Sunday, September 30, 2007
Dachau: Never Forget
When the Nazis arrested the Communists,
I said nothing; after all, I was not a Communist.
When they locked up the Social Democrats,
I said nothing; after all, I was not a Social Democrat.
When they arrested the trade unionists,
I said nothing; after all, I was not a trade unionist.
When they arrested the Jews,
I said nothing; after all, I was not a Jew.
When they arrested me, there was no longer anyone who could protest.
--Pastor Martin Niemöller, who initially supported the Nazis, but was later a prisoner of the Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps
The weekend before the kids returned home, I headed to Dachau to visit the former concentration camp. I had wanted to go for a while, but didn’t figure the kids were quite old enough to see what was there.
On March 22, 1933, a few weeks after Adolf Hilter had been appointed Reich Chancellor, Heinrich Himmler ordered that a concentration camp be built at Dachau for political prisoners. This was the beginning of a terror system in Dachau that cannot be compared with any other state persecution and penal system. In June 1933, Theodor Eicke was appointed commandant of the concentration camp. He developed an organizational plan and rules with detailed stipulations, which were later to be used for all concentration camps. This camp served as a model for all later concentration camps and as a “school of violence” for the SS men under whose command it stood. In the 12 years of its existence, more than 200,000 people from throughout Europe were imprisoned there and in the numerous subsidiary camps. More than 43,000 of these individuals died before the camp was liberated by the Americans on April 29, 1945.
The Jourhaus (above) was the only entrance to the prisoner camp, and the road leading to it ran directly from the SS camp.
The inscription on the Jourhaus gate reads, “Arbeit macht frei,” which means “work brings freedom” or “work shall set you free.” The phrase was placed at the entrances to a number of Nazi concentration camps, not as a mockery, not even literally -- as a false promise that those who worked to exhaustion would eventually be released -- but rather “as a kind of mystical declaration that self-sacrifice in the form of endless labor does in itself bring a kind of spiritual freedom.” Although it was common practice in Germany to post inscriptions of this sort at entrances to institutional properties and large estates, the slogan's use in this instance was ordered by SS General Theodor Eicke, inspector of concentration camps and first commandant of Dachau Concentration Camp. No one was ever released for working hard or for good behavior.
This was one of seven guard towers on the perimeter of the prisoner area.
The building below on the left was the maintenance building, and housed the camp’s kitchen, clothing store, workshops and the baths. Written on the roof (on the other side) in large letters was the phrase “There is one path to freedom. Its milestones are ‘Obedience, honesty, cleanliness, sobriety, diligence, orderliness, sacrifice, truthfulness, love of the fatherland.’”
Below is the bunker courtyard, between the maintenance building and the bunker. The SS inflicted camp punishments and executions here. It’s also where Soviet prisoners of war, resistance fighters and members of the SS who had been condemned to death were executed.
The building on the right was the bunker -- the camp prison. Inside these walls was a central site of terror within the camp. This was actually the third bunker on this site. The first two were relatively smaller, but this one was considered a modern prison with 137 cells.
The bunker was a center of terror within the camp. Prisoners were punished by being imprisoned for weeks and months on end, often in the dark and with insufficient food. Officials of the “Political Department” -- the Gestapo -- carried out interrogations in the bunker, often maltreating and torturing prisoners to extract confessions. An unknown number of prisoners were murdered here, or driven to suicide.
This is one of the rooms inside the bunker. Some of these rooms were subdivided into four standing-only cells, where prisoners were forced to stand for several days. These cells were about 2’6” square, which prevented prisoners from sitting or lying down. They were imprisoned here for up to 72 hours at a time. On top of that, the lack of light and air made the torture endured here even worse.
There were eight cells set aside for religious “special prisoners.” From 1943, the western part of the bunker corridor was divided off from the rest of the bunker. Prominent clergymen, like Pastor Martin Niemöller and Canon Johannes Neuhäusler, were imprisoned here in their own cells. The remaining rooms, such as this one with the altar, were used a day room or for joint religious services.
Other special prisoners included prominent critics of the regime, such as soldiers and German and foreign politicians, even including former supporters of the Nazi regime. The conditions of these prisoners were vastly better than those of the ordinary prisoners since they were not required to work, were not subjected to corporal maltreatment, received adequate food and were often permitted to maintain contacts with their families.
“It was strict detention, a full eight months, in darkness. No exercise. Hard bed. Bare wood. Three days: water and one pound of bread. Then one day prisoner’s food. Just a tin bowl and a spoon. No fork. No knife. No cup. No washing bowl. No soap. Nothing.”
