Israeli travel advisor takes a trip of a different kind tracing the footsteps of his late mother to Uzbekistan’s Samarkand.

By Motti Verses

Central Asia was one of the few places that accepted Jews fleeing the Holocaust. Altogether, about 1.6 million Soviet Jews and 200,000 Polish Jewish refugees are estimated to have survived the war in Central Asia – across Siberia and parts of the Ural Mountains. In this fortuitous part of the world that became an unlikely center for Jewish refugees, the city of Samarkand played a significant role as a hub for these displaced Jews. Few in the world today are aware that this city served as a major center for the evacuation of children from the Soviet Union, with thousands being sent to Uzbek families and orphanages. Research reveals that the Samarkand region during the first years of the war, absorbed about 90,000 children. To meet this influx, sixteen orphanages were established absorbing 8,000 children, including 300 from Poland.

My late mother Sarah was a teenager when together with her family and a quarter of a million Polish Jews, fled with the outbreak of WWII, to the interior of the Soviet Union. Residing in a small village near the city of Chelm in eastern Poland,  my mother, together with her parents and a brother and sister, crossed the nearby border into Soviet Russia following the German Wehrmacht entering Warsaw on October 1, 1939.  In retrospect, she was among the fortunate to have escaped the genocide that befell European Jewry. I can only imagine what she experienced as she fled from one labor camp to another across Central Asia’s Muslim regions.

Years passed, and when I was her age in Israel of the 1970s, she began to revisit her past and spoke about this “most beautiful town” she remembered – Samarkand. She was reliving the best and blocking out the worst – like her experiences in a labor camp. This was understandable.

While for years hearing the name “Samarkand”, I never imagined that 85 years after the deadliest disaster to befall the Jewish people, I too – intrigued by my mother’s recollections – would journey to this intriguing city in Uzbekistan renowned in ancient times for being on the Silk Road linking China to the Mediterranean. 

This past Spring, I set out on my long-awaited journey tracing my mother’s footsteps to the city and its people that saved her life. A five-hour comfortable night flight in an empty aircraft from Ben Gurion airport and we landed in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. The view from my taxi was of a modern impressive metropolis, but while our eyes feasted on  the city’s wide boulevards, its iconic Independence Square with vibrant fountains, an impressive park and spacious walkways, our minds were elsewhere, some 300 kilometers away – Samarkand.

ON TRACK TO SAMARKAND

Uzbekistan offers modern transportation, including flights and trains – fast track as well as regular. Unfortunately acquiring tickets to the faster options is not that easy with online tickets sold-out long in advance. Frustrated, we booked the 4-hour slow train, however, fortune favored us as the Tashkent hotel concierge came to our rescue and business class tickets on the fast train were found at the last minute at affordable prices. This 210 km/h high-speed train, the Afrosiyob, proved quick and comfortable as well as providing an unexpected and interesting encounter. I met a fellow passenger, Orif Shermatov, an Uzbek astronomer who was on his way to a paragliding festival in Samarkand and we engaged in a long conversation thanks to Google translation. He told me about his Jewish friends that had immigrated to Israel and when the conversation shifted to why Jews eat Matzah on Passover, my mind shifted back in time to the war and the  Jewish refugees – including my late mother and her family – marking Pesach (Passover) during those trying times in work camps.

The 2-hour ride passed quickly and soon felt as if we had passed through a time tunnel arriving in Samarkand one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central Asia. It felt as if we had also arrived back in the 14th century. Situated at the  crossroads of trade, Samarkand flourished under the rule of empires with its strategic location on the Silk Road marking it a melting pot of diverse cultures, fostering advancements in science, art and particularly in astonishing architecture that soon became visually all to apparent.  It is home of the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty, a Turco-Mongol empire that ruled much of Persia and Central Asia in the late 14th and 15th centuries founded by Amir Timur, widely regarded as one of the greatest military leaders of Central Asia and today an Uzbek national hero.

For history lovers and architecture enthusiasts alike, visiting the exquisite Gūr-i Amīr or Guri Amir Mausoleum Complex is undoubtedly a must as we soon found out. It took our breath away staring at the incredibly huge azure dome over the tombs of Amir Timur himself and his sons and  grandsons. It was a highlight not to be missed. Gur-e Amir means “Tomb of the King” in Persian. 

