After having a few weeks to digest and really process my trip to Poland, I am finally ready to put my thoughts into words.
As yearcoursers, we were given a chance to take a one week trip to Poland as a group to learn about the history. We visited cemetaries, mass graves, synagogues and Nazi camps and every site had a unique story to tell. Our journey was not just to learn about the Holocaust, but to also learn all about Jewish life before the Holocaust and even about present day Jewery in Poland.
Every day in Poland was packed with facts, sites and moments that I will carry in my heart forever. I think that it is so important to do this trip even though it is very difficult (the trip was exhausting both mentally and physically). However, I learned so much about the Jews in Poland (pre,during and post war) during Kuma then I have in my entire life.
Day 1: Our first visit was to the Jewish Cemetary of Warsaw, home to over 250,000 graves (biggest Jewish cemetary in Europe). It is an enormous space filled with many inspirational people such as Marek Edelman (one of the leaders in the Warsaw Uprising). 80,000 people buried in this cemetary have no tombstones because they are buried in a mass grave. And if my teacher had not told me not to step on it, I probably wouldn't have even known.
Next, we visited the city of Kazimierz Dolny. This was known as the "Catskills" of Poland. This beautiful city was a notorious vaction area for the Polish Jews and now the previous synagogue has been turned into a museum that shows what the Jewish life was back then. During the war, the Nazis took this city over and used the town square as an area to have their ceremonies. When I stood in that square, it was the first time that it occurred to me that I was standing where a Nazi once stood.
Our last stop was the Lapidarium in Kazimierz Dolny. This is a wall that is built with tombstones. During the war, the Nazis wanted to erase the Jews from Europe including the deceased. So, they used tombstones to build roads (cars eventually wore them out) and buildings. They literally did everything they could to degrade the Jews to "sub-human"
Day 2: The day started out with a visit to the former Lublin Ghetto. I personally would not have ever known that this place was ever a ghetto. Everything looks new (even though it isn't). The streets were full of people walking around. Restaurants and pubs were everywhere. Yet, most of these buildings were the horrible living spaces of Jews 70 years ago. It was just very unsettling to know that people who live there go there everyday and no one even bats an eye to how horrible this place really was.
The people of the Lublin Ghetto were taken to the concentration camp called Majdanek and that was our next stop. When I stepped foot on the camp, I looked around and the first things I saw were watch towers, bunkers and barbed wire fences. Exactly what you see when you watch any Holocaust film. What I was not expecting to see, however were residential homes nearby. There were apartment complexes surrounding the camp and once again, I was confused. How can anyone live with that view everyday?????
In the camp we saw terrible, terrible things. We went into the shower rooms and the gas chambers. The chambers had peepholes so that the Nazis could be entertained by watching thousands of Jews being killed at once. We went into the storage bunkers and eventually the living quarters. Each bunker had a little exhibit inside. We went into the crematoriums and saw the original ovens that were used in the war. We saw the memorial that had a HUGE mound of human ash inside. The whole place made me sick to my stomach. I have read and seen movies and pictures of what went on in these camps but it was absolutely nothing until I saw it with my own eyes. Not to mention the fact that I was freezing in all of my warm layers while the prisoners of the camp had only thin pajamas and wodden clogs. Throughout the camp, I wore my Israeli flag as my personal form of the middle finger to the Nazis.
After a few of the sites that we visited, we held a ceremony. At Majdanek, a testimony about the harshness of the camp was read and then we said the "Mouner's Kaddish" (prayer for the dead) and sang "Hatikvah" (the national anthem of the state of Israel).
Day 3: We started our day off with a visit to the Wlodowa Shul. This shul is very close to Sobibor Death Camp (our next stop) and has an exhibit dedicated to it. Although the exhibit was in Polish, it was still very interesting. Another cool thing about the synagogue was the prayers on the wall. Back then, the shuls didn't have enough money to buy siddurim, so they had to paint the prayers on the wall. So beautiful.
Before we arrived to the death camp of Sobibor, we watched the movie about it.
Escape from Sobibor was a film made based on a testimony given by one of the film's main characters. Watching this movie really gave us an idea of what it was like in this camp. Because it was a death camp, thousands arrived and the minute they got off the trains, they were sent straight to the gas chambers. Sobibor also had a few hundred prisoners because the Nazis needed tailors, cooks, people to sort the belongings etc. 300 people managed to escape.
When we walked through the camp, there was a path in between two perfect rows of beautiful pine trees. As we walked through the path, our teacher informed us that this was the path that the Jews used to run from the train to their death. Along the path are memorials that have names on them of the people who perished in this awful place. One of these memorials has my grandma's family on it (couldn't find it unfortunately). And at the end, is another dome that contains yet another mound of human ash. Once again, as a group we read a testimony and said the "Mourner's Kaddish" and sang "Hatikvah".
The survivor whose testimonial was used for the film:
Day 4: On this day, we visited the mass graves of Glugow and Tarnow. Both sites are absolutely heartbreaking. These mass graves are outlined with a memorial plaque on it but it just is NOT enough. There are thousands of people in each grave who were just taken into the forrest and shot into a ditch without a second thought. And there is no way to know who is buried in there. These poor innocent victims were stripped of one of the most important Jewish values: a proper burial. Not only that, but their gravesite is hidden inside a forrest! In Glugow, the graves are in a forrest behind a gas station and in Tarnow, they are right next to a park in the middle of a very nice neighborhood.
In Tarnow, the mass graves are varied. There is one for Polish Political Prisoners (Communists), Jewish adults and Jewish children. As we arrived to the children's mass grave we read a testimonial which broke my heart. This story explained what happened in vivid detail. I didn't know what to do. I was so upset and all I could do was just stare at the grave in silence. This was the hardest site for me throughout the whole trip. I was completely numb.
