Thursday, May 27, 2010

Zrenjanin, Thursday, May 27

Ray and I could not get the hot water in our shower to work this morning. That will wake you up! It was a hot water on demand unit, but we could not get it to turn on. We told them at the front desk and later it was working, so maybe a breaker was off. Also, the room was quite warm last night. We stared at the air conditioner for the longest time and searched for a thermostat, to no avail. In the morning someone reminded us that it works by a remote control. Sure enough there it was. Too late now.

We got away at 10, already two hours late and hoping to make up some time somewhere. First stop was Rudolfsgnad, site of one of the four main post-war internment camps. We first stopped at the dyke that protects the town from the Theiss River. We planned to cross the dyke and walk down to the river bank. Not this year! There was at least five feet of water at the foot of the dyke. And the flood plain extends at least 100 metres to the river bank.

At this site on our last trip, we had met a resident who offered to kill a goat for us and have us stay for supper. We had taken some pictures and some had promised to send him copies. We made a special delivery instead.

A few of the group who have been here before elected to remain at the cemetery while the rest of us went on to the memorial to those who died in the camp. Then we went back for a look at the cemetery and the memorial there.

From there it was on to Elisenheim for a look at the church and on to Etschka for a tour of the impressive church there. Next stop was Molidorf. This was a real adventure!

Molidorf was another of the four main internment camps. After the war, Bosnians were settled there, but a flood ruined the mud walled homes and the site was abandoned to crumble away. All that remains is a square of wooded ground with mounds of dirt where the houses stood and a few cemetery headstones. Mark Remsing and a few others have led a movement to recently erect a monument on the site. That was our destination. But there is no road, so, unless the weather has been dry, the site is accessed by hiring the nearby farmer to take you out there in his wagon. It was far from dry, so that is where our adventure began.

As we rode along at a snail’s pace in the bouncing wagon, we saw that there were very deep tire tracks where tractors had previously driven. Most were somewhat dried out, but there were still many places where it was muddy with standing water. Our driver avoided them as much as possible, but every once in a while we were forced to plough through one of these mud holes. Several times we didn’t think we were going to make it, but he always managed to pull us through. On one especially exciting occasion, one side of the trailer had firmer ground than the other. As the trailer tilted about 30 to 40 degrees, we were sure we were going to be pitched into the mud hole, but we pulled through onto firmer ground just in time. Thankfully he avoided that spot on the way back!

We had planned a late lunch with the farmer’s wife, but it was already 5 pm by the time we returned from our brush with the mud hole. Fortunately she fed us enough for a whole day. There was home made schnapps (he is a registered producer) to start, followed by soup, platters of chicken, venison, pork, and potatoes, a very tasty zucchini dish, home made bread, and beer. Country cooking at its best!

From there we went on to a few more villages. Fortunately for our timetable, but unfortunately for the success of the tour, there was not much to see in these villages. They were mostly bonus stops, without that much importance to most, but still, it wsa disappointing that there was nothing there to see. At Deutsch Zerne, the church was still standing, but Stasa said it was not in use, near collapse, and unsafe to enter. He said the cemetery is badly overgrown. At Heufeld/Mastort, the locals said that the Serb cemetery is in the location of the former German one and there are no German graves remaining. There is no longer a church there. At St. Hubert/Charleville/Seultour there is no church or cemetery either. We wrapped it up there, as it was starting to get dark, and returned to Zrenjanin for the night, arriving about 9:30. This means an 8:30 start tomorrow.

We have stayed at the hotel here before and it is very nice. Weather was fine all day: sunny and hot with a temperature of 30+ degrees C (85+ degrees F). There were thunder storms on the horizon as we returned and one hit while we were in the hotel.

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