-- Walter Buzengeiger, June 1934
“Four months in the bunker, four months’ detention in darkness, four months with hot food only every fourth day! Time crawls by. I only count every fourth day, and I’m amazed when the food comes and wakes me up -- I'm in a state of trance.”
-- Erwin Gostner, July 1938
The Gestapo even had an interrogation room in the bunker. The cavity walls and double doors of this room were to prevent cries from being heard outside.
From 1943, the bunker housed the British “special prisoner” Richard Stevens, who was arrested on a charge of conspiring to assassinate Hitler and overthrow the German government.
After the liberation, the building was used by the American military administration for internment of Nazi criminals, and later as a military prison.
This roll call area is where the prisoners were forced to line up mornings and evenings to be counted. During this time, they often had to stand motionless for several hours. If a prisoner was missing, such as after an escape attempt, this torture could be drawn out for many hours.
There were two rows of 17 barracks to house the prisoners. The first two barracks on either side were used for different purposes, with the remaining 15 per side accommodating the prisoners, with four dayrooms and dormitories each. Each barracks building was designed to hold 200 prisoners, but toward the end of the war were so overcrowded that there were up to 2,000 prisoners in each! One entire barrack was set aside for clergy -- called the priest block. The SS even used three of the barracks to conduct horrific medical experiments on the prisoners from 1942 on.
All 34 barracks were torn down in 1964 because of their dilapidated state, then the first one on either side was reconstructed. The outlines of where the barracks once stood are marked off with stone and rocks.
This reconstructed dormitory section shows the wooden bunks. The rooms were tightly-packed with blue-checkered covers on these beds. Each bed had to be precisely the same height, with the bed covers in perfect alignment. If anything was out of place, it was a crime and the offender was punished by an hour hanging at the stake by the wrists tied together behind the back.
This is another watch tower, beside the camp fence. The perimeter included grass strips, ditches with an electrified barbed-wire fence and the camp wall. If a prisoner stepped onto the grass strip, he was shot. Some prisoners ran into the border strip -- the prohibited zone -- on purpose in order to put an end to their suffering.
The Church and Convent of the Carmelite Nuns (above) was built in 1964 at the back of the camp.
This is the Catholic Mortal Agony of Christ Chapel (right), built in 1960, just in front of the convent.
The Protestant Church of Reconciliation was built in 1967.
The entrance to the Jewish Memorial, with the menorah perched atop an opening underneath.
In the summer of 1940, the SS had a crematorium built after the foreign prisoners arrived and the mortality rate had risen dramatically. It was located outside the prisoner camp and was only accessible by passing through the SS camp. A year later, it was already working beyond capacity, and was in operation until about April 1943. During this time, approximately 11,000 prisoners were cremated here.
In 1942-1943, a second, larger, crematorium was built. This one had four furnaces and a gas chamber for mass extermination. Official sources state that the gas chamber was never put into operation, although some sources doubt that claim.
Now for the sobering photos...
This is the waiting room, where victims were to have been instructed on how the supposed “showers” worked.
Then came the disrobing room where they were to leave their clothes before entering the gas chamber disguised as showers. Their clothing was to be brought to the disinfecting chambers before the next group could enter the room.
Next was the gas chamber -- the center of potential mass murder. The room was disguised as showers and equipped with fake shower spouts to mislead the prisoners and prevent them from refusing to enter. During 15 to 20 minutes, up to 150 people at a time could be suffocated to death through prussic acid poison gas.
Next on the assembly line was the death chamber, where the dead were to be brought before they were cremated.
This is the incinerator room. Each of the four furnaces could cremate two to three bodies at once. The ovens were connected to the chimney by an underground canal.
This room was also used for hangings. The victims were hung from the rafters directly in front of the burning ovens.
This room is also where, on Sept. 12, 1944, four young female officers of the British Forces attached to Special Operations Executive were brutally murdered and their bodies cremated. They had previously served the Resistance in France: Mrs. Yolande E.M. (Untemahrer) Beekman, Miss Madeleine Damerment, Miss Noorunisa Inayat Khan, and Mrs. Eliane S. (Browne Bartroli) Plewman.
This last room was another death chamber, this one used to store bodies brought from the prisoner camp to be cremated.
In the last weeks before the liberation of the camp, the dead could no longer be cremated due to a lack of coal. So, some 7,500 dead were buried in nearby mass graves.
The inscription on this memorial reads: “May the example of those who were exterminated here between 1933 – 1945 because they resisted Nazism help to unite the living for the defence of peace and freedom and in respect for their fellow man.”
