gruezi, here's another book rec for your daughter. Rutka's Notebook: A Voice from the Holocust

This newly published diary is "the long-lost diary of 14 year old Rutka Laskier 'the Polish Anne Frank.'"

Rutka hid her diary and told a Christian friend its location. Rutka was deported and murdered in Auschwitz. After the war, her friend retrieved the diary and made no mention of it until 2006. It covers about a four month period of 1943 Bedzin, Poland.

Its recent publication received a great deal of attention in both Poland and Israel.

I read about the book and picked it up last weekend. It appears to be a relatively short read and includes photos and historical sidebars that will probably be of interest to your daughter.

gruezi - this is all awesome!!

Maybe I missed it, but I don't think that anyone has recommended the film
The Sorrow and the Pity (fr. Le Chagrin et la Pitie).

It might offer an interesting perspective, since the documentary explores the motives behind collaboration in France. A risque subject which this film addresses excellently.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066904/plotsummary

Hello Friends,

Just wanted to say thanks!! to those who have made recent additions/comments since I last checked in.

My daughter and I had a great trip to Normandy and our whole family went to London and saw the Imperial War Museum and the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum. I'm attaching below a rough "trip report" from a note I sent MomDD for her travels as I'm not sure when I'll have time for a formal trip report. I can't say enough great things about the museums in London. If you go there, don't miss them!!

Please send me any questions you might have as I do check in and hopefully I'll get that trip report out by September.

Some interesting outcomes from our travels. My daughter has found these trips and the movies we watched beforehand, pretty bleak, and next week we head to Berlin. During our travels she learned not only the atrocities of WWII but the ongoing conflicts, terrorism and genocides since that war. She is going to write a paper for her college applications about this travel and I think her topic has changed from WWII history to war in general and the . It'll be interesting to see what she writes and maybe I can share it here.

Another outcome of this summer was that she had no idea what she wanted to major in at college and has just this week discovered a major called "Peace and Justice" and is thinking perhaps this may be just what she is looking for. It's an interdisciplinary major which includes topics from sociology, history, religion, political science - all majors she was considering. It is offered at about 200 schools worldwide - some only as a minor - but at some of the schools she was already considering.

So, Monday we head to Berlin. I'm posting a seperate thread for any ideas/restaurants etc to break up the war theme.

Shalom....

gruezi

Here is a rough outline of our travels in Normandy:

Normandy is a beautiful, charming area of France which I guess I didn't expect to be so taken by. The views and beaches are quite stunning and I am a water/beach lover so I enjoyed that part very much. We had a very sweet young French woman through "Normandy Tours" who spent a long half day with just my daughter and I. She picked us up at our hotel and customized the day based on our interests. We visited Pointe du Hoc, Utah Beach,=2 0Arromanche, and the American Cemetery with her. More than a half day (9-1 pm) was plenty for us. It is a lot to process and I think a full day tour would be tiring. We did the tour on our second day in Normandy after we viewed the Peace Museum which I think was helpful - especially the movie shown there that chronicles the events. Also, we had watched quite a few movies beforehand including Band of Brothers (excellent) so we had some background. She said the Battlebus tours are also good and they have mini-vans which can fit a larger family group - they are a bit more strategic oriented I think which was not really our big interest.

We didn't rent a car for the trip - we took a train from Paris to Caen (about 2 hours) and saw the Peace Museum and then took a bus and train on to Bayeux (sp?) where we stayed 3 nights at an Inn (Chateau Bellefontaine) just outside of town. The inn itself was cute with a pond and swans out front but we stayed in the newer annex which was a bit dorm-ish IMO. The price was steep at 160 Euros but we had a spacious 2 level suite - it was all they had left but it would work well for a family or couple of rambunctious boys. My daughter said, "Once you're in this weird room, you could be anywhere - you'd never know you were in France." Hee, hee I think she will be a critic on Fodor's someday!!!

