Kelsey: Not The End, Just a New Beginning

Attending a Jewish Shabbat Service

All I can say is wow. This past week has been a long journey and amazing opportunity.  I’m sitting here reflecting on the week and I can’t believe how much I’ve learned and saw. I also can’t believe that in a few hours I will be on the plane back home. Today was a good end to the trip. We went to the city of Krakow, had a walking tour of the old Jewish neighborhood and saw the location of the former Jewish Ghetto, and Schindler’s factory. We ended our tour in the center of the city, Market Square (one of my favorite places in Krakow). We spent a few hours walking around and shopping there, it was a lot of fun.

            What really made a great end to the day was when we attended a Jewish Shabbat service with “BEIT Krakow”. The service took place in the Jewish Holocaust museum. I feel like it couldn’t have been a better ending for this trip. We’ve spent all week learning about Judaism in Europe, specifically Poland and the horrors of the Holocaust. The more and more people we talked to, it became clearer that there is such a tiny portion of Jewish people living in Poland today. Many towns and villages have no Jewish community at all. To have the ability to attend a service and meet a growing Jewish community was inspirational. The service we attended in the museum was small but it was made up of a younger generation which gives hope for the future of the Jewish population in Poland. Also, the fact that this service took place in a Holocaust museum was symbolic. It serves as a reminder of the past but also motivation for the future. Basically, after hearing all the devastation the Shoa has done to the Jewish people, to witness that they’re not gone and Hitler did not succeed, was a happy ending to the trip. I’m not sure if this is my last post or not but if so I will end with a very important quote. “Those who forget the past are destined to repeat it”. With that said, I will use this opportunity I had to be a part of a better future. S

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Chelsea: The Last Chapter

View of Krakow from the Castle

Grounds of the Wawel Castle

Our adventures in Poland have unfortunately come to an end - but went out with a bang as we spent this beautiful sunny day exploring the city of Krakow. We spent the morning on a four hour tour of the city - focusing on many of the former Jewish areas. We covered a lot of territory. First we visited the former Jewish district of Kazimierz. The remains of Jewish cultural life can be seen nearly everywhere in this region. Though there is no substantial active Jewish population left in Krakow, there still exist Jewish restaurants, old synagogues, and Jewish cemeteries. We saw many of these buildings; some are abandoned, others used now for different purposes, and some open to observe. The Jewish cemetery we saw in Kazimierz was very interesting. One of its walls is composed of old Hebrew headstones - a mosaic of pieced together memories from Krakow's past. We then crossed the Wisla river and stopped at an exhibit called the "Empty Chair" art exhibit. This is an exhibit placed in an barren plaza: all except for a number of empty and plain chairs placed there to symbolize the furniture left behind when the Jews would move to or leave the ghettos as well as to symbolize the absence in the district as a result of the extermination of Jews.

Perhaps my favorite parts of today's time in Krakow was touring the Wawel Castle and spending time in the famous Market Square. Since Krakow is a very old European city its architecture is very ornate and beautiful. The Wawel (pronounced Vavel) Castle is a gorgeous feat of engineering. There is the actual castle, a cathedral, and many other buildings all grouped together atop a hill. As you can see from the picture above, the castle overlooks the whole city and was positioned in this location for defense purposes. The Main Market Square is also quite beautiful - and very large. Apparently, it is the largest medieval town square in Europe. It is surrounded by many beautiful buildings and is quite busy, especially on sunny days like today. In the middle of the square there stands a long building in which there are many stalls for vendors. So of course, I took the opportunity and I stocked up on Polish souvenirs!

We ended the night at the Galicja Jewish Museum, in which we attended a Jewish Shabbat service with Beit Krakow - a small Jewish congregation that is trying to reestablish the Jewish presence in Krakow. I have never been to a Jewish service before. I was expecting to enter into a synagogue and that the service would be very formal, but this particular group was very laid back and young and they worshiped in the museum, which I found to be very interesting. Beit Krakow was very friendly and welcoming and it was intriguing to experience this unique service that was given in a mixture of Hebrew, Polish, and English. After the services, we spent some time visiting with the members of the congregation. As was everyone I came across in Poland, these people were very nice and loved talking with us.

Overall, this week abroad has been a great experience. Though it was jam-packed with many activities and passed by very quickly, I have learned so much, met many great new friends, and now have memories that I am sure will last a lifetime. I wish we had more time here but in a few hours we will be making our journey back to the US. I didn't know what to expect before coming here but I have decided that I like Poland and that hopefully in the future I will return again!

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Michelle: I 'Met' a Scientist and Ate Pierogi. Oh, Krakow, how I love you!

I can describe my whole time in Krakow using many adjectives and descriptive words, but I think pictures do the describing better than I ever could. One thing that I do have to describe perfectly is that I met my scientist, Copernicus. His lab is in Krakow and there was a statue of him. I am a little bit of a fan-girl, if you get my drift. I mean, come on. He put the sun in its place. You have to love him. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus

Well, we are adorable although... he looks a bit pale.

Sadly, this has to be a short post because we got back from Krakow pretty late, and we have to get up really early tomorrow for our flight. However, I just had to express my excitement for this beautiful town. It was truly a great experience filled with so much history. Stories around every corner. Poland as a whole is filled with SO many stories and I want to learn them all. I tried to absorb all that is Krakow, and I hope I can show you at least a glimpse of what I saw.