History must never forget the cruel inhumanity of the Holocaust, while we continue to pay respect to its victims.
I said nothing; after all, I was not a Communist.
When they locked up the Social Democrats,
I said nothing; after all, I was not a Social Democrat.
When they arrested the trade unionists,
I said nothing; after all, I was not a trade unionist.
When they arrested the Jews,
I said nothing; after all, I was not a Jew.
When they arrested me, there was no longer anyone who could protest.
--Pastor Martin Niemöller, who initially supported the Nazis, but was later a prisoner of the Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps
The weekend before the kids returned home, I headed to Dachau to visit the former concentration camp. I had wanted to go for a while, but didn’t figure the kids were quite old enough to see what was there.
On March 22, 1933, a few weeks after Adolf Hilter had been appointed Reich Chancellor, Heinrich Himmler ordered that a concentration camp be built at Dachau for political prisoners. This was the beginning of a terror system in Dachau that cannot be compared with any other state persecution and penal system. In June 1933, Theodor Eicke was appointed commandant of the concentration camp. He developed an organizational plan and rules with detailed stipulations, which were later to be used for all concentration camps. This camp served as a model for all later concentration camps and as a “school of violence” for the SS men under whose command it stood. In the 12 years of its existence, more than 200,000 people from throughout Europe were imprisoned there and in the numerous subsidiary camps. More than 43,000 of these individuals died before the camp was liberated by the Americans on April 29, 1945.The Jourhaus (above) was the only entrance to the prisoner camp, and the road leading to it ran directly from the SS camp.
The inscription on the Jourhaus gate reads, “Arbeit macht frei,” which means “work brings freedom” or “work shall set you free.” The phrase was placed at the entrances to a number of Nazi concentration camps, not as a mockery, not even literally -- as a false promise that those who worked to exhaustion would eventually be released -- but rather “as a kind of mystical declaration that self-sacrifice in the form of endless labor does in itself bring a kind of spiritual freedom.” Although it was common practice in Germany to post inscriptions of this sort at entrances to institutional properties and large estates, the slogan's use in this instance was ordered by SS General Theodor Eicke, inspector of concentration camps and first commandant of Dachau Concentration Camp. No one was ever released for working hard or for good behavior.
This was one of seven guard towers on the perimeter of the prisoner area.The building below on the left was the maintenance building, and housed the camp’s kitchen, clothing store, workshops and the baths. Written on the roof (on the other side) in large letters was the phrase “There is one path to freedom. Its milestones are ‘Obedience, honesty, cleanliness, sobriety, diligence, orderliness, sacrifice, truthfulness, love of the fatherland.’”
Below is the bunker courtyard, between the maintenance building and the bunker. The SS inflicted camp punishments and executions here. It’s also where Soviet prisoners of war, resistance fighters and members of the SS who had been condemned to death were executed.
The building on the right was the bunker -- the camp prison. Inside these walls was a central site of terror within the camp. This was actually the third bunker on this site. The first two were relatively smaller, but this one was considered a modern prison with 137 cells.
The bunker was a center of terror within the camp. Prisoners were punished by being imprisoned for weeks and months on end, often in the dark and with insufficient food. Officials of the “Political Department” -- the Gestapo -- carried out interrogations in the bunker, often maltreating and torturing prisoners to extract confessions. An unknown number of prisoners were murdered here, or driven to suicide.
This is one of the rooms inside the bunker. Some of these rooms were subdivided into four standing-only cells, where prisoners were forced to stand for several days. These cells were about 2’6” square, which prevented prisoners from sitting or lying down. They were imprisoned here for up to 72 hours at a time. On top of that, the lack of light and air made the torture endured here even worse.
There were eight cells set aside for religious “special prisoners.” From 1943, the western part of the bunker corridor was divided off from the rest of the bunker. Prominent clergymen, like Pastor Martin Niemöller and Canon Johannes Neuhäusler, were imprisoned here in their own cells. The remaining rooms, such as this one with the altar, were used a day room or for joint religious services.
Other special prisoners included prominent critics of the regime, such as soldiers and German and foreign politicians, even including former supporters of the Nazi regime. The conditions of these prisoners were vastly better than those of the ordinary prisoners since they were not required to work, were not subjected to corporal maltreatment, received adequate food and were often permitted to maintain contacts with their families.
“It was strict detention, a full eight months, in darkness. No exercise. Hard bed. Bare wood. Three days: water and one pound of bread. Then one day prisoner’s food. Just a tin bowl and a spoon. No fork. No knife. No cup. No washing bowl. No soap. Nothing.”-- Walter Buzengeiger, June 1934
“Four months in the bunker, four months’ detention in darkness, four months with hot food only every fourth day! Time crawls by. I only count every fourth day, and I’m amazed when the food comes and wakes me up -- I'm in a state of trance.”