It was a good 20 minutes walk from the Inn to town for dinner or walking around and we walked it a lot. I think it would have been better to stay in town esp. given all the walking you do on these trips already. There are a few nice restaurants there and I loved the french food especially all the foie gras - ate it 'til it was coming out of my ears!! The best bargain for the food was Petit Normandie - 3 course for 16 Euros. We also ate twice at the other restaurant the Fodorites all recommend (can't remember the name right now - Pommier?) and it was very good but much pricier.

I was a bit disappointed in the highly touted Caen Peace Museum - a bit hard to read the exhibits for my old eyes and no one around to explain how to get started or a floor plan or anything. (They were very nice about holding our luggage though which I was worried about.) The entrance fee was a bit steep I thought and later I found out there was a floor plan and guide in English but it cost extra.... There were lots of good things about the museum - the 2 movies shown are "must sees" but the layout was difficult and I think could have been better done and I loved the memorial outside from the various countries who supported the museum. We spent a lot of time on the WWII exhibit but after visiting the Imperial War Museum in London a few weeks later we realized it was so much bet ter done (excellent in fact). And the Imperial War Museum is free. If you ever can go there, I highly recommend it. Also, the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum in London are also fascinating.

(I am not really a history buff so if I find this stuff interesting, anyone would.)

We lived just outside NYC during 9/11 and there was a temporary 9/11 exhibit at the Peace Museum which was excellent and we both spent a lot of time there. My daughter was a bit young at the time so I had sheltered her a bit from things and now at 17 she was quite interested to learn all about these events. The day was a bit depressing between that and a bleak movie called "Hope" which chronicles all the horrific moments of war and genocide etc that are still being perpetuated today.

There is a Nobel Peace Price exhibit there as well, but it is hidden away in the basement. I could have spent more time there, but it was a bit creepy given I'm a bit claustrophobic. My daughter pointed out that it was wrong to have the real "hopeful exhibit" hidden away in a dark basement where few people would ever see it...I had to agree.

I found the little city of Bayeax charming, although my daughter was not too impressed. The cathedral is impressive and the tapestry was pretty incredible (especially if you are at all into needlework!) The movie about the tapestry is really good and brings the whole thing alive so it's another must see IMO. The museum audio really rushes you through the tapestry, so it's good to learn how to use the pause button before you enter the dark exhibit otherwise you will feel rushed and herded like cattle. My daughter was burnt out from the Normandy beaches by the time we saw the tapestry (which she had studied in Art History class) so I let her sit outside and wait while I saw the movie. I'm glad I did as it explained the whole war and the sewing of the tapestry so very nicely.

I think it would have been nice to have our own car in Normandy - esp with GPS. It was more relaxing for us not to have to worry about finding our way about, but then we were also limited in seeing some of the countryside. For more than 3 days I would recommend renting a car.

Americans in Normandy are very welcome just about anywhere you go. It's a pretty touristy area very dependent on US and British tourists so everyone speaks English. Although it's geared toward tourism, it still retains it's charm, I think.

Monte Ste Michel is another story completely.... Don't go there in the summer.... Insanely touristy and pa cked with people. It is a beautiful (majestic, really) place, but the crowds and cheesy shops really detract. We had some extra time and I figured I wouldn't be back to Normandy again (although I'd like to) so we took the train there for the day. Really, 2 hours at Mte. Ste. Michel is plenty, but the train only runs very infrequently so you are a bit trapped there if you use public transportation. I found it a bit of a scam in that sense. But, it is a pretty amazing site. I would see it in the fall if I had a choice.

Sorry for any typos, misspellings and for it not being the most polished writing.

gruezi

It is fabulous Gruezi - thank you as always!!

Gruezi...

In Berlin, I'm sure you will see all of the highlights of the city...such as the bombed out shell of the Wilhelm church on Kufurstendamm, Brandenburg Gate, the new Potsdammer Platz, The Reichstag dome, and hopefully you will take in the nearby city of Postdam...beautiful place featuring San Souci Palace...and the infamous Wannsee Conference Center is a few miles from Potsdam (on the lake Wannsee)...where the "final solution" was planned on Jan. 20, 1942...a lakeside mansion where a cocktail lunch was served to the 15 (including Heydrich and Eichmann)attendees while the fate of millions was being meticulously detailed and coldly discussed. (Ironically, nearby on the same mansion-filled street is the manor house where Liebermann, Germany's most famous Jewish artist, lived in the 30's.)

