Monday, August 5 was our first official day finally meeting up as a group. Many of us met in the lobby for an afternoon boat tour at 11:30. We did an ice breaker and everyone went around and said something that helps…
It’s sad to realize that today is our last day in Poland. This trip has been so amazing, and it’s crazy to know it’s about to end. This morning, we toured the Wieliczka Salt Mines. Because salt was the only way to…
Today started with a walking tour around Krakow. From our hotel, we walked to Schindler’s Factory. We spoke about the Jews he saved as well as his questionable motivations. We spoke about what it took to become a Righteous Among the Nations…
After a long and difficult day yesterday, today started off at a leisurely pace. While some teachers chose to participate in tai chi, others decided to ease into the morning with a leisurely breakfast and an extra cup of coffee. Then it…
Today we woke up early and took the bus to Auschwitz. Auschwitz had 40 sub camps. First we saw Auschwitz 1. It was originally a Polish military base, but the Nazis turned it into a concentration camp and then later an extermination…
When we entered Auschwitz 1 early on Friday morning, many of us were taken aback at the crowds and frenetic busyness of the place. We remembered the somber sacred quietude of Treblinka and this cacophony almost felt wrong. Yet it reminded me…
After breakfast, we all gathered in the hotel’s conference room. There we met with the deputy mayor, the former deputy mayor, and a historian who works for the town. We spoke about how the citizens of the city treated Jews and what…
Yesterday, while in Lublin, I was taken by the rows and rows of nameless visages depicted in black and white photos. To leave this Earth without anyone to remember you is perhaps one of humans’ deepest fears. To think of the innumerable…
Day 4 of the “Poland Personally” seminar is complete. Today we stopped in Wierzbnik-Starachowice, Howard Chandler’s home town. As we entered the town, the first thing we saw was the train station. As we passed the station, it brought me sadness. A…
Today we woke up early in order to be on the bus by 8:00 for our ride to Lublin. On the way there, we started learning some songs for memorial services, and watched the movie ‘The Pianist’. In Lublin, we went to…
Today we left Warsaw and made our way to Lublin to visit the Grodzka Gate. The town of Lublin once had a thriving Jewish neighborhood that was completely destroyed during the war. The Grodzka Gate used to be the passage from the…
The Flowers of Majdanek How many feet had shuffled down this lane? I couldn’t begin to imagine. The suffering. the pain, the overwhelming fear…these life draining forces still evident no matter the passage of time. As I walked from barrack to barrack…