 Me with my parents in front of Gonner Donkerplein following the ceremony. yThe real purpose of my European holiday was actually a very important event for our family. My oma (grandma) was being honored in a ceremony in her hometown of Ilpendam in the Netherlands.
My oma, Hillegonda Donker Zwarensteyn, was a champion speedskater for the Netherlands in the 1930s and known professionally as Gonne Donker. Ilpendam would be naming a town square after her, complete with a statue. I always knew my oma was a speedskater, but rediscovering this side of her in such an impactful way was incredible. Oma passed away in 2005, so it meant a lot that we could be there for her. Ilpendam is a short trip from Amsterdam – maybe 20 minutes tops. It was a gorgeous day. The last time I saw Ilpendam was 2008 and our first visit was marked by cold temps and abundant rain. So this time around, I could really get an idea of just how beautiful it is. The whole village came out for this event, along with TV news crews. The man who organized it is Andre Klaver, and the sculptor is Rob Cerneus. It was incredible just how welcoming everyone was. They really went all out. Even the mayor spoke! It was so amazing to see Oma get recognized this way, and I know it would have meant the world to her. Even though it was a happy day, I started crying as the ceremony began, and it was as if every emotion I had inside me about missing my oma started coming out my eyeballs. It’s been nearly 20 years since she passed, but it never stops hurting. The only thing that helped was to focus on taking pictures and video. I took some time by myself after the ceremony to get out my tears and compose myself before it was time to meet at the town restaurant for dinner. We had a great dinner at Het Wapen van Ilpendam – I’m pretty sure it’s the only restaurant in the village. While the meal was great, the dessert was practically life-changing. I ordered cinnamon ice cream, expecting just some ice cream in a bowl. Nope. It was a full-on display: the ice cream was accompanied by sugared bread and whipped cream. Seriously, one of THE best desserts I’ve ever had. After an amazing day, it was time to make our way back to Amsterdam for the night. This was also my last full day in Europe. The following day, I returned home to Los Angeles. What a finale to this incredible trip. Oma, I miss you every day. And to anyone reading this, let me know if you check out Gonne Donkerplein in The Netherlands. Thanks for reading this extra-personal blog entry.  Amsterdam at night The Netherlands leg of my Europe trip was not only exciting because I’d be meeting up with my parents again, but it’s also where I’d get to see more of my family heading there from the States. My cousin Lena was the first to arrive, and we met up for Aperol spritzes in the heart of Amsterdam. After catching up for a bit, we parted ways to get to our respective accommodations. While Lena was heading to a hotel, I continued my adventure in ‘Hostel Land.’ Unfortunately, this was where my adventure took a turn for the worse.
Amsterdam is expensive, and I soon learned that the cheapest hostel in a central part of town I could find also happened to be in a red-light district. Oy. Listen, hostels in Amsterdam’s red-light district might be fine and dandy when you’re a 20-year-old guy, but it's Hell when you’re a 30-something woman. I walked up the narrow stairway from the street to Hostel Warmoes, the tiniest, arguably worst hostel you could imagine. It was bad. I had booked three nights but only stayed for one and had to crash with my parents for the remainder of the trip. Thankfully, I was able to get a refund. Here’s the thing about Amsterdam: don’t stay near Central Station. It seems like a smart idea, but this part of town is a hot, congested mess. Instead, stay a bit further into the city. It’s much nicer, and the public transportation is so good there you can easily get around to different parts of town. Day 2 After my night from Hell in Hostel Warmoes, I packed up my things to drop them off where my parents were staying. We then had the day to explore together before meeting some of our Dutch relatives on the Zwarenstein side for dinner. My parents and I went to Amsterdam’s Holocaust Museum and had some local craft beer at Brouwerij 't IJ, a brewery located in a windmill. Since we had been to Amsterdam before, we were trying to find new places to see. We had hoped to go to a market but unfortunately only caught the tail end of one already closing down. We then met up with our other family members for an amazing Indonesian dinner at Indra Pura. I definitely recommend it if you’re looking to try some Indonesian food while you’re there!  Winston Churchill once wrote, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Of course, this is a take from other quotes, but considering that Churchill was a prominent figure in Britain during WWII, I think he’s well-aware of its importance.
I learned in 2008 that my dad’s side of the family has Jewish roots – from his father’s family. The truth is, I never knew my ‘opa’ (grandfather) since he died about 10 years before I was born. However, we were able to connect with other relatives on that side while going on a family trip to the Netherlands that same year. For reference, our family in the U.S. spells our last name as Zwarensteyn, but this was changed during the Holocaust. We still have relatives in the Netherlands and other parts of the world who spell it the original way: Zwarenstein. Since then, I’ve wanted to learn more about that side of my family’s history, and after October 7, 2023, it was clearer than ever that my next European visit should also help me further reflect on our family's history and just how lucky I am to be here. For this reason, I added Poland to my trip, with a very specific destination for one of my days there: Auschwitz. This was where other Zwarensteins died during the Holocaust, including my paternal great-grandfather Salomon Zwarenstein and great-grandmother Truida de Jong. My grandfather was able to escape the camps, but other family members of his did not. From Kraków, I took a train to the town of Oświęcim, which is where the camp is located. Even right after getting off the train, you can feel the emptiness and sadness of the area. As a reminder, Poland was invaded by Germans, and people had already been living there before the war. However, people still live in this town, which kind of surprised me. I just can’t imagine wanting to stay after what happened there. From the train station, I walked to an area near the camp where they have food and shuttles. I thought I could walk to the entrance, but you do need to book a shuttle, but it’s only like 10 Polish złoty (their currency). When you book a tour, you actually see two camps. This was something I never knew. The location you start at (and need transportation to get to) is called Birkenau. Auschwitz is actually a different location, and you go there after touring Birkenau, so expect a full day to see all this. Birkenau was originally a Polish military base until the Germans invaded and used it as a concentration camp. A tour guide takes you around both camps, and I really lucked out with ours. He was incredibly kind and respectful of the painful past of where we were. You see everything, the gas chamber, victims’ belongings – it’s haunting what went on there. But I am at least glad that the Polish people have made it an important place to bear witness to the heartbreaking reality of the Holocaust. Auschwitz is the camp with the train tracks going in through the entrance, which you may have seen in history pictures. This place was constructed by the Nazis to enable a large-scale genocide. It’s horrific. It’s basically an open field with small buildings constructed in rows. My heart broke there. Not just for my family but the millions of other Jews who died at the hands of the Nazis. The truth is, had my grandfather not been able to avoid being captured, I probably wouldn’t be alive today and neither would my own dad. I imagine what my grandfather must have been like before the war, and I cannot fathom how it changed him. And sometimes I wonder if it took a toll on the relationship between my grandparents. But I do realize how being alive is a blessing, and with so much pain and suffering around the world, it’s easy to fall into anger and hate. But if being at Auschwitz and Birkenau taught me anything, it’s how important it is to not give into that. I am proud of my Dutch roots, and I am proud of Jewish roots. May we all be kinder to one another. |
About the author
Jill Zwarensteyn is a writer and comedian who has been featured on Amazon, truTV, The New York Times, Matador Network, BUST Magazine, Sleep Advisor, Tiplr, ARTRPRNR Magazine, YourTango, Thought Catalog, GoMad Nomad, Mashable, The Daily Mail UK, the Cannes Film Festival, LaughFest, Women's Lifestyle Magazine, and the Funny Women Festival LA. For more info visit: http://www.jillzwarensteyn.weebly.com Archives
October 2024
|
RSS Feed