A little known, out of the way Holocaust memorial which we sought out three years ago, is at the corner of Levetow Strasse and Jagow Strasse, on the very grounds of a synagogue destroyed during the infamous Kistallnacht (1938) ..a taxi driver will know how to get there. It is the most chilling and unique memorial of deportees being transported on freight cars, to certain death...go see it if you can...there was absolutely no one else there when we visited.

Here are pix:

http://picasaweb.google.com/stuarttower/Wansee0502


I know your daughter felt the pain of the bleakness, but there is much to see and do in Berlin which will somewhat offset that feeling.

Have a great, meaningful, educational visit to a world class city (in spite of its dark recent history)

Thanks Dawn...

Tower -

Thanks for such a thoughtful post. I never got to post separately as Fodor's was acting up today so I really appreciate you great suggestions.

We will definitely go to the Wansee Convention House.

Funny you mentioned that other memorial. I had read about it somewhere but wasn't too intrigued by the description. I definitely will put it back on our plans based on your input.

Yes, I hope to show the girls the other sides of Berlin too because life is too short to only relive sadness...

After Normandy we had an overnight in Paris on the way home. The women from my husband's Paris office suggested I take her to Costes for dinner and so I did. What a fun, fun time we had people watching and drinking maybe a bit too much. It was a really light-hearted and fun ending to our pretty intense week. I'm hoping to find some similar diversions in Berlin.

Thanks again.

gruezi

Nice trip report, so far. Thanks for taking the time to post it. Looking forward to reading about your Berlin travels.

Robyn :)>-

Nice job, gruezi.

Recently PBS had a three part, one hour series "The War of the World" by the historian Niall Ferguson from his book. I think it would be excellent viewing for your daughter (and you).

Topping for Travelgirl...

gruezi

bkm, for the trip to Normandy next June...

Hi Flygirl,

You should look up my trip report - lots about Normandy - you can scroll through - it was the first leg of our journey.

Search gruezi, Holocaust and WWII Journey and it should come up. I'll try to top it for you.

Have a great trip and ask me any questions you have.

gruezi

Oh Gruezi, thank you so much!

This will be my own 4th trip to Normandy, but, my Dad's first trip there - I wanted to find some more variety of things to do and also ideas for him to read and view before we go, too.

Thank you for topping both! I'll read them and come back with questions.

I think it's wonderful that you did this with your daughter - and that she has such an interest, too.

Flygirl,

If your Dad hasn't seen "Band of Brothers"yet it's the perfect gift to get him ready for Normandy. Our whole family watched and enjoyed it.

I topped the other thread...

We had quite a summer watching the films and doing the traveling.

She turned her mom into a history lover.

gruezi

Herman Wouk's "Winds of War", War and Remberance" was a TV docu/drama and was excellent. Lots of history, but done in a great story format. Or you could read the books, but very long, but also well written.

See Normandy and take a Battlebus tour. Visit CAEN and the Peace Museum there. One concentration camp is enough. Dauchau is easiest to get to in Europe. The resistance museums in Paris, Amsterdam, and many other ciites is
informative as well.

Wanted to also add another book by Primo Levi - The Drowned and The Saved. I found his books to be quite incredible.

My daughter is taking a class as a senior in high school focusing on fiction and the holocaust. Her class read the Boy in the Stripped Pajamas and they all went to see the movie.

Several years ago we visited Prague and Terezin. That was a very powerful experience for our family, especially our daughter. We also celebrated Passover with a congregation in Prague.

This year my daughter was considering doing The March of the Living...this may be something that your daughter is interested in.

It is very powerful to visit the camps in Europe then go to Israel and visit Yad Vashem.

Good luck to your daughter...