Our tour of Russia and Eastern Europe in August 2012
Tour by train starting from
Moscow, then to St Petersburg (Russia), Vilnius (Lithuania), Warsaw and Krakow
(Poland), Budapest (Hungary), Prague (Czech Republic) and Berlin (Germany).
Our visit to Russia,
Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and finally Berlin provided a great
comparison of how these countries see their history and their relationships to
each other.
It is 22 years since the collapse
of the Berlin Wall and Russian domination of Eastern Europe; 67 years since the
end of World War II; over 200 years since Napoleon attacked Russia. Many of these cities and countries have
histories going back 1,000 years.
We stayed only a few days in
each city. Most of our input was through
local guides, who were well educated but perhaps provided only one view of
their country and its history.
Here’s a summary of what we
heard and how it sits with the history we have been given in the West.
Russia is much more than
Moscow and St Petersburg but these two cities provide an interesting contrast.
Moscow is alive with cars and
lots of people getting into the business of capitalism.
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| Moscow Airport |
There is a divide in Moscow,
separating those people who are young and educated from the older and less
educated.
English is common with
younger people, but not with the older and less educated, who are slow to
adjust to the new environment. The future lies with these younger
people, and looking at the way they dress and act, they could be in any city in
the world.
Moscow is much more expensive
than the rest of Russia. This is recognised in the payment of pensions etc.:
the Muscovites receive at least 20 per cent more in payments to compensate for their
higher cost of living.
To give a hint of the costs in
Moscow: at our hotel, a beer was $16 and a glass of house wine was $25!
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| Moscow suburb, seen from bus en route from the airport |
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| Moscow suburb |
There are plenty of memorials
to the WW2 victory and also Napoleon.
The communist past still has many
monuments but these are remembered more with cynicism than with reverence.
Graves of Communist leaders of the
Kremlin are next to Lenin’s tomb, and these are considered to be historically
significant.
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| Red Square: Lenin's tomb is the small building between towers. |
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| Graves of Russia's Communist leaders |
The guide pointed out that
Khrushchev was not buried next to Lenin’s tomb because he didn’t die in office. She added that his burial place was better
away from all these “others”.
St Petersburg is less wealthy;
even so the locals are on the road to consumerism.
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| Street scene, St Petersburg |
They are comfortable with
their history of Tsarist times and never discuss the loss of all the Republics
after 1989 - except to have a crack at Gorbachev and Yeltsin for losing the
“empire” and the hurtful inflation of the late 1990s.
However, there is no hint
that they want it back or would be willing to chase that goal.
From Russia we passed into
Latvia. The Russian attitude at the border was a little old fashioned. They searched the train and warned against
photography at the border.
They locked the toilets so we
could not hide anyone without a passport.
They also unscrewed the roof lids of the train, and peered inside.
In Lithuania, the wealth
seemed to emerge, and seemed more evenly spread. They are very sure of their
future and wanted all to know about their past.
The wartime occupation by
Germany and Russia was high on the education agenda for Lithuanian school
children.
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| The Museum of Genocide Victims along with related art projects by school children |
The awful deeds of the
Gestapo and KGB are detailed the Museum of Genocide Victims in Vilnius.
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| One of the many grim art projects by school children, illustrating the fate of genicide victims |
Not so prominent are the
memorials to the Jewish community of Lithuania. They are there, but less conspicuous than in Berlin for example.
The Lithuanians want to tell
you about their history and when they ruled to the Baltic, given that now their
land is a tiny fraction of what it was.
Nevertheless, they are
realistic about their future and I think happy to be in the EEC and NATO which
offers security against the Russians - at least in military terms if not in
economic terms, as all their fuel and heating gas comes from Russia.
Lithuania reminded me a
little of Sweden - just across the Baltic and a similar climate and construction
techniques.
Next was Poland - now free
and confident about its economic future.
Agriculture and industry are both strong, but it is yet to join the Euro
and is proud that its Zloty is appreciating against the Euro.
