We did some sightseeing this afternoon at the world-renowned Vasa Museum which, ironically, is a testament to the Swedes' greatest historical blunder: the launching of a huge ship which sunk in the Stockholm harbor within 20 minutes. The ship has been painstakingly resurrected and rehabilitated since it was pulled out of the harbor in the 1960s.
Special craftsmen were hired to save the pieces of the ship and put it back together, a labor of love. (You can read all about it at http://www.vasamuseet.se/en/) Pardon my self-involvement, but I couldn't help but see connections to the work that I have been doing to find my ancestors and then to put together the pieces of my family.
We also enjoyed a tour with Elinor of Skansen, a village which attempts to re-create old Stockholm. Mostly, I enjoyed being together with family.
We are staying at the city apartment of Anna and Josef (Sylvia's brother) in a spectacular location within walking distance of everything and on top of a mall which features a grocery store, coffee bar, and a Swedish McDonald's. Everyone here is polite and speaks English. I feel less foreign in Sweden than I did in Poland.
After a brief rest at the apartment, Courtney, Jennifer and I headed south to Sylvia and Zev's home where their long-time friends and family awaited us. One of their friends, Carlos, has a Polish mother and Hungarian father, as I do, and he has also made pilgrimages to his ancestral villages. Within minutes, we were hugging each other as he told me of his emotional reunion with his history.
A welcome arrival was Nomi Szpiro, yet another cousin descending from Icek Meir's tree. Icek had three sons: Israel, Abram Michal (my grandfather) and Jacob (the Swedish grandfather). Jacob had four children--one was Rosemarie and Simon. Simon has a son, Jacques, whose daughter is Nomi.
Seeing Nomi with Elinor and Jennifer and Micheal was a heart-warming sight. I gave Nomi and Michal important documents about their grandparents in the hope that they will carry my work forward and treasure their sad but important legacy. Micheal is intense and sensitive and asked good questions about the history behind these records. Nomi is a little older than her other third cousins, and I think this information has a different impact on her. We will talk more privately today, I think.
I hope that this generation will not forget this history which I have worked so hard to discover. But more importantly, the lesson that I hope I have adequately expressed to my Swedish cousins is that the Galas history's importance lies in making sure that, to the best of our abilities, we should make sure that similar tragedies are not visited upon any other people again.
The best part of the day
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