Quiet shot of St. Mary's Church in the Market Square of Krakow.  Maybe not so quiet; every hour a trumpet player plays in the top window of the church.

Inside of the Market, full of interesting shops.

"The Girls", Chelsea, Kelsey, and Michelle - Yes, our names together sound like a movie title.

Entrance to a gorgeous cathedral in the castle Wawel.

Oh look, here was the Polish food I was looking forward to all along since my first blog post!
 Delicious-ness. 

Dobranoc everyone, sweet dreams! For all of you in the States, see you tomorrow.

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Stembridge Maimbo: Thank you.

It is like a dream. one week has ended like a blink of an eye. there is so much one can learn here. Auschwitz is a place of amazing stories and experiences. today we were in Krocow  having an experience of what it was like before the second world war. As one man I met today at the prayer session in preparation for sabbath said, 'Poland has a long history with the Jews. most of what was held dear and precious by the Jews was destroyed during the war.' Life was not treated as it should be, no respect and culture totally shattered.
It was my first time to experience a jewish prayer session on friday. It moved me away from what I am used in the christian church. It was an enriching experience for me. I wish we could be open to dialogue with each other and interact often. i think the world would be better than the way it is now. i was actually thinking of a song while at the prayer session. i dont know all the words but it is based on psalm 122. "giving thanks to God."
when I look back through the week, I think it all sums up with giving thanks to God who can reward us more than we can ask and full of mercy. I want to thank all of you who took keen interest in following our experiences of Auschwitz where the unimaginable things happened to human lives. The stories from the survivors are beyond belief. A big thank you to all and may God grant you your requests.
It is difficult to write all I have experienced in one week. some of it, we will be sharing as we meet and as i live with the memory.

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Chelsea: A Movie Review

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas  - Our attempt to unwind after a long week.

A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what's behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later. 
- Stanley Kubrick

I believe in the power of film. It can be a very useful means in conveying a lesson. If done effectively, film can make you feel and make you think. I have heard many good things about the film we watched this evening: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Based on the previews, it seemed to be a fitting movie to culminate our visits in Auschwitz. However, it was not what I, nor the rest of the group, expected. 

It was a very emotional film - it was an honest attempt to tug at the audience's heart strings - but it was just not believable. Anyone who has any knowledge about the Holocaust and the Nazi death camps during WWII would realize from the start that the story presented is nowhere near accurate. I realize this is a fictional film, but it is very misleading and does not display much evidence of research in terms of the film's context. Originally we were going to watch the film prior to our visits, but now I am glad that we waited to view it until after because we had the chance to become well informed on the subject whereas the film could have mislead us. I have several issues with the film:

- The plot is completely unbelievable. Something such as this never would have been allowed to happen. Many times, the families of the Nazis were known to share the same ideologies and sometimes to be just as cruel as their perpetrator relatives. It is not likely that the wife of the SS commandant would have been so emotional and opposed to her husband's actions. And usually, the children of the SS were sheltered from the situations of the camps or brought up in such a way as to accept what was happening if they knew of it. 

- As far as historical accuracy is concerned this movie is a complete over-exaggeration. I may even go so far as to call it a severe misrepresentation. The child of the SS officer would not have been allowed near the fence. Most of the barbed wire fences, at least in Auschwitz, were also charged with an electric current. None of the passing of things between the fences would have ever happened. Guards would have also been patrolling the fence. The meetings between the two boys and the entrance of the SS officer's son into the camp are very far-fetched. A boy of eight years would most likely have not been working the camp. The Nazis usually exterminated children not capable of work (younger than teenagers) but if they kept younger children alive, I do not believe that they would be working in the camp as depicted here. The film also depicted prisoners working at the home of the SS officer. I don't believe this would have ever happened either - or at least I have never heard of such a thing. 

The ending was especially ridiculous and very depressing. The film definitely manipulates the emotions of the audience during some scenes, but if you are educated enough to realize the mountain of untruths, the emotion is taken away because it is based upon nothing that really happened. The actual conditions of the camp were not even portrayed as that dismal. If anything, I believe that this film trivialized the atrocities committed by the Nazis during the Holocaust. The end did not depict the death or the plight of the prisoners in the camp, rather the mother of the main character- the wife of the SS - crying over the loss of her son. Are we to feel sympathy for the perpetrator? I could not take this film seriously; it was unfortunate. The only redeeming quality of the film is perhaps that it acted as a test of our knowledge of the Holocaust as we had to distinguish fact from fiction while watching it. 

For a more cynical review (which I also agree with) please see the following link: 

http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/movies/07paja.html

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Michelle: The Person Living in Broken Glass

Today was spent in the Center listening to wonderful and informative lectures from our professors and even a visiting professor from Auschwitz. Because we did not get out and did not take any photos, I have this photo I took a few days ago at the Jewish cemetery in Wadowice. I knew when I took the picture, I felt something but I wasn't sure what it was. I've had nearly a week to think about this photo and what it meant and how it made me feel. What did that glass symbolize for me, that it has kept me thinking all week? What did I think this glass symbolizes for the people who lived or died in the Holocaust, especially the Jews? So many questions, and I tried to organized them one of the only ways I could: poetry.

The Person Living In the Broken Glass

Why is this glass breaking around me?

It was fragile, but strong.

The world I knew, the world I saw.

It was breaking, but it has to last.

Why is this glass caving in?

It is... leaving me.