Located in the heart of Samarkand, the ancient Registan Square ensemble of Madrasas is a real gem and undeniably the centerpiece of the city. Its grand architectural ensemble has earned it global fame as a monument of oriental architecture offering a breathtaking journey through centuries of history, architecture, and cultural heritage. But it did not always look like this as we soon discovered.

Over the centuries and a lack of resources left it neglected. We learnt how Samarkand had gone through severe economic decline, particularly when  its status of being a capital city passed to Bukhara and merchants of the Great Silk Road bypassed the city. 

However major restoration works were undertaken between 1967-1987 and the outcome is jaw dropping. We were left speechless facing this grand architectural collection and I couldn’t help thinking about my late mother, who had been 14 and 15 years old at the time, admiring the unmaintained sites in the 1940s before the restoration. The structures were then in a ruined condition with the domes and portals partially or in some cases, totally destroyed. The  minarets were dangerously inclined and the façades in some places had lost 70-80% of their ceramic tile coverings. We saw in the museum section of the madrasas, photographs capturing the history from those days. However, and this is what struck me so emotionally, was reflecting back to the city’s depressed period, its iconic architectural gems neglected and my mother  as with all the Jewish refugees also in a state of tragic upheaval and ‘disrepair’, nevertheless marveling at what she saw and experienced here in Samarkand. To my mother, it was the most beautiful city she had ever seen in her life.

The old town is gigantic in size. Much bigger to what I imagined. We explored endless additional breathtaking structures, monuments, mausoleums and the famous Bibi-Khanum Mosque, named after the emperor’s wife. At the time it was one of the largest and most magnificent mosques in the Islamic world. Bibi-Khanym Mosque is considered a masterpiece of the Timurid Renaissance and left us once again breathless.

Everywhere we explored, I thought of my Mom as a teenager here, where she had been and what she saw and experienced. Leaving the Bibi-Khanym Mosque, we visited the nearby colorful Siab Bazaar known for its vibrant atmosphere and a wide variety of goods, including fresh produce, spices, textiles, and local handicrafts. 

Walking by numerous restaurants offering delicious Uzbek cuisine, we eventually stopped and tried the Plov, the national dish of Uzbekistan with carrots, rice and lamb. Tasty and definitely the ultimate social food here that brings people together.  As I chewed this delicious food, I could not escape the thought:

 “What did my mother eat as a refugee in this city? Did she also enjoy as I was the Plov?”

Thirty minutes away into the countryside and we were in the ‘Silk Road Samarkand Tourist Center’, a unique tourist complex built along an artificial rowing canal dating from the soviet times.

The architecture and landscaping – a recreation of ancient Samarkand, complete with domes and mosques, restaurants and bazaar-style shops – was stunning.

Like Alice entering Wonderland, we felt we had stepped into an oriental fairy tale with the turquoise domes, majestic mosaics on palaces and high minarets piercing the blue sky.

While we strolled fascinated by the architecture, it was our minds too that wandered, imagining the versatile heritage of bygone centuries. The trade routes of the Great Silk Road paved the way to Samarkand paper manufacturing. The silk paper process-making is one of the most impressive presentations here. Thousands of years of astonishing technology by Samarkand craftsmen.

Moved by Samarkand’s magical landmarks and its rich cultural heritage, this city will certainly remain in our hearts forever. We felt  – as my mother must have felt – completely safe here, surrounded by the friendly Uzbek people. In my heart, I thanked them for being so brave and warm to the refugees fleeing the bloodiest conflict in human history. 

Visiting Samarkand was not only a breathtaking journey to a beautiful city with wonderful people but it was also a journey into the past, linking my mother’s stories of my childhood with her childhood in this wonderous place where she found refuge before starting a new life in a new land – Israel.

• In memory of Sarah Migdal-Verses (1926-2009)

*Feature picture: The writer thinking of his late mother Sarah (right) in Samarkand’s Registan Square (Photo: Motti Verses).

About the writer:

The writer, Motti Verses, is a Travel Flash Tips publisher. His travel stories are published on THE TIMES OF ISRAEL  https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/author/motti-verses/. And his hospitality analysis reviews on THE JERUSALEM POST, are available on his Linkedin page LinkedIn Israelhttps://il.linkedin.com › motti-verse…Motti Verses – Publisher and Chief Editor – TRAVEL FLASH TIPSAnd his hospitality analysis reviews on THE JERUSALEM POST, are available on his Linkedin page LinkedIn Israelhttps://il.linkedin.com › motti-verse…Motti Verses – Publisher and Chief Editor – TRAVEL FLASH TIPS.

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