24 - 25: This night, walk the dead

August 24, German word of the day: reisen, "to travel." Well, this is certainly a relevant word!

I spent most of the 24th laying low and napping. Clubbing until 3am doesn't allow me to bounce back as fast as I did when I was younger! I went down to the corner cafe, DirtWater, to get some drawing done. Despite the name, they make great drinks and food, and are truly sweethearts. It is one of the places I will miss the most about Vienna.

Dirtwater by fairy light.

August 25th, German word of the day: Der Ulaub, "vacation." This has been quite the vacation indeed! Upon arriving in Vienna, I honestly wasn't sure if I could survive the entire month. And here I am with just a few days left, and I don't know how I'm going to survive being back home!

Today was a beautiful journey to the Zentralfriedhof, or Vienna Central Cemetery. We were joined by Johannes Reiss from the Osterreichisches Judisches Museum, and his wonderful wife Traude (and their dog, Fili!) Only a few of us from class went on the walk, since most were in Prague or Budapest for the weekend. 

We entered the enormous cemetery at Gate 1. Nearly 3 million people are buried in the cemetery, which is incomprehensible. It spans miles in every direction. Traude told us of a past device which transported bodies from one place to another, via a sort of airlock device. Wacky!

The 1st gate housed the large old Jewish cemetery section. While the newer Jewish section was located at gate 4, the old contained many of those who died prior to WW2. Traude and Johannes pointed out many notable families and individuals throughout the main corridor of the Jewish section, which was considered the "best" place to be buried, and where those with wealth and notoriety would be placed.

The gravestone of Wilhem Stiassny, who was an Austrian architect. He designed the first Jewish museum, as well as Tel Aviv neighborhood plans.

Johannes explaining the significance of the pitcher motif on Jewish gravestones. 

Grave of a younger person who died. The broken tree, or broken column, is symbolic of life being cut short.

Prayers written on a famous Rabbi's mausoleum, most dated before WW2.

Damaged tombstones piled up in the Jewish section. The cemetery was bombed during WW2, and the ruined stones are left since we do not know precisely where they once belonged.

Unfortunately, much of this area of the cemetery was in disrepair. The area is overgrown, stones are faded and broken, and it is troubling to see such a rich historical area fall to the elements. After the events of the Holocaust, Austria's Jewish community was decimated, and very few families remain in the area. Thus, much of the financial resources and community engagement that it would take to restore the area are simply not available. However, it does seem that there has recently been steps to draw up a master survey of the area, so preservation can become possible. This is an exciting step, and I hope it leads to the cemetery being restored to its former glory. The impressive size and scope of the Jewish section was like nothing I've seen. 

Grave in disrepair. Copper plates were one in the circular areas, but have since been stolen.

After Gate 1, we moved onto Gate 2, where many famous musicians and other notable individuals were buried. In contrast to the old Jewish section, this section is highly maintained and manicured and a destination for tourists.

Beethoven's grave.

Grave of Manfred Deix, Austrian illustrator and political cartoonist. The best grave I've ever seen!!!!

Falco's extremely impressive grave.

Inscription of Hedy Lamarr's (honorary) grave. She was a famous actress who linked to "tinker," and developed a frequency-jamming signal that disrupted weapons of war. Her life is fascinating, and I was honored to see this grave in person.

This represents only a small, small fraction of the Zentralfriedhof. It would be impossible to visit it all in a single day, or even a few days! We didn't even venture into the Protestant or Catholic sections, of which span miles. I felt at home in this enormous cemetery, and mark it as one of the destinations I would most like to return to in the future.