Day 5: This was the most anticipated day of the whole trip: the day we visited Auschwitz. As much as it pains me to say it, Auschwitz is the most famous concentration camp (and the largest by far). I really could not process that I was there. The night before, our teachers led an intro to Auschwitz to help ease us into the process and in my eyes, it was absolutely essential.
We started our trip in Auschwitz I which was the main camp and where most of the political prisoners were held. And the first thing that caught my eye was the famous sign at the entrance, "Arbeit Macht Frei" (work will set you free). Auschwitz I is a museum dedicated to what happened during the Holocaust and it is very tough to see. We learned all about what happened in this hell. We saw the shoes, hair brushes, glasses, talits and everything else that was taken away from the Jews. Among the suitcases, I found one that belonged to a girl named Hana Fuchs. My heart immediately dropped because Fuchs was my grandmother's maiden name..... Eventually I talked to my grandmother and she has no clue if that was her family member or not (maybe it was someone distant). We also visited the prison building and the hospital where the idiot Dr. Mengele carried out his sick visions.
Zyklon B: the gas that was used in the chambers
Remnants of the scratches from fingernails on wall of the gas chamber
After the main camp we had to drive to Auschwitz II: Brikenau. The craziest part is that everything we saw in that ten minute drive was a part of the camp during the war. And now it is just the city of Oswecium. The entire camp covered over 25 square miles.
I have seen a million pictures of the entrance to Brikenau but when I saw it with my own eyes, I got that numb feeling again. I was about to enter what is in my opinion the most evil place in the world. I immediately put my Israeli flag on and entered. The first thing I see is an Israeli delegation singing. Every single person in that group had a flag wrapped around them and I felt tears in my eyes. Another great middle finger to the Nazis.
Walking around Auschwitz was surreal. we went into the latrines (1 building serving as a bathroom for 30,000 people), bunkers, cattle car, gas chambers and induction room (where the prisoners received tatoos, showers, haircuts etc. Our group even had the priviledge to speak to a survivor who was there. He told us his story and we could all hear the trauma in his voice. He told us how Catholics are the reason that the Holocaust happened and he said if he could give us one piece of advice it would be to never trust a "goi". Although I don't neccessarily agree with him, I think it is very sad that he is so traumatized and scarred by what happened to him. And I can understand that he needs to place the blame somewhere.
After an exhausting day full of emotion, we arrived back to our hotel and got ready for Shabbat. We were so fortunate and got to go to the most beautiful synagogue I have ever been to for Friday night services. And then, we ate a very delicious Shabbat meal at a different synagogue. The fact that I was just in Auschwitz earlier that day and now I get to celebrate Shabbat freely with all of my friends on the program was the most incredible feeling. I was so proud to be Jewish and so grateful to be born in a time where no one can stop me from practicing my religion.
Day 6: On Shabbat, we visited a few synagogues in Krakow and took a walking tour of the city (no driving on Shabbat). We visited three synagogues: The Old Shul (built in the 1400s), The High Shul and the New Shul (built in the 1500s). Each one was special in it's own way with its own story to tell. There are only pictures from the New Shul because we visited the others during shabbat.
Day 7: For our final day, we visited Warsaw. Before we visited the Ghetto, we saw the movie
Uprising and it was very useful to get background information on what happened.
Our first stop in Warsaw was at Janusz Korczak's Orphanage. This orphanage was for Jewish children before the war and once the Ghetto was put into place, all of the children and the owner (Korczak) were moved there and he restarted the orphanage inside the ghetto. When the Nazis decided that it was time for the children in the orphanage to be sent to Treblinka, he went with them although he didn't need to. He is a very prominent figure and a hero. His orphanage is still running today although the children are not Jewish.
We then went see the remnants of the ghetto wall. Of course, the wall is in the middle of an apartment complex. These buildings have been refurbished, but they are still the same apartments that had about 30 Jews living in each one. And people have no problem living in them. At the wall, our teacher was talking to us about life in the ghetto and what happened there. All of a sudden, some Polish man opens his window and starts yelling at us to go away! He insults my teacher and won't leave us alone. We did not leave because this is a landmark and we had every right to be there. He starts yelling and cussing at us and then dissappears. We call over our Polish security guard (I would not want to mess with him) and then he starts talking to the man. All of a sudden, this freak whips out a bucket of water and splashes us with it telling us to "drown in the Sea of Jordan". The funniest part was that he then whipped out a stick and tried to beat our guard with it, but Camille (our savior!!!) grabbed it out of his hands and broke it easily. We then left because my teacher didn't want to cause trouble. I have to admit that I flipped the guy off and dropped an F-bomb. I know it isn't polite but I just couldn't help myself!!!!!
Next was the Umschlagplatz. This was the walk that the people of Warsaw had to do to get from the ghetto to the loading train to go to the death camps. Through this walk, there are many memorials for the victims and it is very emotional. This was our last site and it was very important that we did this. We were all freezing, but it was worth it.
Right before the airport, we had one last stop. We went to the Old City of Warsaw!!! There, we had a chance to just hang out an explore a bit. My friends and I went to go eat Perogis. YUM
Our beloved guard :)
That was our final stop so we went to the airport, flew back to Israel and went straight to the Kotel. As a group, we had a wonderful closing ceremony celebrating the fact that we get to leave snowy Poland to come to the beautiful, sunny Eretz Israel!!!!!!!
I am SO grateful to have this opportunity and encourage everyone to go whether you are on your own or in an organized group. This was the most meaningful experience in my life so far and I will remember and cherish it forever.