-- Erwin Gostner, July 1938
The Gestapo even had an interrogation room in the bunker. The cavity walls and double doors of this room were to prevent cries from being heard outside.From 1943, the bunker housed the British “special prisoner” Richard Stevens, who was arrested on a charge of conspiring to assassinate Hitler and overthrow the German government.
After the liberation, the building was used by the American military administration for internment of Nazi criminals, and later as a military prison.
This roll call area is where the prisoners were forced to line up mornings and evenings to be counted. During this time, they often had to stand motionless for several hours. If a prisoner was missing, such as after an escape attempt, this torture could be drawn out for many hours.
There were two rows of 17 barracks to house the prisoners. The first two barracks on either side were used for different purposes, with the remaining 15 per side accommodating the prisoners, with four dayrooms and dormitories each. Each barracks building was designed to hold 200 prisoners, but toward the end of the war were so overcrowded that there were up to 2,000 prisoners in each! One entire barrack was set aside for clergy -- called the priest block. The SS even used three of the barracks to conduct horrific medical experiments on the prisoners from 1942 on.
All 34 barracks were torn down in 1964 because of their dilapidated state, then the first one on either side was reconstructed. The outlines of where the barracks once stood are marked off with stone and rocks.
This reconstructed dormitory section shows the wooden bunks. The rooms were tightly-packed with blue-checkered covers on these beds. Each bed had to be precisely the same height, with the bed covers in perfect alignment. If anything was out of place, it was a crime and the offender was punished by an hour hanging at the stake by the wrists tied together behind the back.
This is another watch tower, beside the camp fence. The perimeter included grass strips, ditches with an electrified barbed-wire fence and the camp wall. If a prisoner stepped onto the grass strip, he was shot. Some prisoners ran into the border strip -- the prohibited zone -- on purpose in order to put an end to their suffering.
The Church and Convent of the Carmelite Nuns (above) was built in 1964 at the back of the camp.This is the Catholic Mortal Agony of Christ Chapel (right), built in 1960, just in front of the convent.
The Protestant Church of Reconciliation was built in 1967.
The entrance to the Jewish Memorial, with the menorah perched atop an opening underneath.
In the summer of 1940, the SS had a crematorium built after the foreign prisoners arrived and the mortality rate had risen dramatically. It was located outside the prisoner camp and was only accessible by passing through the SS camp. A year later, it was already working beyond capacity, and was in operation until about April 1943. During this time, approximately 11,000 prisoners were cremated here.
In 1942-1943, a second, larger, crematorium was built. This one had four furnaces and a gas chamber for mass extermination. Official sources state that the gas chamber was never put into operation, although some sources doubt that claim.Now for the sobering photos...
This is the waiting room, where victims were to have been instructed on how the supposed “showers” worked.
Then came the disrobing room where they were to leave their clothes before entering the gas chamber disguised as showers. Their clothing was to be brought to the disinfecting chambers before the next group could enter the room.
Next was the gas chamber -- the center of potential mass murder. The room was disguised as showers and equipped with fake shower spouts to mislead the prisoners and prevent them from refusing to enter. During 15 to 20 minutes, up to 150 people at a time could be suffocated to death through prussic acid poison gas.
Next on the assembly line was the death chamber, where the dead were to be brought before they were cremated.
This is the incinerator room. Each of the four furnaces could cremate two to three bodies at once. The ovens were connected to the chimney by an underground canal.
This room was also used for hangings. The victims were hung from the rafters directly in front of the burning ovens.This room is also where, on Sept. 12, 1944, four young female officers of the British Forces attached to Special Operations Executive were brutally murdered and their bodies cremated. They had previously served the Resistance in France: Mrs. Yolande E.M. (Untemahrer) Beekman, Miss Madeleine Damerment, Miss Noorunisa Inayat Khan, and Mrs. Eliane S. (Browne Bartroli) Plewman.
This last room was another death chamber, this one used to store bodies brought from the prisoner camp to be cremated.In the last weeks before the liberation of the camp, the dead could no longer be cremated due to a lack of coal. So, some 7,500 dead were buried in nearby mass graves.
The inscription on this memorial reads: “May the example of those who were exterminated here between 1933 – 1945 because they resisted Nazism help to unite the living for the defence of peace and freedom and in respect for their fellow man.”History must never forget the cruel inhumanity of the Holocaust, while we continue to pay respect to its victims.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Parents, Prepare to Laugh!!!
