Reflections on YIVO’s 2019 Lithuania & Poland Study Tour

by ELINA BLOCH

This June, travelers from the United States, Israel, and Australia joined YIVO’s fourth annual Lithuania and Poland Study Tour. Noted historian Dr. Samuel Kassow took the participants on an unforgettable journey of historical and personal discovery. Being exposed to our recent past and seeing the places where the greatest tragedy in our history occurred was an unparalleled experience. Meeting the dynamic young Jews rebuilding new communities and recognizing a past that we thought was obliterated was deeply moving. And hearing the voices of the Jewish Culture Festival, the largest Jewish festival in Europe, was a one-of-a kind cultural pleasure.

In Lithuania, tour participants visited the National Library and the Central State Archives— YIVO’s partners in the landmark Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Online Collections project, an international preservation and digitization initiative to virtually reunite YIVO’s prewar library and archival collections located in New York City and Vilnius. We also attended the unveiling ceremony of the YIVO Commemorative Plaque at 18 Vivulskio Street, the site where YIVO’s original building stood from 1933 until its destruction in 1944. In Poland, we discovered the remarkable treasures of Warsaw and Krakow, walked through the magical Białowieża Forest, and visited historical sites at Łódź and Lublin.

As Beryl Benderly, one of the tour participants, remarked: “They say that travel broadens, but I think that the trip we just shared did something different. It deepened—deepened my understanding of my shtetl ancestors and my sense of connection to the world they lived in and how it shaped me and all Jews.”

For me personally, the tour was a transformative experience. Working at YIVO, I am fortunate to have the unique opportunity to see unparalleled archival materials and original documents relating to the diverse and powerful culture the Jewish people built in Eastern Europe. On the tour, I was struck by the absence, the void, and the silence. I became even more acutely aware of the urgent need to preserve the memory and work of those who came before us in order to teach our history and culture to future generations.

One of my most emotional experiences was the visit to Ponary, a suburb only within a few miles of Vilnius, and a place where the Nazis murdered over 75,000 people, most of whom were Jewish. It was striking to see the beauty and peacefulness of nature in this deserted forest alongside the burial pits. We stood there, silent, reflecting, shocked.

Immediately a poem by Yevgeny Yevtushenko, came to mind:

“… The trees look ominous,
          like judges.
Here all the things scream silently,
          and, baring my head,
slowly I feel myself
          turning grey.
And I myself
          am one massive, soundless scream
above the thousand thousand buried here.
I am
          each old man  
          here shot dead.
I am
          every child    
          here shot dead.
Nothing in me
          shall ever forget!...”

(Source: The Collected Poems 1952–1990 by Yevgeny Yevtushenko. Edited by Albert C. Todd with the author and James Ragan (Henry Holt and Company, 1991)

But amid the places of destruction, we also visited the beautiful synagogues and Jewish community centers, some still functioning and working to create a stronger Jewish community, to preserve heritage sites, and to keep our history alive. It was truly moving to meet with the young Jewish people so profoundly interested in their heritage.

Among my biggest takeaways from the tour was a deeper understanding both of my own personal history and of our shared legacy. I encountered inspiring people who, searching for connections with their own family’s roots, are also deeply committed to fostering Jewish continuity. Thanks to these experiences, I returned not only with new knowledge and insights, but also with a renewed sense of hope for the future and with great pride of our remarkable strength as a people.

15 participants joined YIVO for the 2019 Lithuania & Poland Study Tour, which took place June 18-June 30, 2019. The tour was led by noted historian Dr. Samuel Kassow. Irene Pletka, Vice-Chair of the YIVO Board of Directors, chaired the trip. Elina Bloch is YIVO’s Director of Foundations and Grants.