This afternoon, we left the airport in Warsaw and headed straight for the Warsaw Jewish cemetery. After at least a dozen hours cooped up on airplanes, we were deposited in the middle of the city. We walked behind a gated wall and found ourselves in the largest Jewish cemetery in Europe.
The area was lush with trees and greenery and cotton-like seeds fell from the trees like snow.
We stood amongst an estimated 250,000 Jewish souls and I felt only peaceful.
The cemetery was right next to the Jewish ghetto. We saw mass graves from the time of the Warsaw ghetto, we saw sewers used for ghetto escape and bunkers under tombstones where escapees hid.
It was a snapshot into the Jewish past in a fascinating way.
We asked our tour guide why the cemetery was left untouched through World War II. Nobody knows.
I can say I didn't expect to feel so peaceful in a place with so many dead.
