The complexities of eastern Europe

Budapest, Hungary and Krakow/ Auschwitz, Poland (Aug. 14-25)

Going further east into Europe for me was like reading Heart of Darkness; the further along you get, the more eerily dark things become as the history of past events shows a dark side to the human condition. Hungary and Poland today are vibrant, recovering countries that have joined the European Union and keep with the fashions of the west while trying to forget about a century in which their lands were conquered, divided, taken away, their people brutally repressed by neighbors on both sides of them and their moral fiber nearly crushed by the last regime of Soviet influence. I love the spirit of the people today and find their cities an interesting mixing pot of old and new, with a sense of hope for the future.

Just getting to Hungary was interesting- combination bus, air from Italy to Bratislava and final leg via train. And, of course, the cab driver tried to rip me off, telling me the downtown was 15 km away while we negotiated the price (but I had a map so he came down from $30 to $10!) I stayed in the old historic center of the city near the walking mall, Vati utca, so was central to everything- and made for a great jog to Hosok tere.

Budapest is an incredibly interesting place that I had heard a lot about in the past; most notably, that it was a sister city to Prague. On a city tour the first day, I got a sense of just how different it is. The Hungarian people were a nomadic people dating back to the 9th century that came to central Europe from the east so they have virtually no relation to their neighbors; some of their citizens consider it an island in the middle of Europe. They speak a different language that is of no relation to the Slavic language their neighbors speak and a clearly ethnically different from Czechs, Poles and Russians. Our guide joked with us that Hungarians have made some critical mistakes- they have never sided on the right side of a war and have never had a successful revolution. Their conflicts date back to resisting the Turks, Austrians, Germans and Russians in the past with brutal results. Their country, which once stretched from the Black Sea to the Adriatic, was dramatically redrawn after WWI and their lost many of their citizens to neighboring lands, something that still hangs on their conscious today.

There are a lot of interesting places tucked into Budapest. Heroes Square (Hosok tere) contains a monument of the original 7 chieftans of the Magyars (original name for Hungarians) along with monuments to Hungarian leaders throughout history (and now they have a little obsession with 7- reflecting back to their leaders). There is an opera house that is modeled after Vienna’s, an impressive bath house with naturally heated water, a number of large, imposing government buildings on the river and Varhegy (Castle Hill) across the Danube River, which divides what was once 2 cities- Buda and Pest. The other interesting part of it was that over 80% of Budapest was destroyed during WWII so it has had to be rebuilt.

One of the things that really struck me about Hungary was how appalling the past century has been to their people and country. After losing 65% of their land following WWI, they were convinced by the Germans to join WWII, which worked out horribly for them. You can imagine, then, what the Russians (whom they originally fought) did once they stepped foot into Hungary. The USSR had declared it a ‘liberation’ but it was the beginning of a massive repression to last half a century. I visited both the Communist Park, where they house all the huge, old Soviet statues, and the Torture House, where brutal interrogations were handled by the Communists. Through the Nazis and the Communists, the country had executed thousands of the intellectuals, religious leaders and others who opposed the regime. It’s hard to imagine 2 more brutal spheres of control- the Nazis and Russia. There was also a short documentary about their attempted revolution in 1956 in which the Russians sent 500,000 troops to crush the movement and summarily execute the leaders of the rebellion. Another sad note in the former eastern bloc.

I left Hungary with fond memories and also a big sense of loss for what once was for them and is not any more.

Krakow is undeniably the crown jewel of Poland, at least according to most of the Poles you meet. I didn’t really expect much but a lot of vodka drinking there and was really impressed with the town. There is the largest town square in Europe in the heart of an Old City that is littered with ethnic restaurants, over 100 bars and all sorts of shops. While bouncing through the city, I got an overview of Polish history and culture, which is also filled with times of being a large empire, being occupied by foreign powers and the more recent Communist regime. An interesting note here is that Krakow is considered a “2nd Rome” because there are so many bishops, churches and religious presence there; Pope John Paul II was once the Archbishop of the city and obviously beloved. It was also a very ethnic area in the past with a Jewish section, Kazimierz, which was home to a large population back in the day.

While I spent a few days relaxing in the environs of Krakow, I did take a day trip to Zakopane, a mountain retreat for Poles and Slovakians. It reminded me quite a bit of Bolder, Colorado and other mountain towns- lots of pubs in the town under the mountains. But I guess the fashion in Poland is to take vodka around during ski events to keep you warm. Yeah, they love their vodka. And really heavy food.

Undoubtedly the gloomiest day I have spent this year was the trip to Auschwitz. I don’t know if there is a more evil, tyrannical place on earth. It was the home to the deaths of over 1.5 million people (mostly Jewish) during WWII as the largest concentration camp and home to the most brutal crematoriums in history. I cannot put in to words the feeling of walking around an area where the sole goal of a foreign power was the absolute genocide of another people simply because of their religious ideology. I won’t go into the mechanics much, but it left me feeling bleak about the human condition. How could this happen? How could people actually do this?


On a final, almost funny but rather frustrating note, I have had a horrible time trying to get to Russia. I actually did fly there Friday only to be held for 6 hours with almost no explanation and then deported back to Prague. Because I only had a ‘visa invitation’, not a complete visa! So they have actually made me fly back to Prague to go to a Russian Embassy here for a piece of paper. I have to say, the most frustrating day of travel I have had. Someone feel sorry for me. (mom?)

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