Keren Blankfeld
Words in Progress.
World War II Category
Indulging in Tuscany, And How Bee Stings Lead to An Epiphany.
Posted on October 30, 2013 Leave a Comment
After touring emotional sites in Eastern Europe — memorial-hopping, if you will, for murdered family members — and then celebrating my birthday surrounded by family and friends in Israel, I thought Tuscany would be a good final stop before returning home to New York. In Tuscany I don’t know anyone. Here, alone, I can collect […]
Love/Life in Munich
Posted on October 12, 2013 Leave a Comment
It’s Oktoberfest in Munich. At night we head to the subway station where metro workers line up by the platform to keep the tipsy from stumbling in the rail. Bavarian costumes rule the street. Girls (grown women) wear tidy braids and dirndl. Boys (grown men) adorn lederhosen and suspenders. German rock, German pop; a man with gray […]
Poland Surprises. (In a Good Way.)
Posted on October 5, 2013 Leave a Comment
At border control between Ukraine and Poland our train stops for two hours. An official opens our bags, another one takes away our passports. Someone else comes back to check our bags for cigarettes and vodka. A woman returns with our passports. We wait. The train moans and puffs. It’s 4am. But there’s an hour […]
Dubno Remains.
Posted on September 30, 2013 Leave a Comment
Today I travel to Dubno. We ride a car from Lviv, past the countryside, beetroot and potato plantations and forests. Before taking off, my grandfather gives me names to look for: his old school, his address growing up, the river he swam in during the summer and ice skated on during the winter. After two […]
Belarus and Ukraine: Car Rides, Plane Rides, Train Rides and Fuel.
Posted on September 29, 2013 Leave a Comment
In Belarus we spend hours riding the car. From Minsk to Pinsk (about 4 hours). From Pinsk to Stolin (about an hour). From Stolin to Minsk (another 4 hours). This in the span of three days. For breakfast, the Pinsk hotel offers us “Broth with a Bird.” As adventurous as we like to think we […]
Knocking on Pinsk doors.
Posted on September 27, 2013 Leave a Comment
We are knocking on doors. Babushkas answer many of them, wearing scarves wrapped around cotton-white heads, thick socks and sandals on feet. We, or actually, our translators, ask them how long they’ve lived here, who they know. Do they know of a Christian woman living on the street 70 years ago who hid six Jews […]
In Riga Reality Hits. Hard.
Posted on September 24, 2013 Leave a Comment
The night we arrive in Riga is dark and rainy. The following day’s weather follows suit. It’s fitting for the mood of the day. We visit the Riga ghetto where my great-grandparents and great-aunts were taken before being murdered. It’s eerie: the houses down the streets are now just as they were then. Outside one house […]
Train Rides from Moscow
Posted on September 21, 2013 Leave a Comment
We roll our bags into the train station, go through two security checks and find the fast train to St. Petersburg. Our train is scheduled to depart at 4:30pm and it does. Seats are comfortable and spacious, the ride is smoother than an airplane ride. I nod off watching the countryside. We’re still in the light, […]
Keren Blankfeld 