in the Netherlands are. Prostitution - it's going to happen. Why not make it a legal business, where you can collect taxes and make sure that the prostitutes who are doing it aren't being forced to do it. Educating them so they stay safe ... wow, what a wonderful idea! These women (and men) must rent space in a certain area of the city that is designated for this. They rent in shifts and must show their passport each time they have a shift. This helps to prevent being kept as sex slaves, because if someone is in that position their passports are usually taken from them by the perpetrators. They receive education, thereby preventing disease or making it less likely they will get a disease because they practice safe sex.
I know this type of thing will never happen in the US because some people have archaic thoughts that this is a sin, but really! These women and men don't have pimps who beat them. They have legitimate businesses!
Another thing we learned was that in Amsterdam they treat junkies and drug addicts as a medical issue, not a legal issue, thereby saving their government tens of thousands of Euros in costs, eliminating crime, and keeping their streets free from these people. It costs €30k per year to lock someone up in jail. It costs €11k to treat these people. They go to the doctors office to get their fix, thereby eliminating the issue of dirty needles and disease, eliminating the issue of where they will find their fix and how they will pay for their fix. This frees addicts up to find jobs instead of stealing from people to get their fix. Brilliant!!
Also, contrary to what people believe, marijana is not legal in Amsterdam. The government looks the other way when it comes to things that don't hurt society. So there are "coffee shops" where you don't go to eat (go to a cafe to eat) This was a very important lesson on this tour, as who knows if I would have wondered into a coffee shop for some coffee.
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| Geert showing us coats of arms |
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| More coats of arms |
He also showed us coats of arms on the buildings. This was how you would recognize the houses where people lived before Napolean invaded and put numbers on the buildings. We learned about the fact that there are more bikes than people in Amsterdam and the bikes have the right of way (I didn't run there because I was afraid of being run over by a bicycle.
It was a wonderful tour with many insights about Amsterdam, ending near the Jewish Quarter. That section of Amsterdam is the newest section because during the war, after we (the Jews) were deported, there was a shortage of food and fuel for the winter. The people who were left raided the houses and apartments in that area for fuel to burn as the winters in Amsterdam are brutal and the area was left devoid of people. The tour ended near the Anne Frank House, so I got into the line for entry :-).
This is where enlightenment began for me. The actual house, with it's hiding places where the Frank family lived didn't impress me. I think it's because of my family history. There were many people in hiding, including my father. This history is MY history. I am the daughter of a hidden child. My family escaped Germany in 1938 and went to Holland to attempt to escape Hitlers army. Amsterdam is an excepting place, with people from all walks of life and from all places. All races, all nationalities, all religions settled in this beautiful port city that was one of the richest places in Europe because of the East India Trading Company, located in what is now the University of Amsterdam. It was a bustling city that traded with the entire world.
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| Steps to the attic |
My great-grandparents and uncle and aunt went to Amsterdam from Cologne. My Oma and grandfather went to Berlin first, and then to Amsterdam. My family was already established in Amsterdam prior to my Oma getting there. They had a factory where they made belts and pocketbooks (resourceful as they were, they owned Billiards Clubs throughout Germany before that - the Nazi's took them away). My father and grandparents arrived after Kristalnacht, sometime in November 1938, and went to live in Amsterdam.
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| My family house in Amsterdam |
They somehow survived living in a beautiful townhome in the middle of the city until 5/21/1943, when my grandfather was deported to Sobibor, a death camp.
My Oma then brought my father to a family in Rotterdam (she paid them with her gold, jewelry, anything that she had). The family had two sons of their own, and did not treat my father well. I would say that he was the Cinderella of the family, but he did survive.
Oma lived on Konigstraat in Rotterdam under a fake name, with fake papers. This would be her downfall.
What did I find at the Anne Frank House? Names, dates, murder, death, information, enlightenment .... I've been searching for my family. When/where/how?