Someone sent me a clip of the second half of this a while ago, and I thought it was hilarious (and, oh, so very true!). So, I tried to find the complete version on her web site here, but to no avail.
Then, out of the blue, another friend sent me the full two minute and 55 second version. The first half is just as funny as the second half...and had me crying from laughing so hard. She even borrowed a line that I distinctly remember my dad using frequently (any guesses which one that is, Dad?).
Zachary just rolled his eyes when I played it for him...it doesn’t resonate much with him yet (I suppose that’s because he’s on the receiving end of so many of these phrases). So, as Anita Renfroe says, “Strap on your seatbelt” and prepare to laugh.
Total Momsense set to the William Tell Overture:
As an added bonus, here’s another classical music tribute to parents and children (couldn't embed, so you have to follow the link)...which also had me laughing so hard I was crying. This one has a good ending that puts it all in perspective and makes you feel good about being a parent, despite all the difficulties you may encounter.
Pachelbel’s Bedtime (Canon in D)
Both of these video clips prove that my kids and I have very healthy parent-child relationships, my kids are normal and I am by no means insane. Whew!
Then, out of the blue, another friend sent me the full two minute and 55 second version. The first half is just as funny as the second half...and had me crying from laughing so hard. She even borrowed a line that I distinctly remember my dad using frequently (any guesses which one that is, Dad?).
Zachary just rolled his eyes when I played it for him...it doesn’t resonate much with him yet (I suppose that’s because he’s on the receiving end of so many of these phrases). So, as Anita Renfroe says, “Strap on your seatbelt” and prepare to laugh.
Total Momsense set to the William Tell Overture:
As an added bonus, here’s another classical music tribute to parents and children (couldn't embed, so you have to follow the link)...which also had me laughing so hard I was crying. This one has a good ending that puts it all in perspective and makes you feel good about being a parent, despite all the difficulties you may encounter.
Pachelbel’s Bedtime (Canon in D)
Both of these video clips prove that my kids and I have very healthy parent-child relationships, my kids are normal and I am by no means insane. Whew!
Labels: Pam's thoughts
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
No More Braces...for a While
Zachary got his braces off Monday morning. No, his teeth didn’t have a miraculous movement and all glide into place in five months’ time. Instead, he has a new orthodontist who opted for “Plan B” in Zachary’s treatment. We knew “Plan A” may not work since it involved significant shifting of teeth, angling forward of his overbite, and filing off the sides of his teeth in an attempt to make room for all his permanent teeth.Plan B entails keeping the bands on his back teeth, connected to a wire to keep them from drifting forward into the space needed for his permanent teeth to grow into. The other part of the plan, which Zachary is less than thrilled about, involves serial extractions. Yup, that’s orthodontist-speak for pulling several teeth…six to be exact. He’ll have four baby teeth as well as two permanent teeth (still in the gum) pulled next month. And, that’s just on his upper jaw...which is almost exactly what I went through before I had braces -- he definitely inherited my mouth in that regard!
For right now, his bottom teeth don’t look as crowded, so the orthodontist is going to leave them be with just a wire running behind his teeth to maintain the space for his permanent teeth and hopefully prevent any overcrowding that may occur otherwise.
I’ve been telling him that these extractions won’t be as bad as when he had an impacted tooth that split in half when they pulled it earlier this year, but he’s not quite sure he believes me. Hopefully these extractions go much more smoothly than that one!
On another Zachary-related adventure, he went on a canoe trip on the Nekar River with his Boy Scout troop this past weekend. They left Friday afternoon, camped out that night, then hit the river Saturday morning. More than eight hours later and 17 miles downstream, they came off the river and set up camp again for the night. Zachary was so tired both nights that he didn’t even pull his sleeping bag out of his backpack! He even went to sleep by 8:30 Saturday night, using his backpack as a pillow and covered up with a jacket (according to a fellow scout). He claimed his arms were tired from all the paddling he did, but proudly showed off his biceps when he returned home on Sunday. Once again, he had disposable cameras with him, but this time they stayed safely dry inside his backpack the entire trip. Maybe one of these days he'll actually end up using the cameras.
Labels: Zachary
Monday, September 24, 2007
Benjamin’s First Day of School
My baby’s growing up! Benjamin started Pre-K today.I had thought about enrolling him in a German preschool last year, but -- while I think it would have been a good experience for him -- I think it would have been too much for him to learn German while also learning how to speak English correctly via speech therapy. But since he’ll be in Kindergarten next year, I figure it’s important for him to be familiar with the school routine if nothing else. He’s already drawing adorable stick people and recognizing many letters and numbers, so I'm sure everything will start to click for him soon, and he'll be well on his way to reading up a storm!
