Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day mum!!! I hope you're having a wonderful day in China (I think) and if you're reading this, please send me an email so I know you are ok!!!

Where are we now?
We finished up our week in Warsaw on Thursday and took a VERY slow train to Slovakia - Bratislava to be exact. We're now staying in a lovely apartment a few minutes walk from the centre of town.

Our train from Warsaw was so slow that by the time we arrived in Brclav - a small Czech town - our connecting train had long gone... resulting in cheap beer, pizza, and a very late arrival! But worth the trip - Bratislava is awesome, though you'll have to wait for the next post for a proper update, because...

Chelm
In honour of Mother's Day, this post is about our trip to Chelm, the birthplace of both my grandparents, and the place - if not for WWII - that my mother would have been born and possibly spent her life.

Today, Chelm is a town of 70,000 people in the south-East of Poland, close to the Ukraine border.

According to my research (ie Wikipedia), Chelm was settled by the Jewish community from the 1300s - maybe earlier - and had a significant Jewish population until 1939. Chelm was a centre for Jewish culture and learning in Poland.

In 1921, more than half the town was Jewish and in early 1939 that percentage was up to 60%. That year (1939) was the last time Jews made up more than half the population of Chelm. By the end of WWII, the Jewish population was obliterated. My grandparents survived, but their families mostly did not. Did I mention this was not a happy tale??

Part of me (obviously not a very rational part) didn't really conceive of Chelm as a real place. Which is right in one respect because the place my grandparents were born - the Chelm with a thriving Jewish community - doesn't exist anymore.

Visiting Chelm was surreal. For the record, the Chelm of my imagination was a grey and conservative yet lively and crowded place with a small cobblestoned city centre and strong Eastern European flavour.

I don't know if it was the weather (a sunny 24 degrees) or the size of the town, but what struck me on arrival was how much it felt like a country town in Australia. The wide streets, beating heat, style of houses... I felt like I was in... I dunno, maybe Benalla??

And because of the resurgence of 80s fashion, it felt like Benalla circa 1987. I'm talking acid wash jeans, rainbow high top sneakers and fluoro tops...

The major tourist attraction is the chalk mines which are - and I kid you not - apparently haunted. Ghost figurines are one of the most popular souvenirs at the tourist centre. It was so at odds with a place that I had always associated with a strong tradition of culture and learning.










There are no obvious signs that the Jews were ever there. The last synagogue which still stood at the end of the war is now a pub. Apparently, the EU sent a memorial plaque, but the owner of the pub refused to display it.


The former synagogue. There were a few people staring at us as we took this photo...

The Chelm residents wandered about seemingly oblivious, eating ice cream and drinking beer on a sunny afternoon. I felt like I was alone in carrying the history of the place and everyone else had forgotten.

Despite all this, there was something really pleasant about spending the afternoon there. Just sitting in the middle of the open street and watching people going about their lives. Trying to imagine fitting into modern Chelm.

I'd always felt that my grandparents must have missed things about Chelm when they came to Australia - like good bread and centuries of tradition. But (assuming it once existed), it's not apparent today.

My grandmother loved spending Mother's Day at one of the tearooms of the nice city hotels. Chelm has the two star Hotel Kamena, which would most definitely not have been her style...

Anyway, I mostly went to have a look and take some photos for my mum. So mission accomplished on that front. I also went looking for some intangible thing - the feeling of past generations - but it just wasn't there.

I'll leave you with the best of Chelm - its coat of arms:



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