They all had seen the photographs of gas chambers and the piles of dead children’s shoes. But, it wasn’t until they went to Poland that they saw them as humans do. In the words of one participant, “I knew they existed but, until today, I knew like I knew Jupiter existed; no experience, just certainty.”
Classrooms Without Borders led its annual study-seminar to Poland this July, bringing a cohort of 75 educators, students, lay leaders and adults to experience the story of the Holocaust as first-hand as possible. They toured the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau and Majdanak and more, as well as the Warsaw ghetto and Holocaust survivor Howard Chandler’s hometown of Starachowice. They inhaled the subject during the whirlwind, 10-day trek through exhibitions and real-life experience.
The trip opened the eyes of Cristina Pullen, a Texas border town resident and Carnegie Mellon University sophomore. She feels the study seminar strengthened her resolve to become a civil rights attorney and help change other people’s lives.
“I went to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. in the eighth grade. I always kind of knew what happened but I was really, really scared when I saw all of those children’s shoes,” Pullen said recently. “How it developed? I had no understanding. I had no idea how extensive the history was.”
“At Majdanak, that was really the place it hit me. I wouldn’t eat, I wouldn’t sleep – you’re walking through a place where people slaughtered children,” she added. “That, I couldn’t take that from the U.S. I had to go to Poland to experience it. Hearing about it is one thing but seeing it is a whole different story.”
Josh Andy agrees. He teaches at Winchester Thurston School in Pittsburgh and has travelled with Classrooms Without Borders to Poland three times now.
“As a historian, I think there’s so much to learn – I learn something new every time,” Andy said. “The more I go, the more these stories are remembered and the more they’re taught.”
The study seminars have informed deeply Andy’s year-long course at Winchester Thurston on the Holocaust and genocide, which also addresses atrocities in Armenia and Yugoslavia.
“The one thing that makes Classroom Without Bords trips unique and distinct is the preparation before the trips – and going to Howard’s hometown, meeting with the Righteous Among The Nations,” he added. “I think the intentionality of the trip is distinct for CWB.”
For information on how to apply for the 2019 study seminar in Poland, visit www.classroomswithoutborders.org.