Weimar and Buchanwald

Hallo from Deutschland! This past week has been good- Kara and Michele got back from a two-week trip to Hamburg, Copenhagen, and Stockholm on Friday and it is is so good to have them back! Mom's friend Janet arrived yesterday and now she, Mom, and Pika left after church today to go to Berlin, Nuernberg, Dresden, Freiberg, Eichstatt. Janet's dad designed the Freiberg Temple and she has never seen it. I can't believe Pika is still alive with all the consecutive traveling she has been doing!

School for me has been going really well. I have been meeting some really cool people. In my class (there are 14 of us) Carrie, an opera singer from Michigan has become a really good friend, along with Stephen who is an engineer from New Zealand. There is also John who (who actually isn't in my class, but in another similar level class) just graduated from Princeton with a B.S. in English and is starting his PhD at Harvard- he has been a super good resource for me to talk to about some good authors to read and what to do with an English major. Mohamood, a civic engineer from Oman has been fascinating to talk to about politics with. Sorry- I feel like I am introducing all the characters in a play in this paragraph. It's just because I expect to refer to them a lot from now on and so I want you to all know who I am talking about.

Anyway, yesterday, we took a trip to a town called Weimar, about a 2 1/2 hour bus ride away- the whole school, not just my class. It is famous for being the residence of Schiller, Goethe, and Liszt, at least for part of their lives. We took a tour and then had some free time, where John and I got pear and vanilla sauce crepes (Birne & Vanillesosse) while Carrie and Stephen got bratwurst. They had a whole market set up in the main square with food, jewelry, and flower vendors. We also visited some churches, ruins, and parks. My camera battery died so I don't have any pictures, but Carrie promised to e-mail me some.

After that, we all hopped back on the bus and drove 7 km to Buchanwald, a concentration camp, or KZ. It feels weird to talk about what is was like. We all learn about WWII and the horrors of the concentration camps in school. But to actually be there, seeing the ovens in the crematorium in front of my eyes and imagining smoke coming from the tall brick chimney was... uncomfortably vivid. Inside the museum, I saw artifacts of inmates- blue and white striped uniforms, colored fabric triangles each inmate wore to represent their crime or identity, remains of completely worn leather shoes- evidence that this whole thing was not just a horrible dream but really happened. Most eye-opening and memorable to me was being just outside the camp- the whole camp was surrounded by thick woods with gorgeous autumnal-colored leaves. When the U.S. soldiers came to liberate Buchanwald in April of 1945, the were horrified by the sight of hundreds of dead bodies piled up outside the crematorium- the holding cellars couldn't hold anymore. The soldiers then forced all the citizens of Weimar to walk through the camp and witness the death and suffering. Though it was but 7 km from their town, they said that they had no idea of the horrors that lay within. Even after liberation though, hundreds more died due to lack of food and health care in time. Mass graves were dug there right outside the camp among the dense trees. In 1995, they dedicated that area of the woods as a graveyard and marked every grave, each containing 5-6 bodies, with a steel pole about 6 ft. tall and having about a 4 in. radius. I wish I could share the image with each of you. I looked out as far as I could see in the woods at the gorgeous tall trees, with these steel poles littering the sight about every 4 feet. Hundreds of wood trees, hundreds of steel trees; representing thousands of souls resting there, below the red and orange leave-covered ground. I just stood there, for the first time being able to get some sort of small grasp for how many people died, at least in Buchanwald alone, which apparently was the best of the concentration camps. Wow, I am emotionally exhausted just trying to recount it. Sorry. But I don't want to end on this depressing note.

Before Mom and Janet and Michele left today, we had a small birthday celebration for Mom. Pika set up a really cute Birthday display for Mom on the table and made delicious German pancakes for brunch. She and Dad got Mom a beautiful wooden statue of the Gaenselisel, and Janet gave Mom a really pretty watch, amongst some other things. She also liked the scarf I gave her.

This past week we went over to the branch president's house for dinner and his wife Julia made a really yummy meal where there was a grill thingy in the middle of the table and you just put food on a little tray on the grill and cook whatever you want, from the spread of chicken, potatoes, veggies, and cheese. They are super nice and we had fun bonding with them. I am growing to love our cute little branch here. They are so kind and service oriented. We have stake conference next week. Ok, well yay for daylight savings time here so I have an extra hour to sleep, otherwise, I would be going to bed very late :) Ich liebe euch!