I originally had a short-sleeve shirt picked out for him to wear, but he insisted on wearing a long-sleeve shirt. His reason? He didn’t want his teacher to see his orange fish tattoo on his arm and make him wash it off. I don’t think she would have done that, but since wearing a long-sleeve shirt made him feel more comfortable about his first day of school, I wasn’t going to argue with him.
He didn’t want me to take his photo, either before we left, or once we were in his classroom… hence the sour looks on his face. Fortunately, he already knows one other child in his class -- Gabriel. The two of them are in speech class together two days a week, and are now in Pre-K together on the other three days. Gabriel arrived shortly after Benjamin, came up to him, gave him a hug and introduced him as “my friend Benjamin” to one of their teachers.Benjamin was reserved while I was still there, quietly taking in his surroundings and seeing what the different centers have to offer. When we came home this evening, I asked him what he did in school, and he simply replied, “Everything.” Too cute! After playing what seemed like a game of Twenty Questions, he revealed that he played with blocks, worked on puzzles, played with “kitchen stuff,” played with a doll, read books and went outside for recess. Sounds like a typical day in Pre-K to me.
Since I’m on the Benjamin theme, I figured I’d share some of his recent Benjamin-isms:
He likes riding the “alligator” to travel from one floor of a building to another, and reminds me of such as he points to the “elevator.”
When making “toss-berry” (strawberry) milk for him, he’ll ask me to make a “potato” (tornado) in the glass when stirring the mix.
I recently explained to him that when the flags on post are all the way up, it means that it’s time for people to be at work. A few days later, the flags were at half-staff following Ohio Representative Paul Gillmor's death. When Benjamin noticed the difference, he told me, “The flags are almost down, so people are almost done at work.”
When he doesn’t want to pause/stop a movie yet, he’ll call out “It’s the seam!” which means to wait until the end of the “scene” before doing so.
He used to say he missed me when I was at work, now it’s, “I miss you when you are with yourself.”
When he tries to put his jacket on by himself, he’ll often get one arm in the sleeve, then spin in circles while trying to get his second arm in. I chuckle every time he does so, because he reminds me of a dog getting dizzy while chasing its tail.
But, my favorite request of his usually comes when he wants to watch a movie, sometimes it’s a “scary” one (“Monster House” is a favorite of late), other times his request comes when we watch 10-15 minutes of a movie before bedtime. Often he’ll simply tell me, "Mommy, I want to cuddle with you." Tonight he came right out and told me he wanted to watch a scary movie so we can cuddle, and pulled out "Monster House." Of course, it’s hard to turn down such a sweet request, so I don’t mind taking a few minutes to sit on the couch and cuddle with my Benjamin.
Labels: Benjamin
Sunday, September 23, 2007
UN Palais des Nations & Red Cross Headquarters
Peace is not a matter of justice; it’s a matter of political will.
After exploring the heart of Geneva with the USO tour group last month, two other individuals and I decided to decipher the train system and hop a ride to the northwestern outskirts of the city over to the Palais des Nations (the Palace of Nations), the United Nations European headquarters. Geneva was home to the UN’s predecessor organization, the League of Nations, and today more than 8,000 meetings a year are held at the Palais, making it the busiest conference center in the world.
This five-story sculpture stands in the fountain plaza in front of the Palais and symbolizes victims of landmines. If you look closely, you can see that the front left leg is broken, as if blown off by an explosion. Civilians are the sufferers of war, often with poor countries and peoples not involved in the conflict paying the highest price.
This is the front entrance to the Palais, with flags of UN member states lining the drive. We originally thought this was the main entrance, but we couldn’t find a way in. So, we started to walk around the outside of the grounds, hoping to find an entrance.
During our walk, we passed the Parc de l’Ariana -- the Ariana Museum on the Ariana Park grounds, which is a museum devoted to ceramics. We didn’t go inside, but the grounds were rather stunning. The estate formerly belonged to the Varembert family. Gustave Revilliod, a traveler and collector, chose the name in memory of his mother, Ariane de la Rive. Revilliod was the Swiss Confederation representative to the inauguration of the Suez Canal in 1869, and had this Renaissance-style museum built to house and display the collection of objects he amassed during his travels. When he died in 1890, he bequeathed the property to the city of Geneva, along with funds for its upkeep. In 1928, a section of the grounds was given by the city to the League of Nations in exchange for two lakeside properties. This exchange allowed the League of Nations to construct a building, which now houses the UN.