The world I knew, the world I believed.

Why is this glass shattering?

The world I knew, the world is cutting me.

Glass sharp like the knife cutting through the fog.

Glass sharp like the names they throw at me.

Glass sharp because there is no more glass to safeguard me.

The pieces fall to the ground, feeling the ground

dirty, wet, but I am still dignified. 

The pieces fall together, feeling for each other

longing, craving, but I am still patient.

Why am I the only one who lives in Broken Glass?

You are warm.

You are fed.

You do not live in Broken Glass.

You do not live in an abandoned life.

You do not wish for one shard of cover.

You do not wish for one piece of bread.

You do not wish for one shred of hope.

It was fragile, but strong.

Oh, strength! Why have you abandoned me?

Oh, life! Oh, death!

Choose for me, whether or not I am destined

to the life in the Broken Glass.

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stembridge Maimbo. what is human being?

After exploring and working on this holy ground of Auschwitz. Words are not enough to describe what happened here. let me share something a survivor wrote which disturbed me since yesterday today may be tomorow too. you may refer to the images i posted yesterday.

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Kelsey: A poem I wrote "The Birk Tree"

INTRO: This is a poem I wrote because I was inspired by the trees at Birkenau. In one of my previous blogs I mentioned how before the people entered the gas chambers they were forced to wait in the woods (mostly woman and children). They often had to strip down before entering the crematorium right there in the trees. And so...this is where I got the idea from...

Site of a former Crematorium

The Birk Tree

I can’t describe what happened. I wish I didn’t see.

 If you only knew what went on, right below my leaves.

Every day I saw it, every night as well.

I wish there was something I could say. If only I could yell.

A new breed of animals has taken over my land.

They’ve built all kinds of buildings; they’ve built them with a plan.

I do not know who these creatures are, but I’ve seen what they have done.

If only I could move. If only I could run.

The air has got so toxic; it’s burning through my skin.

I see the humans out there. Why are they so thin?

I hear the sound of thunder but not the kind with rain.

 A different sound of thunder, I heard it’s called a train.

Each day it makes its rumbles. I see them come but then they go,

what have these creatures done?

I want to help these people but there’s nothing I can do.

I want to get them out of here but I’m held down by my roots.

Days go by, months go on and now it has been years.

 I’ve grown taller now my soils been watered by tears.

It’s cold today but I think I feel the sun.

 The people are being helped the creatures are finally done.

I cannot tell my story. I want to testify.

But I’m stuck here ‘til I die, at the scene of crime.

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Chelsea: Auschwitz - The Ultimate Haunted House

Self Portrait of Holocaust Survivor and Artist Marian Kolodziej (left is his prisoner identity, right is him after the war)

The Layout of the Exhibit

"Sometimes I can't help but feel helpless
I'm havin' daymares in daytime
Wide awake try to relate
This can't be happenin' like I'm in a dream while I'm walkin'

Cause what I'm seein' is haunting
Human beings like ghost and zombies.."
 -From "Road to Zion" by Damian Marley and Nas

Today I saw many ghosts. They were in the rooms, the walkways, the walls, and on paper. We can see them before us - wandering and lost. Shadows of a time long past, but still living in the minds of the survivors. Can you imagine? Each day continues to shock me. The quote I have mentioned above reminds me of this morning's experience. We visited an unique art exhibition displayed in the basement of a church in the nearby town of Harmeze. There are simply no words to speak that will do justice to the art produced here. The pictures (shown above) were created by Holocaust survivor Marian Kolodziej. The pictures of his memories that he created are amazing in and of themselves, but there is an even more shocking element to his work. He created all of the work in the exhibit - which is enormous - while recuperating from a stroke. It was incomprehensible. It was said that he would not speak of his experiences in the camp. It took 50 years for him to release his emotions and memories and he did so through these detailed and grotesque drawings. Virtually all of the drawings show the distorted faces and bodies of those in the camp, looking more like aliens from a sci-fi comic than representations of human beings. The art was admirable in its talent and a clear expression of the pain the artist must have felt from his experiences. It was his way to make sense of the illogical and to escape, if only momentarily, the ghosts of his haunting past.

The ghosts followed us throughout the day as the memories and testimonies stuck with us. In the afternoon we returned to Auschwitz I to walk through more of the exhibits. The first block we returned to displayed an exhibition of the genocide against the Roma and Sinti people (the "gypsies"). We did not have to much time to go through the exhibit and while we were inside, the lights were shut off. It was a truly scary experience, yet you could call it "authentic." It gave us an idea - if only in the slightest - of what it may have been like to be in the camp during its operation. Another particularly chilling exhibition was that of the French victims of the Holocaust. The exhibit was set up to simulate shadows of the victims on the walls of the dimly lit room. The sight literally gave me chills. It was a very blunt and sober reminder of the lives lost at the hands of the Nazis. Every corner you turned you would feel as if you were being watched or followed by these painted on shadow simulations. It was a very powerful display. Though these experiences pale in comparison to the reality of Auschwitz, it is these small reminders that keep the Holocaust with us in our memories. It brings to mind the grim reality and history of the place: the fact that millions suffered and died here, though you can see that no more. For me this is the true definition of a haunted house.

