Life is like a box of chocolates...

So far, this week of work in the Central Archives has not been too successful. Today, I arrived at the archives to find that all the microfilm machines were occupied, except for one. I asked if that machine was taken, and the woman at the desk said that someone was using it. I sat down at a table to wait for a machine, wondering who was using the one open machine, and in walks in a film crew! From what I could tell, they were filming either a news report or a documentary. Either way, it was very clearly staged. One of the archivists brought out a microfilm and showed the TV hostess/actress how to use the machine, and then the cameraman filmed her rolling through the film. It was funny, but I just wanted to be able to use the machines myself! Eventually, the crew left and another archivist brought up an extra machine for me. I started looking through films to try and find Papa Joe's mother's birth record, but when I went to retrieve the film from the most likely birth year, the archivist told me it was being reprographed. That makes two of those! He said that they'll hopefully be done soon, and I told him I would be back tomorrow to check on them. I also requested what I think are the last microfilms for me to look at. I'll review those tomorrow as well.

After that it was off to the civil registry office, but not before buying the women there a little present to put them in a good mood for my return visit: a box of chocolates. When I got to the office, I rang the bell to announce my presence...and out walks a woman who I'd never seen before. Well, that was awkward! I went to buy these two specific women chocolate, and now one whom I've never seen before answers the door! Anyway, I asked her if she spoke English, and she responded in Polish, "No, we only speak Polish here." But she then went to talk to someone in the back, and when she said "There's an American here," out walked one of the ladies from last week, armed with the forms I handed in then. It's funny that once she heard about an American there, she knew it had to be me. I handed her the box of chocolates, saying that last week was over, and this week is a new week. She was very flattered, and I could tell that this put both her and the other woman in a very good (and helpful!) mood. I explained that I wanted to fill out new forms, this time requests for Papa Joe's father's first marriage certificate and the birth record of Papa Joe's half-brother, Solomon. Unlike last week, today everything happened efficiently. They pulled out the forms, I filled them out, and although they said they couldn't have them ready by today, they agreed to have them ready by Thursday. I'm convinced that their eagerness to help was the chocolate working its magic! When I left, I told them to enjoy the chocolate, and I could tell that they were excited to do so. I'll be back there on Thursday, and maybe they'll even be in such a good mood that they'll show me the original records from Solomon's birth. Or maybe that's me being too optimistic. You never know...a little chocolate can go a long way!

Later, I did a little sightseeing: First I walked around a part of the Old Town district (actually called New Town, because it's not as old as the rest of Old Town) where many of the buildings are painted with pictures of people, animals, etc. Next, I couldn't find the location of the Mila 18 bunker, from where the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was organized (apparently no longer on Mila Street), but one place I did visit was Prozna Street, basically the only street from the Warsaw Ghetto that maintains its original buildings. I also visited a site a little down the road where the only fragments of the Warsaw Ghetto wall have been preserved. Tomorrow, after I visit the archives, hopefully I'll be able to visit the museum I've been wanting to go to--the Warsaw Uprising (not Ghetto Uprising, another one) Museum, which is supposed to be really well done. More then!

An example of a painted house in the New Town district

The entrance to Prozna Street, with the windows of the buildings displaying pictures of Jews in pre-war Warsaw

One of the buildings on Prozna Street

A fragment of the Warsaw Ghetto wall