The city of Warsaw has been
rebuilt - but right in its centre is the Stalinist building that was
headquarters of the Russian invaders.
The locals don’t like this
building as it towers over the city centre as a reminder of their troubled
occupation by Russia.
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| Stalin's gift to Warsaw: the Palace of Culture and Science |
The Poles are proud of their role in the downfall of Russian domination.
Again consumerism is doing
well and English is like a badge of honour.
A young woman cashier was
proud to announce my bill in simple and strained English when it was clearly
visible on the register. And again she was most careful and counted out change
with slow and precise English. At the end she showed pride in being able to do
the transaction in English.
They are on their way.
In Prague, consumerism is
well established, judging by the large shopping mall in the city centre
(Westfield on steroids, one wag called it) with lots of shops stuffed with
clothes and goods of all descriptions. Young
people are walking around with their shopping, on their mobiles, never having
known the shortages of food and goods under communism. They will just not
understand their parents etc. when they tell them of rationing etc.).
Marx and Lenin would turn in
their graves.
Auschwitz just north of
Krakow shows us its horrors. Many people were looking around the site, seeing
the story unfold about the systematic murder of so many people. It stands as a
reminder of what not to do.
Into Hungary, and
Budapest. We visited Budapest four years
ago when there was much more buildings under construction/repair than now.
It seems English has improved
here, and shopping areas are well supported.
However, the economy is under
pressure and its leaders are making the wrong noises about democracy. For instance, all judges over 60 years old have
been fired and new ones appointed by the Government head – a move that does not
sit well with democracy.
The Hungarian Train manager tells
us how Hungary really deserves to get back its lost territories in Romania.
Except for the Russians,
these countries all talk longingly of bygone eras when they controlled large
empires. (I remember the Italians had a big poster with a map of the 2,000-year-old
Roman Empire, hinting that it would be good to get it back!).
Prague was next after
travelling through clearly poorer Slovakia.
From the train, we could see huge derelict factories and thousands of
workers apartments.
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| Suburbs of Slovakia |
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| Derelict factory |
Compared with modern western
factories, the old Communist factories could not produce the goods. The guides explained the inefficiencies of a
system where workers’ pay and conditions were guaranteed. There was no incentive to work hard, so
production was slow.
The Polish guide told us
about her life - her two parents worked so when she got home from school she had
to go to the food shop and stand in the queue for a kilo of meat and bread. She
didn’t mind - it was how it worked.
To Berlin - as we cross from
Slovakia to Germany the trains become modern and clean - the countryside
becomes neater – farms are much bigger than previous countries - villages look
modern.
This was once East Germany
but still it looks to have moved a lot since 1990.
Berlin - modern, rebuilt. As
we arrive at out hotel in Potsdamer Plaza we see several pieces of the old
“wall”. This was the divide.
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| Segment of the Wall |
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| The Wall, with wads of chewing gum. |
Berlin offers a lot - many Museums, the Brandenburg gate, the Reichstag, palaces of old Emperors, reminders of the
wall everywhere with a solid line in the road or footpath.
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| The Berlin wall still makes itself useful, as a canvas for artists |
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| The wall is a magnet for tourists |
The Jewish Memorial site in the centre of Berlin occupies a complete city block - and is remarkable.
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| Jewish Memorial Site |
By contrast, Hitler’s old bunker is merely a car
park: unsealed dirt and grass: it is marked with a very simple sign showing the
layout of the now filled in bunker. They don’t want to glorify it.
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| The sign that marks Hitler's bunker |
The Berliners are different
to other Germans. It reminds me of the relationship
New Yorkers have with other Americans.
Berliners are confident, easy
going and somehow more relaxed than their countrymen. The city reeks of German
efficiency, especially compared with our Eastern European experiences where the
Soviet era still not quite forgotten.
But the bureaucracy to gain
entry into the Reichstag was memorable. A 4-minute interview after queuing for
45 minutes to be allocated a time slot several hours later - photo ID needed.
Seems to be overkill but it will perhaps sort out the misbehavers??