 "Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul?" 
- John Keats

But as I mentioned in yesterday's post, there may be positive aspects to all of this senseless suffering. From the ruins of Auschwitz and other locations in which the Nazi's perpetrated their evils there can come many beautiful things. As I have shown you today, art is one of these results. Drawings, memoirs, poetry - all ways of coping with the past that will last eternally as ink on paper to bear witness to the extremes of human cruelty. Perhaps it is these methods of coping, these responses to suffering that help to make us more human in the end. Counteract inhumanity and depravity with the utmost examples of humanity. After spending three days in the Auschwitz camps my mind is reeling with information, images, thoughts, questions. Three days and there is still so much more to learn - we have only brushed the surface. Three days and I still have not been able to sort through the overwhelming influx of history that was thrown at me in the camps. I am still digesting. But if there is anything I have learned so far from my experiences in the past few days it is that we must bear witness to the Holocaust. I have heard this lesson time and time again, but it becomes even more important the more time I spend here on this tainted land. As the young generation, as students, as visitors to the camp we must carry on the testimony as the survivors pass on. I truly hope that this era in history will never be forgotten, because there is so much to learn from the atrocities that happened here.

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stem relationships

This morning, we went to see the art work by one of the survivals at Auschwitz 1. He was in camp for five years from 1940 to 1945. If you wanted to hear anything about life in the camp, he was the man to listen to. His story was shared in art form and really the images he printed are very powerful. I feel as if I am dreaming. How he survived all the five years, God knows. Here are some of the images that remained in me.

These are the words he communicates to us today. if you see a number 432, that was him Professor Marian L. i am feeling as if i am dreaming of what i saw.

Let the silence speak in the above art work.
At the end of the day, it all raises the question of being made in the likeness and image of God. I am just muted with what I saw today. i dont know what to say.

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Kelsey: "Time is short so you must bear-witness"



Marian Kolodziej

Wednesday. I can’t believe it’s already Wednesday. Today we saw an art exhibition of drawings by Marian Kolodziej. Marian was a Holocaust survivor who was a prisoner in the concentration camps, including Auschwitz for 5 years. The exhibition was designed in the basement of a church all carefully laid out and positioned by Marian himself. Upon entering you are right away presented with words written in Polish by Marian. "(...)it's not an exhibition, not art, not pictures, but words encapsulated in drawing. Art. is helpless when facing what people did to people. (...) Please read my words, drawn, which emerged also from the longing for the clarity of criteria, for a clear separation of good and evil, the true from the false, art from its pretence. It is also my discord to the world of today. It is also about us, about what we did to our humanity."

Drawing of Auschwitz

One of the many rooms filled with drawings

 Upon reading this I knew right away it wasn’t going to be like anything I ever saw. Before I talk about his drawings I will give you a background on Marian. He never really talked too much about his experiences during the Holocaust for the years following liberation. Later on in life, he suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed and the doctors tried to rehabilitate him. He was able to wrap a pen to his hand and then he began to find rehabilitation in drawing. From then on for the next and final 15 years of his life he drew and drew, until his passing in 2009. This was personally touching to me because a stroke is what left my Grandma paralyzed so to see that he was able to overcome it and have find a passion was amazing. And the fact that he was able to survive for 5 years in concentration camps was another miracle. However, it became clear from his drawings that the things he witnessed and experienced during those times have continued to haunt him for the rest of his life. The images he drew were so dark and compelling. I thought there would only be one room filled with pictures but the exhibit continued room after room with huge murals, to small pictures all over the walls, floor and ceiling. Common themes could be seen in the pictures having to do with the struggle of good and evil, justice, the haunting of the demons he faced, the memories of prisoners faces and numbers, his camp experiences, and how he saw himself (past and present). Overall, this exhibition was moving and I would really like to learn more about Marian and watch the film about him. I wish I could have had the opportunity to meet him and hear him explain the drawings.

Use of scales to weigh good and bad

            We went back to Auschwitz for an hour to enter some of the blocks, this time without a guide. It was a very scary moment when we were in a block dedicated to the memory of “The Roma” people (or gypsies) right before its closing when the lights were shut off on us, leaving us in pitch black in the building to find our way out.

            We also had two excellent lectures today, one from Jonathan Webber and the other from Fr. Manfred. Jonathan Webber talked about how to memorialize the Holocaust. He made so many interesting points and displayed pictures of what remains in Poland of Jewish culture. He is a co-founder of the Jewish Museum in Krakow which we will visit on Friday. Fr. Manfred talked about his biography of the first commandment of Auschwitz, Rudolf Hoess. As horrible as it is to even want to hear about the life of a man responsible for so many deaths, I felt it was important to have this understanding and perspective. No matter what went on in his life I don’t think anything would be justifiable enough to commit the acts he did.

            I really enjoyed today. I feel like I learned a lot and as each day goes by I am learning more and more news things about the Holocaust, Poland and the Jewish-Christian relations.

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Michelle: Art and Shadows

Drawing in Marian Kolodziej's Labyrinth,  a testimony to his five years in Auschwitz.

This morning we went to the art exhibition of a very interesting man, Marian Kolodziej. He spent five years in the camps, primarily Auschwitz, which is phenomenal when most sent there only lasted weeks or months. He was number 432. After Liberation, he did not speak of his time there for over 40 years. He then had a stroke, and was finally compelled to give the world a piece, just a slice, of what he felt in the camp. He used the art as a way to heal from the stroke, and give testimony of his life during the Holocaust.

Another drawing: depicting the longing eyes of prisoners.

