Ascension : News From The Grotto - Thought For The Week
Submitted by The Islander (Shari Parkhill) 18.06.2009 (Article Archived on 02.07.2009)
Well, I’m back from a wonderful, but busy vacation, followed by a week working in Antigua.
Well, I’m back from a wonderful, but busy vacation, followed by a week working in Antigua. After so much traveling, I am hoping to be able to sit still for a while. Well, at least stay in one place!
I had a fabulous time in England. My first real visit was last spring, and I fell in love with the country. It is a fascinating combination of old and new. I visited old friends and new places. And I am still enthralled by the country. So many of my ancestors came from England, Ireland and Scotland, it feels as if a part of me is home when I visit.
My friend Raxa, whom so many of you know, and I spent some time in Budapest, Hungary. I had never been anywhere in Europe, so I was excited to be traveling there. Budapest is a beautiful old city, with an interesting, and often sad history. The country came into being in 996, and was repeatedly the target of invasions by Turks, Austrians and others.
As part of the Austrian-Hungarian empire, the country sided with Germany in the first world war. As a result, they lost a good portion of their land after the conflict ended. As a result, when Germany promised to regain their lost lands, they again sided with Germany in World War II, with more tragic results.
We took a walking tour one day with Agnes, a young lady who is both a great historian, and a sparkling story teller. She showed us many of the historic sites, and described what life was like in Hungary after the second world war. Abandoned by the Germans who when they left destroyed every bridge across the Danube, the city was invaded by the Russians. Life was no better under their occupation, and Hungary did not gain its freedom again until 1989.
Looking at the beautiful city, it was amazing to then see pictures of a city in ruins at the end of the war. It is astounding, and a tribute to some determined Hungarians that they were able, during a stifling occupation, to rebuild their city. Unfortunately, amidst the old, beautiful buildings are scattered box-like, utilitarian, totally ugly Soviet era buildings. But they fail to detract too much from the beauty of the city.
On Agnes’ advice we visited the “House of Terror” Museum. It is in the building that housed not only the administration of the Arrow Cross, the Hungarian Nazi Party, but the secret police of the Soviet era. Its exhibits tell a sad tale of a country led into darkness and held hostage to the whims of desperate, cruel dictators. The local populace suffered so much under the strict regimes, enduring imprisonment, and a loss of freedom most of us are unable to imagine. The bleak prison cells and torture chambers were a silent, but powerful reminder of the measures some will go to in an attempt to stifle the free will of their fellow citizens.
We went from there to the Jewish Synagogue, a beautiful building which is the second largest in Europe. Here we heard the story of the treatment of the Jewish inhabitants of the city under the Nazi rule. 70,000 were locked into a small ten block ghetto, unable to travel freely around their own city. Budapest had until this time been a city renowned for its religious tolerance, but all this changed as the Nazis encouraged Hungarian to turn on Hungarian.
In the Jewish faith, the dead are not buried near the synagogue. There is a distinct separation between the living and the dead. Under the harsh environment of the ghetto, many perished. Unable to take their dead to their cemetery, the victims were buried in the yard of the Synagogue, one of the few places this has ever happened. All of the gravestones have the same year of death, 1945. Along with the memorials in the churchyard, it is a powerful reminder of what terrible things happen when we judge, and hate, based on religion, race or creed. Many Jews were marched to the edge of the Danube River, and shot there so that their bodies would be carried away by the flowing water. There is a small but poignant memorial to the many who died this way on the bank of the river where the shootings took place. It is a row of shoes of all sizes, men’s, women’s, children’s and babies’ shoes. The victims were made to remove their shoes before they were executed. The shoes were a valuable commodity, the people were not.
Although it was disturbing to hear these stories and see the memorials, it was uplifting to see how the city has recovered. The beautiful Chain Bridge, the first built across the Danube (which, contrary to the popular old song – is not blue!) has been rebuilt to its former glory. Buda Castle still stands guard over the city, and the absolutely beautiful Parliament Building stands stately on the bank of the river. It gives hope that the places in the world that are currently suffering from the effects of conflict might also one day recover.
Living in such a peaceful place as Ascension, we tend to forget that conflicts and wars are going on in all too many places in our world. This is the 27th anniversary of the liberation of the Falklands, a war that for many was close, and a conflict they, or members of their family, were involved in.
Many of us here on Ascension are in, or have been in, the military. Too many have been involved in ugly wars, past and present. Too many have memories that will never leave them completely in peace. We have sons and daughters, husbands and wives, and parents in the line of fire.
So this week, as we enjoy the peaceful atmosphere we are blessed with, let us spare a moment of two to remember, and pray for, those who are not so fortunate. Let us pray for all those caught in conflicts. And let us search our own hearts, and cast aside our own prejudices.
May God bless us all on our journey through this world that we share with all God’s peoples.
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