The Musee de Carnavelet is an art and history museum that show the Paris of the past. 

For the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Paris, they have a beautiful exhibit about the liberation shown through photographs. Paris Freed, Paris Photographed, Paris Exhibited shows images of the liberation, and Vichy, and everything else that we discuss in class. It's so moving to see the experiences we study captured in photographs. 
The Institut Lumiere, in Lyon, is dedicated to telling the story of the Lumiere brothers, who contributed to both cinematography as well as photography with the invention of the blue plates and autochrome plates. 

I think it is so fascinating to think how photographs have helped change the world, as well as helping an individual tell a story that needs to be told.

The Marais District has been fashionable throughout time and a home to many royals over the centuries. The Royal Palace was located there, and for some time, the Rue Saint-Antoine was the widest thoroughfare in Paris. 

At the end of the 19th century, and for sometime during the 20th century, it was a thriving Jewish community. 

Victor Hugo also had an apartment there.

All of this and the Bastille still stood to its side. 

What an interesting and exciting community!!

The Hotel Sully is the Centre des Monuments Nationaux, and it is here that the body responsible for conservation, restoration, and maintenance of monuments is housed. The Centre also functions as a major state-run publisher that creates guidebooks, children's books, educational materials, and other publications for the general public. 

Certainly conservation is something that we, as a society, need to consider. 

June 30th ended up being travel day in the latter half of the day, so my real exploration of the city of Paris began on July 1st. 

I wanted so badly to see the Bastille, although the actual prison does not exist anymore. When I was in D.C. with students at the beginning of the summer, I saw the key to the Bastille that Lafayette gave to Washington. I was so excited to see the key at Mt. Vernon--another serendipitous experiences!! The picture below is of Mt. Vernon, as I could not take a picture of the key inside the house. I have a postcard picture of the key, though, so I will find it and post it.

The Bastille Prison does not exist anymore, but there is a a memorial, the July Column, which is beautiful and breathtaking.

Just so exciting to see the plaza where, I suppose, some of the best writing for one of the best news sources is located! I saw it on a bus ride and got super excited!

There are so many memorials and statues throughout London for all of history, and this statue is in a Tube's station. 

Aharon Appelfeld wrote that in the introduction to the book, I Never Saw Another Butterfly, a collection of poetry and art created by children who were in the camp Terezin. I use his idea constantly with the students, encouraging them to continue to express themselves as individuals. I also encourage them to see the individual in art throughout the world.

I was able to visit Tate Modern, and there is a permanent exhibit about the expression of man after World War II. The exhibit was profound, and I was especially taken by Giacometti's statue, Man Pointing. I was taken by the isolation that surrounds the statue, and the isolation that conflict can create in a life. 

One of my favorite things about traveling and researching is the serendipitous experiences I have. 

I was on my way to another research site, and I stopped at an antique shop to look at the pretty rings. While looking at the rings, my sister happened to mention that I was researching the Holocaust. The owner of shop, Joseph, happened to be from Budapest, and was, in fact, saved by Raoul Wallenberg. 

Joseph's family was so kind, including his daughter, Ania, and his sister, Eva. We spoke for about a half an hour, and being able to share stories and learn from them was so powerful. 

I feel so lucky to have met them.

I traveled to London from Cambridge, and it's hard to wrap my head around the close proximity of the towns in Europe. 

While in London, I was able to see the HMS Belfast. The ship's history is rich--it went to the Arctic to help the Russians in the second world war, and it also fought in Korea. 

Also...the Tower of London. Did you know that SIr Thomas More was held there? As someone who took a stand against abuse of power in his day, I think it's interesting to try to understand human actions within the context of their history and see how choices can have powerful implications.

Just in case there are any scholars who aspire to attend University. 

So, the manuscripts at Cambridge University Library are amazing. 

Once again, it was a serendipitous experience: a novice American "primary" teacher wanders into the manuscripts room at the University library and points to a page of primary materials that are available. The manuscripts helper looks at her quizzically and asks what specifically she wants. She shrugs her shoulders and says, "Anything! This is just too exciting!" 

He then pulls indices of the records from World War II, but in her ignorance, she thinks he is actually pulling the sources. Again, her joy is met with a strange look as he prompts her to fill out a "fetching card" before they "stop fetching" at five p.m.  She nods affirmatively, and finally understands what she is looking at is not the actual sources, but an index of the sources available.

After three tries of asking for a source to be fetched (she can't quite discern how the sources are housed at the different institutions; evidently, Christ's Church resources CANNOT be found at the University Library's sources), she, in a panic to meet the five p.m. deadline, hastily asks for Viscount Templewood's correspondence about "Human Rights from 1944-1947."

When the speeches and letters finally arrive, she weeps over the pure magic of it all; whomever this Viscount Templewood (real name, Sir Samuel Hoare) was, she is looking at his speeches with his handwritten notes on it. The University LIbrary's staff smiles patiently at her, but does not quite understand the power that these seventy year old documents have over her. 

... and it is with that stage that has been set that I discovered Templewood:


"The Law of Humanity (a minimum standard for Europe): 'The fact that Germany, a country once regarded as a civilized state, abolished the most elementary human rights, is an extremely serious danger-signal. Where is the guarantee that a similar development might not emerge in other countries?... “Mankind has to be protected from a repetition of the German example. It should be recognized that beastality does not confine itself to the land where it was born and attained mastery. The evil proved to be more dynamic and more contagious than the good. This is the reason why a country where the law of humanity has been abolished becomes a danger to all other countries...Among the measures of a national character the incorporation of the Law of Humanity into the different state constitutions as a completely separate part could gradually gain a decisive role in the protection of human rights in any political development. This Law of Humanity should become the minimum standard for Europe...'"


Now, I have no real context of where these speeches were given, and I now only know a very little about Viscount Templewood, but certainly, anyone arguing at such a high level (he spoke at  the Royal Institute for International Affairs on Tuesday, November 20th, 1945) for the respect of the individual should be someone who is included in the dialogue about the Upstander. 


It is these magical moments that I treasure in my novice research experience. I had never heard of Templewood, and had I not become a temporary member of the University Library, I might not ever have found him. 


My time in Cambridge has come to an end, sadly, but I am traveling to London and cannot wait to research there. 

I might even get a temporary British Library ID!!