Friday, January 07, 2011
Traces of WW2 in Europe
There's little trace of WW2 in Europe now except for some holidays, graveyards and historic monuments. The most destroyed cities were Warsaw and Rotterdam. Warsaw was destroyed by bombs and Nazi demolition crews on Hitler's order in revenge of the several uprisings and partisan attacks on high ranking officers that took place there during their occupation of the country. Rotterdam was the second most destroyed city by heavy bombing because it was a major fuel port for the Allies. But things would have returned back to normal for all of Europe if not for the half century of Russian occupation of parts of Europe.
Wars expose the worst and the best sides of man. But if you ever have a chance to visit Yad Vasham in Israel you'll find long lists of mostly Polish people that helped Jewish people during the war. Israelis are building an impressive modern Holocaust Museum next to the Warsaw Ghetto Monument near my house. I am in the historic area between the ghetto and old town. Sometimes I get the impression that if not for WW2 the Poles wouldn't have much to get inspired by. And they just released a 3D movie about the Warsaw Uprising. I mean, how much can be said on the subject and for how long? There's also Swedish, Danish, Polish and what have you music bands writing songs about it, not to mention a whole army of Jewish artists. It's not just a business but an image the city has developed. I think there was an effort to change that but Jewish people took that in ill faith or something. So, it's a great place for those that are into that kind of stuff. I was also inspired to record my version of Chopin's Funeral March on an electric guitar after a Jewish funeral where I heard the music and offered it to the Warsaw Uprising Museum and the Jewish Museum but never got any reply from them. Perhaps they got offended because I am not well known and it's the music they play only at funerals. Whatever it may be, the vibes I'm getting in Poland are anything but positive.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Ghetto
- http://www.archive.org/details/Chopin-FuneralMarch
Wars expose the worst and the best sides of man. But if you ever have a chance to visit Yad Vasham in Israel you'll find long lists of mostly Polish people that helped Jewish people during the war. Israelis are building an impressive modern Holocaust Museum next to the Warsaw Ghetto Monument near my house. I am in the historic area between the ghetto and old town. Sometimes I get the impression that if not for WW2 the Poles wouldn't have much to get inspired by. And they just released a 3D movie about the Warsaw Uprising. I mean, how much can be said on the subject and for how long? There's also Swedish, Danish, Polish and what have you music bands writing songs about it, not to mention a whole army of Jewish artists. It's not just a business but an image the city has developed. I think there was an effort to change that but Jewish people took that in ill faith or something. So, it's a great place for those that are into that kind of stuff. I was also inspired to record my version of Chopin's Funeral March on an electric guitar after a Jewish funeral where I heard the music and offered it to the Warsaw Uprising Museum and the Jewish Museum but never got any reply from them. Perhaps they got offended because I am not well known and it's the music they play only at funerals. Whatever it may be, the vibes I'm getting in Poland are anything but positive.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Ghetto
- http://www.archive.org/details/Chopin-FuneralMarch
Labels: Chopin, Holocaust, Uprising, Warsaw, Warsaw Ghetto, WW II
¶ 1/07/2011 08:07:00 AM