Many of his drawings were intriguing in the macabre, full of symbolic images and detailed drawings of people he remembered purely from memory. What astonished me was that he designed the exhibit himself! Well, I shouldn't really call it an exhibit. He didn't. Instead he said:

"This is not an exhibit, nor art, nor images, but words contained in designs."

His words are as powerful, even after his death, than 'real' words. Staring at the pen-strokes I got chills, feeling the pain he did when his hand pressed against the paper. Intricate shadows and lines made every picture worth looking at for many minutes at a time. However, we did not get as much time as I would have wanted there. I tried to take pictures of everything, in order to feel and experience more of his feelings.

Later, we went back to Auschwitz unguided. The five of us went to the exhibitions for the Roma, Austrians, Slovaks, and French. We actually got the lights shut off on us in the Roma exhibition, since it was closing time! Besides that frightening experience, all four exhibitions were extremely interesting. It was weird to see each perspective because sometimes they differed in their memories of histories. Between the four though, my favorite was the French. It was so interesting because they had a room a white lighted panels dedicated to specific numbers of transported and murdered victims. Also, it had shadows on the wall to represent mysterious victims. While it was incredibly creepy, it really added to the feeling of not really walking alone through Auschwitz, even if you are alone.

Appearance of shadow in French exhibition

And so I said goodbye to the grounds of Auschwitz for the trip, although it is consistently going to stay with me in words, actions, and dreams. The emptiness is going to continue to shatter through every thought I have from now on, with violent reason and clarity.

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Michelle: Among the Lost

I am the way into the city of woe, 

I am the way into the eternal pain,

I am the way to go among the lost.

'Per me si va ne la citta dolente, 

Per me si va ne l'etterno dolore,

Per me si va tra la perduta gente.

- Canto 3, Dante's Divine Comedy

On the syllabus for this course, one of our trip's guides, Dr. Procario-Foley, pointed out a quote from a Jewish philosopher, Emil Fackenheim. He says, "Auschwitz is a unique descent into hell". Today in Auschwitz-Birkenau I found myself asking questions about this idea and trying to search for the right things to think or say. When I returned to the Center and stared at my luggage, I found it fascinating that a book I have been reading for another class could say the words I was too deranged to find yesterday in Auschwitz. It could also say the words that could communicate what went through our minds as we walked in the valley of the dead and breathed in the cold and silent air.

But is this place just for the dead? Countless groups of Israeli students and soldiers walked through the camp as well, proudly draped in the blue and white of their flag. Other English speaking groups circled up discussing the ideas of humanity and life. Rocks placed on almost every of the language's plaques at the memorial in the camp are signs that people, regardless of nationality, have some connection to the atrocities of the Holocaust, even almost a century later. 

In the spirit of Dante, the Italian plaque of the memorial

Among the living were us. Among the rememberers were us.

Yesterday, in Auschwitz, I was stifled. It was hard to breathe as everything was so close together. Barrack next to barrack. Fences and gates trapped me. I descended into woe, pain, and the feeling of lost. Senselessness.  I descended into Dante and Fackenhein's hell. Today, however, in Birkenau which is so wide and vast, my senses were allowed to feel out the environment. I was able to see further than the fog, smell more than the forest of towering Birch trees, feel harsher than the jagged rocks of the pathways, taste bitterer than the words I choke on, and finally, hear louder than the sound of silence.

I become a victim to feeling too much, while yesterday I could barely feel. However, when you feel, you have to admit, even the most terrible things. I can admit my fright. I was terrified of being in such a place, filled with such pain and misery. I was terrified of breaking down. I was terrified of what happened there and what type of people must have existed in this world to let that happen. I was terrified of asking What could have stopped this, because that What is a Who, and you're not supposed to ask that, are you?

My fear was in many ways quelled, by images of hope. Dante further describes his hell, as abandoned of all hope. However, Birkenau of today is not abandoned. Candles are lit, wreaths are placed, roses are left. People are coming, and people are remembering. People are consciously making an effort to witness and prevent something like this from ever happening again. People are trying, and people and thinking. They are feeling. Sometimes too much, but enough.

Wall of photographs found in the camps at Liberation

Rose placed on the wall of a destroyed gas chamber

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Kelsey: Birkenau-The Wrong Side of The Tracks

Entrance to Birkenau and train tracks

Hello! Today, we went to the second part of Auschwitz, Birkenau. Birkenau was actually designed by the Nazis and didn’t exist until after the German occupation (unlike Auschwitz 1). We arrived there and met up with our same excellent guide from yesterday. Our first stop was to the tower that looks over all of Birkenau. It was from here that you can see how vast this concentration camp was, well as much as you could because of the fog. It was divided into 2 sections, split by the railroad tracks in the center. There were 2 sections that were in use (for men and women), and a third that the Nazis had begun to build but never completed it and they also had plans to add a 4^th. Each section was basically the size of a big shopping mall to give somewhat of an idea of the size.

 Next, we were taken into one of the buildings, designed as a stable but instead used as a washroom. There were dozens of toilets lined up with no privacy just one hole next to another. And this was used for men (because women didn’t have a toilet room they had to use buckets). This alone was enough to be disgusted by the harsh unsanitary treatment that they went through. And that was just the beginning. The next building was a bedroom. The guards had their own private room at the end of the “stable” and then there dozens of triple bunk beds. The guide pointed out something I found very interesting about the bunk beds. She said that the bunks kind of represented somewhat of a hierarchy of the prisoners, the strongest at the top because they were able to climb up and the weakest at the bottom. This also had its ups and downs.