The tour was uneventful - you go through the house with an audiotour and they tell you about what happened, and even Otto Frank speaks on the audiotour. It was sad, but since my family had the same history I was already a bit numb. Towards the end of the tour there was a "Memorial Book" under glass. It was a book that listed all of the murdered Jews from the Netherlands. At the end of the tour I went to the desk and asked where I can find the book. They took it out of a drawer and started helping me find my family. We looked under the correct spelling (Meyer) and couldn't find anything. Then we looked under the Dutch spelling (Meijer) and I hit the jackpot. There was my Grandfather, and my great grandparents! There were the dates that they were deported and where they were sent to their deaths! I felt so much excitement that I'd finally found information.
And, I was emotionally distraught, add to that the fact that it was now 6:30PM and all I had eaten all day was a pastry at 8:30AM on the train and Amsterdam didn't seem as friendly as Cologne and Berlin with their sidewalk cafe's. I finally found a restaurant that wasn't fast food and it took about 20 minutes to get a waiter. Yup, Amsterdam was not endearing itself to me!
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| My first beer in the Netherlands |
Well fed and hydrated, I headed back to the Hostel to relax. My upper bunkmate Jasmine was just getting into bed as well. She was on a one day layover from her home (Switzerland), on her way to Safari in Uganda and then to teach at a school somewhere else in Africa. She asked me if I'd like to "take breakfast together" and I was so happy to be eating with someone. That is the one thing on this trip - it get's kind of lonely eating alone all of the time! We woke up early the next morning and had our included hostel breakfast, then we decided to head out to explore together.
We took a ferry to an industrial area that had a warehouse artist space. Very cool and funky.
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| In the art space |
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| Cafe at the artists space |
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| Jasmine and me at the cafe - it was the first time it was cold on my trip |
We ended up walking all around Amsterdam, stopping in the Jewish Quarter (where I decided to spend time the next day) and having dinner together before she headed on the train to get on her flight. That night I went to the museum area and to the Van Gogh Museum.
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| Beautiful Sunset in Amsterdam |
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| A famous Van Gogh Painting |
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| I AMSTERDAM in the square |
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| Canal at dusk |
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| Another steppingstone commemorating the murdered |
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| Rembrandt Museum |
I lit a candle on the memorial wall for "Meijer" and "Meyer", I said the mourners kaddish for all, I cried, and then I started exploring. The database area helped me find my family ... My father, grandfather and Oma's address during the war. My great-grandparents who were deported to Auschwitz in September 1943. I kept searching ....
I went to the Jewish Museum, where they had a wonderful art exhibit on display. The rest of the museum didn't interest me much, as it seemed to be for people who weren't Jewish.
I went to the Holocaust Memorial, which was located in the theater that was a holding spot for all of the Jews that were deported to Westerbork, prior to getting to the death camps and concentration camps. I sat in the courtyard where tens of thousands of people were kept for weeks, and cried. I thought of my grandfather being sent there after being arrested in the street. It was incredibly emotional. The deportation center was located next to an orphanage. They used to sneak children out and save them from the Nazi's.
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| Deportation center |
Finally, I met a Rabbi for a wonderful dinner overlooking the Amstel. It was so beautiful, and she was so beautiful. It felt like a bit of home there, as we speak on the phone with my work.
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| Rabbi Hannah Nathans |
I was ready to leave the next morning. It was time to head back home, to reality, and absorb everything that I had found. I felt like I found another home in Cologne and I know I'll be back ....
Oh, I forgot and don't want to leave this as a cliffhanger .... why were the fake papers my Oma's downfall? She hid for months, renting a room, never going out except to see my father and pay the family. One day, the man who created the fake papers for many Jews was captured and the SS told him that he needed to give up everyone he created papers for or else they would kill him and his family, He believed them and he gave up all of the names. Of course the Nazi's murdered him and his family anyway. On the day that they got my Oma, she was supposed to be getting my father, but someone was looking out for them. It was pouring rain so hard that she didn't go that day. When they arrested her, they asked where her son was and she was strong enough to say that she didn't know, he was hidden by someone else and they didn't tell her. They threatened to murder her right there, but she stayed strong! My Oma's journey, from Westerbork, to Auschwitz, to Bergen Belsen, was the same journey that Anne Frank took. Anne Frank was killed in Bergen Belsen, and my Oma was deported once more to a work camp, Salzwedel, where she was liberated.
My Oma's journey will continue in another blog, on another day ....