Our short walk proved successful, and we found the entrance to the Palais. It is actually in Ariana Park, and when the land was bequeathed to the city of Geneva, it had the condition that peacocks should roam freely on its grounds, which they do to this day. We saw several, but this was the closest we got to one.
This is the northern area conference room. The member states sit in alphabetical order during assemblies. The balcony at the back of the room (not visible here) is reserved for the public, although space is rather limited. I thought it was interesting how smoking was “discouraged” per this sign. I suppose that’s one way of being diplomatic, yet not out-right prohibiting smoking.
The Salle des Assembles -- the Assembly Hall -- is the largest conference room in the Palais. It is usually used for opening ceremonies, holds 2,000 people and was the first room in the Palais equipped with a simultaneous interpretation system. The UN has six official languages: English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Chinese, with English and French the working languages. Rooms that are equipped with translation capability, translate primarily into these languages. Occasionally, in some of the larger rooms, they will also translate into another one or two languages, based on need.
The UN has 192 member states, with the Vatican being the only recognized state that could be, yet isn’t, a UN member. Northern Cyprus, Palestine and Taiwan are not recognized states, therefore are not eligible for membership.
There’s quite an extensive collection of art on display in the hallways, with all works of art donated by member states. The pathway in the photo above seemed to lead directly from the viewer to the Chinese palace…no matter where you stood.
The vase on display in this room is actually a map of the world. It doesn’t look it from this high up, but it’s a rather large globe! The upstairs hallway on the right leads to the Council Hall, also known as the Spanish Room, which is used for peace conferences. Some notable conferences that took place here include peace talks between North and South Korea, Iran and Iraq, and Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. When we were there, it was being set up for a nuclear disarmament conference.
The art in the Spanish Room includes inter-war period paintings by Spanish artist Jose Maria Sert, illustrating victory over war and concepts of peace. The wall on the left of the windows represents technical progression and social progress, such as the abolition of slavery.
The wall to the right of the windows represents scientific progress, including medical advances such as the discovery and use of vaccinations.
The back wall illustrates Sert’s interpretation that war is a lose-lose situation. This panel shows the defeated of war.
Between the illustrations of war’s victors and defeated are five giants, representing the five continents, holding their hands together to create a world without war. The ceiling shows an ideal world, without war.
This is the back of the assembly building facing Ariana Park and Lake Geneva.
This view of the globe in Ariana Park, with Lake Geneva in the background, is from the back of the assembly building. The globe was a gift from President Roosevelt (FDR). It used to appear gold and turn at the same speed as the earth rotates, but after 70 years outside it is no longer as shiny as it once was, and it no longer turns. It has the 12 signs of the zodiac on it since the stars are fixed in the sky.
After our tour through the Palais concluded, we walked back past the Parc de l’Ariana and to the Headquarters building of the International Committee of the Red Cross. We couldn’t take photos inside the museum, but the visuals were quite moving, showcasing the history of the Red Cross and Red Crescent movements beginning with Henri Durant’s involvement in caring for injured soldiers in the Battle of Solferino in June 1859 through the world wars to present day. The museum even has an index of seven million file cards, created by the International Prisoner of War Agency, documenting some two million POWs from World War I. It was very humbling to walk among the 21 large (9- to 10-foot high) shelving systems (think of 19th century library shelves) holding all those index cards representing prisoners.
The red cross on a white field, the reverse of the Swiss flag, was adopted by the first Geneva Convention in 1964 as the protective emblem for serving the wounded. Today, National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies exist in nearly every country in the world, with 185 national societies recognized by the International Committee of the Red Cross and admitted as full members of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
This group of sculptures, titled “The Petrified,” is just outside the entrance to the museum, and denounces the violation of human rights while appealing for tolerance.
After exploring the heart of Geneva with the USO tour group last month, two other individuals and I decided to decipher the train system and hop a ride to the northwestern outskirts of the city over to the Palais des Nations (the Palace of Nations), the United Nations European headquarters. Geneva was home to the UN’s predecessor organization, the League of Nations, and today more than 8,000 meetings a year are held at the Palais, making it the busiest conference center in the world.
This five-story sculpture stands in the fountain plaza in front of the Palais and symbolizes victims of landmines. If you look closely, you can see that the front left leg is broken, as if blown off by an explosion. Civilians are the sufferers of war, often with poor countries and peoples not involved in the conflict paying the highest price.
This is the front entrance to the Palais, with flags of UN member states lining the drive. We originally thought this was the main entrance, but we couldn’t find a way in. So, we started to walk around the outside of the grounds, hoping to find an entrance.