Afterwards, we walked along the train tracks to where the selection process took place when incoming trains came in. Just to imagine the thousands of people shipped into this place, unsure of what they were coming to, many with false expectations and false hopes. Right off the train they were separated by men and females/children. Then the doctors and guards would look and decide left or right (prisoner or instant death). All the new arrivals were blocked from seeing what awaits them on the other side of the train, behind the electric barbed wired fence.

(Trees right next to gas chamber)

We then took a long walk across the camp to the very far right corner. The walk gave the opportunity to see the length of the camp and the large number of buildings that once existed (because many were only foundations remaining). When we finally reached the back corner, we were coming up to the sight of the once gas chamber/crematorium. To get there we first walked through the trees that people were required to wait in as the groups entered into the chambers. Many were forced to remove their clothes while waiting in the trees. This was a moving place because it made me think about the trees that are there, that lived and witnessed all these events. This was the last bit of beauty in life that many people saw just before they were murdered. We saw remnants of another crematorium not too far away from the first. Then we saw what’s referred to as “Canada”, the place where all the possessions of people off the train end up to get sorted through. This was nicknamed by the prisoners as “Canada” because of the freedom they associate with North America and this was one of the better places to be assigned for work.

"Be Quiet"

We also entered the registration room where prisoners coming from off the train entered, then they were stripped of their clothes, their hair shaved and then forced to shower and everything was disinfected. There were other gas chambers to be seen (can’t remember if there were 4 or 5 all together). In this back area there was also a large memorial of steps and stones to monument all the lives lost. It’s so difficult to monument such an event and how do you build something that can honor the lives of over a million people, it’s extremely challenging. However, I thought the memorial area was simple yet appropriate. We then entered the section for woman. We went into a dorm room for the women prisoners and saw the beds and bad conditions they lived in as well. The German words “Sei Ruillg” for “Be Quiet” still written on the wall.

After seeing both Auschwitz 1 and 2, I have a much better idea of what took place except I will never have the full effect. I don’t think anyone will ever unless they were actually there to witness it in the 1940s. The sounds, the smells, the taste of the air, all that went on.

Me and Holocaust survivor, Lgnacy Krasnokucki

When we returned to the Center we were fortunate enough to have a meeting with a Holocaust survivor, Mr. Krasnokucki. He wasn’t a survivor of Auschwitz, but rather of some of the other concentration camps (not killing centers) that were used for labor. His story was very interesting and he was a lively funny guy to be around. He gave us a better look into what life was like in the Ghetto’s prior to the transportations to camps. The strict restrictions and isolations they underwent. He was moved all around Poland and Germany and the fact that he was a specialized electrician was beneficial to his survival because he was useful to the Nazis. He lost his parents and many of his friends and neighbors. He was able to go on with his life and is happily married with children and great grandchildren. It was nice to hear of a survivor who’s life became so much better even after such a horrible past. He said he had two birthdays, the first was when he was actually born, the second, when he escaped the Nazis and the war was ended, it was then that his new life began. A very nice perspective.

       I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s visit to an art exhibition in Harmeze. From the details that Sister Mary has given us on what we will be seeing, I am very anxious to go. I will wait until tomorrow to explain. Also, we have some interesting lectures tomorrow and will be returning to Auschwitz to explore without a guide.

All for tonight,

GO GAELS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Chelsea: A Day of Remembrance

The foreboding entrance to Auschwitz II - Birkenau

The group and our guide in front of the International Memorial at Birkenau

Having now been to both camps, I realize that what I have seen I cannot translate into words. As the saying goes, you literally have to see it to believe it. I realized immediately upon arrival that Birkenau was a much different place than the Auschwitz I camp we saw yesterday. I do not want to discredit or downplay the seriousness and importance of Auschwitz I, but it just does not have the same atmosphere as its "sister" camp Birkenau. Compared to Birkenau, Auschwitz I looks like a village, a populated, "civilized" (if I may use this word loosely) place. What struck me first at the Birkenau camp is its enormity and desolation. The only image I have previously seen of this camp is of the main building at the entrance (pictured above). This building looms over the entire camp, but although there are other buildings around, the land looks so empty. Emptiness and silence. That is how I characterize Birkenau. Yet as I explained about Auschwitz in my last post, the silence is almost soothing, as ironic as that may seem. The camp is surrounded by forest. There are many birch trees: we were told that Brzezinka (the name of the town that the camp is in/near) is named after these trees, and this word in English is translated to Birkenau. The quiet, the mist, the forest, and the deer (we saw some deer running at the edge of the camp) create a very peaceful atmosphere - quite contradictory to the chaos and violence that occurred here in the past. You think it is peaceful until you remember something : you are standing on the graves of so many people. Ashes from the crematoria were spread in many areas across the camp, and there lie the only remains of the Nazi's victims.

Visiting the camp also brought to my mind many questions. Seeing the map of the camp and its size, and hearing about the planning of such atrocities that occurred in the Nazi camps is perhaps one of the most disturbing aspects of the Holocaust. Killing anyone is bad; genocide in any form is an evil thing. However, when something such as this was so meticulously organized it seems to denote some elevated level of depravity and mental sickness. Also, seeing the camps as a testament to the Holocaust led me to wonder how any person could ever DENY the crimes of the Nazis. There is nothing to deny. The camps are still here, the artifacts are still here, some survivors are still here, we have documents, memoirs, and photographs. There is so much disturbing evidence, yet there are people that continue to deny the existence of this event. I just don't understand, and especially after seeing all of this, such attitudes make me angry.

