History comes alive in Newton students' trip to Europe
A view of Prague
I’ve heard it said that 20 years ago, all of what we knew as history died. That was at least the thesis of Francis Fukuyama’s The End of History and the Last Man.
It was written after the conclusion of the Cold War, when the former Soviet Union and the Communist ideology collapsed and democracy emerged victorious.
This summer I spent two weeks deep in the remnants of Cold War history amid the remaining ruins of the Berlin Wall.
History is indeed alive. History is preserved on the left-over slabs of the Berlin Wall. Silent screams for a democratic government were painted over the expressionless grey walls, bright and energetic colors that gave hint to the Communist regime that the people welcomed Western democracy and freedoms.
I was among 38 students from four different schools who traveled to three major Central European cities: Krakow in Poland, Prague in the Czech Republic and Berlin in Germany.
Run by the Newton Summer School program, the “Prague Summer” program brought students from Newton North, Newton South, Dexter and also Rolling Hills Prep, a private school located just outside of Los Angeles, California.
“Prague Summer” came to existence in 1990 when Newton North history teacher Ty Vignone led a group to tear down the Berlin Wall. He continued to conduct a trip in Central Europe ever since, with two additional cities in Central Europe, Krakow and Prague.
The students visited the cities for about two weeks, June 28- July 14, viewing them with a historical perspective with an eye keen to the transition into the societies they are today.
Be it one day seeing a concentration camp like Auschwitz-Birkeneau, arguably the largest slaughterhouse during the Holocaust, and wolfing down a Big Mac at the mall near our hotel the next, changes actually were not hard at all to locate, I found.
Our first stop was in the stunning Krakow, which was once the original capital of Poland.
It houses the biggest public square in all of Europe, full of tasty kebab shops and three zloty ice cream cones. An advantage was that Poland had not switched to the Euro yet, making spending mostly on the cheaper side. A zloty was about three to one dollar when I visited.
A Square in Krakow
During the Middle Ages, Krakow was the center for Poland’s economic boom, primarily centralized around its abundant amount of salt. Later, the country during a short period bowed to Nazism and eventually Communism.
The largest of all the concentration camps set up by the Nazis was only a 45 minute drive from Krakow in a small industrial town called Auschwitz.
At Auschwitz, more than one million died. The barracks still stand, but the surrounding land looked rather tranquil—the sunshine looked beautiful on the verdant grass.
It seemed unfathomable to me that the greatest atrocities in human history occurred on this soil. The mood then was ironic and unfit.
Next in Prague, the Czech city had pristine looks and timeless architecture, including the astronomical clock and the gothic Tyn Church.
Much like Krakow, the city was another jewel taken up by Hitler during World War II.
Eventually the Communists claimed the city after the war.
Because of the various styles of architecture showcased in the city, Prague is like stepping into a world of other worlds. These styles shift throughout.
On one block there might be an ornamental, overly-decorated baroque church and down the street, modern architecture would be on display, like Frank Gehry's "Dancing House."
The last city on our tour, Berlin, felt like an actual city with rude cab drivers and sausage stands.
The trip as a whole helped to explore and examine the way our societies once operated and how they influenced today’s world, and the future. So history has not ended, at all.
Eli Davidow will be a junior this fall at Newton North.
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