Joe’s May 2008 Trek Thru Israel, Eastern Europe & The Balkans En Route to Auschwitz Along the Same Rail Transport Lines my Ancestors Rode to the Death Camps

We boarded the train to Bulgaria from the Thessaloniki station for our first leg of the journey to Sofia Bulgaria.  Last minute news on our way to the station was that the train has cancelled the sleeping car, so we are left to fend for ourselves to find seats on the train.  The peasant class train is a six seat stagecoach seating arrangement in a compartment.  With our entire luggage in tow, we board the train only to find that much of the train is occupied and no reserved seats.  We finally get settled into the train with only three of us in my car.  The seats extend out into sofa style seating and we begin the trip.  It’s a run down train, and the window will not stay shut no matter how much effort we use to rig a means of jamming it shut.  So it is cold and loud.  I put on all the warm clothes I can find and dig out some ear plugs for the long trip and try to get some sleep.  Through the course of the six hour trip, we are interrupted by passport control police as we are exiting Greece, and again as we enter Macedonia and again with Bulgarian border control. I woke up to have my passport inspected in Bulgaria, but then went back to sleep.  Shortly after I fell asleep, I hear the loud panic screaming of a young woman.  It was a Romanian woman no older than 20 years old pulled off the train claiming that she misplaced her passport.  Blood curdling screams as she is dragged off to the police station.  Her mother never got off the train according to some of my group who were in the same train car.  How weird!  The issue of illegal immigration is a major issue in this part of the world. 

We arrived in Sofia Bulgaria which was a large train station build communist style.  In other words, it was built for the masses.  The last time that I had been in Sofia, Bulgaria was in 1975 when it had peaked out as a communist country.  Although Communism is dead, the reminders are everywhere.  Reminders like the signs of deferred maintenance everywhere.  Buildings are dark and dismal looking, the automobiles are the left over communist production Trabant vehicles and the busses are very old world.  The Trabant vehicle was a body made of pressed plastic parts, and was a unique product of communist Germany.  Little has changed and there is really nothing to report about Sofia.  Somewhat dingy and depressing.

We are met by a guide who tells us the Jewish history of Sofia.  There were 50,000 Jews in Bulgaria.  The Prime Minister of Bulgaria agreed to hand over to the Nazis all the Jews, but the King blocked the transport of the Jews.  As a matter of fact, after the King met with Hitler to indicate his refusal to allow the transport of the Jews to the concentration camps.  He returned to his home and was found dead from poisoning.  Bulgaria is one of the very few places in this part of the world where they still live in harmony with the other religions.  There are only 4,000 Jews remaining if Bulgaria.  We are back on the train at noon for the next leg of our trip to Budapest which is an 18 hour journey.  The passport control police in Serbia around 3pm are rather rigid and nasty as we journey through their country to Hungary.  There is no joking around with the blond policewoman as she inspects our passports.  It is a very long ride to Budapest and a long afternoon going into the night.  I drank way too much Ouzo on the train.  Arrival in Budapest early the next morning for a full day of touring Nazi Budapest.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 17th, 2008 at 5:14 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.