Believe it or not, there were positive outcomes of the Holocaust. Survivors are a great example of this. Today we were fortunate enough to meet a Polish Holocaust survivor: Mr. Krasnokucki. This will be my second opportunity to meet a survivor. It always surprises me to see how happy and optimistic some survivors are. They have been through such difficult times and have faced such persecution and cruelty yet they remain happy people and for the most part have led good lives after the war ended. Mr. Krasnokucki's life seems to have followed a similar pattern. After the war (he was only 20 years old when the war ended) he moved back to Poland and was fortunate enough to meet up again with his surviving brother. He got married and started a family and has lived to see his great-grandchildren. He obtained a PhD and has worked as a chemist. One would think that such a meeting with a survivor would be a sad experience. However, I was able to see the good in the situation and come away admiring the strength and optimism of Mr. Krasnokucki and survivors like him.

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Rays of hope in ashes

I have so that you may have life and have it to the fullest. In spite of the dangers and tribulations someone went through, life is still precious.
An 87 year old survival Mr Ignacy shared his experience with us. how he lost his family members and reconnected with his brother. He is a Polish citizen of Jewish origin. He was held in many places from 1940 until April 1945 at the liberation. In his sharing of the story, you could see the innocence in him. One thing though that struck me was his view about life. He looks optimist and positive despite undergoing such dangerous moments.
After he narrated the story, it is really God's grace that he survived even to live this long still able to share that experience with humour. One of his friend was killed by people with garden folks after managing to run away from the SS another one he was with died 3 days later after being liberated.
For me, he is an example of everything that is positive and life giving. indeed he has life to the fullest. it all raises questions on how I view life too. i have to check this now...

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Chelsea: Auschwitz and Oswiecim - The Past and The Present

Sign commemorating the gas chambers and crematorium at Auschwitz I

The group and our new Polish friends at PWSZ

So today was the big day of this trip: our first visit to Auschwitz I. The site has literally been staring us in the face since our arrival on Saturday as it is located directly across the street from the Centre. But today we actually stepped foot in the former death camp and spent three and a half hours there on an informative tour. We arrived there at 9am and the "Muzeum Auschwitz" as the memorial site is referred to here, was still quiet with few visitors. Seeing this place - this location with a history of mass murder and human cruelty - in such a peaceful and calm state was very disconcerting at first, but then it helped me to understand another thing that Fr. Manfred had told us last night in preparation for today's visit. He said that though it may seem odd, Auschwitz is now in part a positive place. Though it was created and operated as a horrible death camp, it is now a place that represents healing for many. Visitors go there for a positive reason; to remember what has happened, to memorialize those who have died by the hands of the Nazis, and to make sure that this will not happen again in the future. Though I realized what Fr. Manfred had meant by experiencing this serene morning, the peaceful atmosphere was a stark contrast to the reminders of the Holocaust that we saw in the exhibitions at the museum.

Because of the peaceful start to the morning, the seriousness of the visit did not really hit me until I entered a few certain exhibits. These exhibits seem to stand out as powerful to many visitors of Auschwitz : the rooms filled with artifacts left over from the victims of the camp. In particular, the exhibits with the hair and shoes of victims were very moving. The hair remnants from the shaved victims was a very shocking an emotional sight to see. The hair is different from the other artifacts. It cannot be touched, cleaned, or preserved because according to Jewish tradition it should have been buried along with the bodies. An agreement has been made to continue showing the hair as a testament to the crimes of the Nazis until it disintegrates, when it will then be properly buried. The room full of shoes was equally shocking but on another level. Whereas the hair was disturbing just based on the fact that it was a living remnant of the victims, the shoes were a shocking sight due to their amount. On both sides of a long hallway there were rooms filled with mountains of shoes - and we were told that these were not even ALL of the shoes left behind. These two rooms were a very shocking reminder of what really happened at Auschwitz. Another powerful testament to the crimes of the Nazis at Auschwitz were the gas chamber and crematorium (sign pictured above). We were not told by the guide that we were walking into this building, but it was easy to figure out once we were inside. It was a disturbing experience to actually be inside the building in which so many people were murdered. There were many people walking through at the same time as our group and the crowded feel helped us to understand in the slightest bit what it must have been like to be inside that fateful building. It was very uncomfortable being there, both physically and mentally.

Later in the day we ended with a more positive and less heavy experience of meeting with some local Polish college students at PWSZ (don't ask me to write out the whole name of the school, it is too difficult for me to even attempt to say!), a college down the street from the Centre. For a few hours we sat in a seminar with about a dozen English speaking Polish students and their professor (all of us pictured above). It was very interesting to get the Polish perspective on the issues that we are currently studying. After the lecture their group of students and ours went to a local restaurant to talk and get to know each other. They were all very nice and it was a great experience to meet with local Poles our age and get a glimpse of their culture. So though the day began as a tough one with very heavy subject matter, it ended on a happy note as we came away from our day with some new Polish friends from the Oswiecim area!