During our walk, we passed the Parc de l’Ariana -- the Ariana Museum on the Ariana Park grounds, which is a museum devoted to ceramics. We didn’t go inside, but the grounds were rather stunning. The estate formerly belonged to the Varembert family. Gustave Revilliod, a traveler and collector, chose the name in memory of his mother, Ariane de la Rive. Revilliod was the Swiss Confederation representative to the inauguration of the Suez Canal in 1869, and had this Renaissance-style museum built to house and display the collection of objects he amassed during his travels. When he died in 1890, he bequeathed the property to the city of Geneva, along with funds for its upkeep. In 1928, a section of the grounds was given by the city to the League of Nations in exchange for two lakeside properties. This exchange allowed the League of Nations to construct a building, which now houses the UN.
Our short walk proved successful, and we found the entrance to the Palais. It is actually in Ariana Park, and when the land was bequeathed to the city of Geneva, it had the condition that peacocks should roam freely on its grounds, which they do to this day. We saw several, but this was the closest we got to one.
This is the northern area conference room. The member states sit in alphabetical order during assemblies. The balcony at the back of the room (not visible here) is reserved for the public, although space is rather limited. I thought it was interesting how smoking was “discouraged” per this sign. I suppose that’s one way of being diplomatic, yet not out-right prohibiting smoking.
The Salle des Assembles -- the Assembly Hall -- is the largest conference room in the Palais. It is usually used for opening ceremonies, holds 2,000 people and was the first room in the Palais equipped with a simultaneous interpretation system. The UN has six official languages: English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Chinese, with English and French the working languages. Rooms that are equipped with translation capability, translate primarily into these languages. Occasionally, in some of the larger rooms, they will also translate into another one or two languages, based on need.
The UN has 192 member states, with the Vatican being the only recognized state that could be, yet isn’t, a UN member. Northern Cyprus, Palestine and Taiwan are not recognized states, therefore are not eligible for membership.
There’s quite an extensive collection of art on display in the hallways, with all works of art donated by member states. The pathway in the photo above seemed to lead directly from the viewer to the Chinese palace…no matter where you stood.
The vase on display in this room is actually a map of the world. It doesn’t look it from this high up, but it’s a rather large globe! The upstairs hallway on the right leads to the Council Hall, also known as the Spanish Room, which is used for peace conferences. Some notable conferences that took place here include peace talks between North and South Korea, Iran and Iraq, and Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. When we were there, it was being set up for a nuclear disarmament conference.
The art in the Spanish Room includes inter-war period paintings by Spanish artist Jose Maria Sert, illustrating victory over war and concepts of peace. The wall on the left of the windows represents technical progression and social progress, such as the abolition of slavery.
The wall to the right of the windows represents scientific progress, including medical advances such as the discovery and use of vaccinations.
The back wall illustrates Sert’s interpretation that war is a lose-lose situation. This panel shows the defeated of war.
Between the illustrations of war’s victors and defeated are five giants, representing the five continents, holding their hands together to create a world without war. The ceiling shows an ideal world, without war.
This is the back of the assembly building facing Ariana Park and Lake Geneva.
This view of the globe in Ariana Park, with Lake Geneva in the background, is from the back of the assembly building. The globe was a gift from President Roosevelt (FDR). It used to appear gold and turn at the same speed as the earth rotates, but after 70 years outside it is no longer as shiny as it once was, and it no longer turns. It has the 12 signs of the zodiac on it since the stars are fixed in the sky.
After our tour through the Palais concluded, we walked back past the Parc de l’Ariana and to the Headquarters building of the International Committee of the Red Cross. We couldn’t take photos inside the museum, but the visuals were quite moving, showcasing the history of the Red Cross and Red Crescent movements beginning with Henri Durant’s involvement in caring for injured soldiers in the Battle of Solferino in June 1859 through the world wars to present day. The museum even has an index of seven million file cards, created by the International Prisoner of War Agency, documenting some two million POWs from World War I. It was very humbling to walk among the 21 large (9- to 10-foot high) shelving systems (think of 19th century library shelves) holding all those index cards representing prisoners.
The red cross on a white field, the reverse of the Swiss flag, was adopted by the first Geneva Convention in 1964 as the protective emblem for serving the wounded. Today, National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies exist in nearly every country in the world, with 185 national societies recognized by the International Committee of the Red Cross and admitted as full members of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.This group of sculptures, titled “The Petrified,” is just outside the entrance to the museum, and denounces the violation of human rights while appealing for tolerance.
Labels: Switzerland, Travel
