For those who are not aware, I am now living in Niš, in what is the second semester of the Bridge Year Serbia Program. Niš is located in the South of Serbia, while Novi Sad (where we spent our first semester) was located in the northern province of Vojvodinia. See map below. :)
This past Sunday, I did something that I've never done before, and that I'll probably never get the opportunity to do again. I participated in a 5km walk commemorating the escape of 147 WWII prisoners from Crveni Krst, the WWII concentration camp in Niš, on February 12th, 1942. Normally this annual walk is 40km long, and the participants walk around Niš and to a few surrounding towns, on the same route taken by the escapees. This year, because of the snow and the consistent -10 degree Fahrenheit weather that we've had for the past two weeks, this trek was shortened considerably. Instead, we walked to Bubanj hill and back, where the WWII memorial was built in remembrance of the 10,000 prisoners that were taken there and killed.
This is obviously not my picture, since there is not half a meter of snow covering the hillside. I was going to take a picture, but it was too cold to take the camera out of my pocket....
My day started when I awoke up at 7:20 on a cold and wintry Sunday morning. It took all of the courage and strength I could muster to get out of bed, knowing that for the next 5, 6 hours I would be out in the freezing cold trekking over snow-covered roads. But, alas, my strength prevailed. I met Charlotte Sall (a fellow bridge-year buddy) in the city center, a mere 7-minute walk from my house, were I bought a nice McDonald's breakfast (yes, there are McDonald's' (?) in Serbia!). Ah, what a nice reminder of home. ANYWAY, it was then 8:40 and Charlotte and I needed to be at Crveni Krst (in English the concentration camp is called"Red Cross") at 9:00 and we had no idea how often bus #3 came or if another bus would get us there. We waited at the bus stop for a few minutes, and we got on the first bus that came and asked the lady bus driver (yay!) which bus we could take to Crveni Krst. She told us to stay on and that she would take us to the bus stop that we needed. As we approached the bus stop a few blocks away, the bus driver lady saw the bus that we needed pull out of the bus stop. She then hailed the bus (as you would a taxi) and the bus driver stopped the bus, got out, and walked over. She explained to him that she had two American girls that needed to get to Crveni Kirst and would he please take us. And, just like that, he led us to his bus (parked inconspicuously in the middle of the road) and personally chauffeured us to the concentration camp. Did I mention that we didn't have to pay? It was great. Charlotte and I got special treatment! :)
We arrived at Crveni Krst at around 9 am, clutching our McDonald's bags and standing out like sore thumbs amidst the boy and girl scouts congregating around the entrance to the camp and filing through. Charlotte and I just chilled for a moment and then decided to start for the trash bin at the end of a longish lane right leading to the entrance of the camp. When we were halfway through, a line of Serbian soldiers started marching in our direction down this small lane. Charlotte and I, slightly embarrassed, stood to the side to let them through. We could hear them chuckling--but I don't blame them. It must've been a funny sight! When we accomplished out task of drinking the warm coffee and disposing of our garbage, we bravely approached who we took to be the head boy-scout leader and asked if we could participate in their march. With a delighted expression, he told us that yes, we could! We were given special treatment once again. We were assigned to a boy scout contingent, and we got to shake hands and be introduced to the last Holocaust survivor from Crveni Krst. It was supa cool. Like I said, once in a lifetime opportunity!
The following two hours were difficult because of the cold. There was a longish ceremony that was displayed on public television (I'm pretty sure we made it in the news!) with Orthodox priests chanting in Serbian, speeches from important government people and the Holocaust survivor, and a candle-lighting ceremony. All the while, Charlotte and I stood in a neat formation with the other boy and girls scouts. I've love to tell you what the speeches were about, but I can't. Mainly because a) the speeches were in Serbian and b) I was too focused on not freezing to death to attempt to understand. Instead, I watched intently as the small boy scout in front of me methodically burnt the lint and fuzzies off his mittens. I kept thinking his gloves would catch on fire....
After the ceremony and a tour of the Concentration camp bunks (warning: photo tangent; also, disclaimer: these were taking when our bridge year group toured the concentration camps during our Niš orientation...notice the lack of huge piles of snow)...
The doors to the building (former army barracks) where they kept the prisoners.
Outside view of said building.
This writing on the wall is how the prisoners planned their famous escape.
These small rooms were meant for solitary confinement, but during overcrowding (which was quite often), 20-30 people were crowded into each room. I'm assuming the barbed wire coils on the floor were meant to add more discomfort.
This was the main office of the concentration camp...the headquarters. Notice the Nazi signs and the German writing on the wall.
Coils of barbed wire surrounding the barracks to prevent prisoner escape.
Me attempting to be artsy.
The dreary courtyard.
Part of the long lane I mentioned earlier.
The doors at the entrance that I mentioned earlier too...
...and we're back.
After touring the barracks as a group, we finally got on our way. I was half frozen. I couldn't feel my toes and I almost gave up, but I decided to give it my best try. We walked in neat pairs for a couple miles, through snow and slush. The traffic was stopped for the participants of the trek on multiple occasions, and traffic guy scouts in bright yellow vests kept telling us to hurry up. It was a great experience, though. Regardless of how cold I was (despite the ridiculous amounts of layers that I had on), I knew that the prisoners back in 1942 had probably been much colder. Plus, they walked a great deal more than the 5 km that we did. Once we got to the top of the Bubanj hill, we stopped for sandwiches and this delicious mint tea...probably the best I've ever had. It was sooooooo good. Then, we trekked down the mountain. During our trek down the boy scouts were chanting scouty-things in Serbian, and it was kinda cool. Charlotte and I just giggled because we obviously stood out. Once we got to the scout base, we received certificates for having accomplished the walk. Although it felt good to have pushed myself to complete the walk in the utter, miserable cold, it felt even better to have participated in such a wonderful event in recognition of the triumph of 147 individuals who defied the odds and escaped from a WWII concentration camp. Having lived in North and South America my whole life, I've never been able to do something quite like this, and I probably never will get the opportunity again.
Needless to say, I got home and took a nice nap. I woke up an hour and a half later and went to a Serbian friend's house, Anastasija. There we made American pancakes with chocolate chips (topped off with MAPLE SYRUP brought by Charlotte), quite an accomplishment considering the fact that chocolate chips don't exist in Serbia (once again, THANKS CHARLOTTE). Afterwards, we played Dutch Blitz, murderer (this winking game) and psychologist. I had an amazing time surrounded both by my Serbian and American friends. I got home late that night, content after a long day filled with perseverance, companionship, defying the odds and American pancakes. What else could I ever want?
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