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Kelsey: The Auschwitz Experience

An image of the campt and the electric barbed wire fence

Area designating for shooting executions 

Hanging with the Polish students

I’m sure everyone’s anxious to hear my reaction from today’s Auschwitz visit but I’m going to try to not go to in depth until after seeing Birkenau tomorrow. This is because I have so many different thoughts and feelings and so many different facts and images to process that I want to wait until I have the whole experience. I will try to recap the moments of the day though. We had breakfast at 8am and then we walked down the street (because that’s how close we are) to the concentration camp, Auschwitz 1. We also shared this journey with Christian, a German around our age that volunteers at the Center, and his girlfriend Melanie.

The cold rainy weather was completely appropriate for today and it actually added to the experience to make it more realistic in imagining how difficult life would have been like there. We had a private tour as a group, so there were 7 of us and an excellent guide. I really enjoyed the smallness of the group because it was more of an intimate learning experience and I feel like we got to see and hear more than the people in the larger group tours. We arrived at the gate, (now a replica of the old sign) that reads Arbeit Macht Frei “Work will set you free”. This is something I’ve seen in images of the concentration camp ever since I remember learning about the Holocaust, so to finally see it in person (even if it was only just a replica) was powerful. To imagine what it was like for prisoners going in and out of the camp to and from work and what went through their minds every time they read it. The camp was large and filled with dozens of brick buildings all serving various purposes.   The first few provided pictures and statistics on the Holocaust which gave us a lot of factual knowledge of who was involved. Seeing an image of children on their way to be executed is just indescribable. We also learned about the chemical that was used in the gas chambers, Zyklon (I think I spelt it wrong), and saw all the empty cans of it that were recovered. We saw what the living conditions were like for prisoners in the first few weeks, some were filled with straw on the floor, and others had mattresses. We saw the area reserved for shooting executions, prior to the use of gas chambers. It was placed between two buildings with covers on the windows to prevent prisoners from seeing what went on but I’m sure the sounds of shots being fired constantly was enough to know. The building next to it was known as the “death block”. This is where decisions were made on whether to execute someone and the holding area for the prisoners prior to their execution. According to the guide, if you were sent there you knew it meant death. Some of the most chilling blocks were the ones that contained possessions of the people.

One of the most disturbing was the room filled with hair that was shaved off of the prisoners after their deaths. The hair was stored and then used for other things such as support for collars for Nazi uniforms, and even carpets. The amount of hair that was there was just horrible, I really can’t find the right words to describe it. The preservation of the hair to me was also something I liked in the fact that it’s evidence that has lasted for some sixty years to show the atrocity that occurred there. It is also a monument to the victims because even though they have passed away, a part of them is still alive, which is good to think about in the sense that the Nazis failed in completely destroying them. The moment that gave me the biggest goosebumps and the most overwhelming for me was a long room filled with shoes in cases on both sides. I believe there was something around 800,000 shoes (not even all of them there) just piled up really high. It was just so hard to imagine that every single pair belonged to someone who died there. There were other rooms containing piles of glasses, hairbrushes, suitcases and so many other things just stripped away from these victims. Another difficult room was the gas chamber and oven. I didn’t know that was the room we were going in to so I was in extra shock when I realized. We spent 4 hours walking around so there was so much information. Today was definitely a turning point in my understanding and image of the Holocaust. What I couldn’t get over was how strategically planned out every little detail was by the Nazis, for such an inhumane event. Tomorrow, will add to this experience when I visit the main killing center, Birkenau.

On a MUCH happier note (because I’d rather end on a good one), after our trip to Auschwitz we went to the University across the street from the Center, PWSZ, and had a lecture with a Professor there and several students that speak English. We discussed the relations between the Jewish people and the people of Poland. We also learned a little bit about the Polish perspective and what it’s like for them studying so close to Auschwitz and living in Oswiecem. After the lecture we got to hang out with the students and it was a lot of fun comparing life in Poland and the U.S, and even learning how to pronounce some Polish words (As well as the song one of their teachers made for them to help learn English). Anyways, that’s enough for tonight because I have another big day ahead of me tomorrow :)

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Michelle: In Auschwitz

The infamous sign leading us into Auschwitz, which in English says "Work will set you free".

Well, here is the bread and butter of our trip... why we are here in Poland, and a big part of what we are studying. I knew that and I sort of had in my mind what I was to expect... I knew it was going to be hard, painful, etcetera...etcetera. You know, I felt I was trained my entire life to see certain images or feel certain things... but it is so different... and much more than you could imagine. So many emotions sort of go through you and make you feel sad, angry, even betrayed. These are emotions they don't tell you that you can feel, you know?

That probably sounds incredibly vague, and I usually can find the right words to describe things, but when it comes to this is almost impossible. Instead, let me try to speak with pictures.

So-called "firing wall" for killing prisoners

View of blocks, most of which hold archives and exhibits now.

The weather was too perfect for the tour, misty and swampy, adding to the swell of emotions, and I can safely speak for the group that it was not what we expected. It became personal as our amazing tour guide slowly walked us through the camp, explaining things with numerous facts and figures that would not seem real without the exhibits. Thousands of glasses stolen from prisoners, suitcases, pots and pans, shoes, and, the worst of all, hair. The worst part of it all was that these were only exhibits. The archives, however, have many more of the same things. I used the word personal because it proved that such a thing was possible, anywhere and anyway. Born in a different time, anyone could have been a victim of such inhumanity. We could have been victims.

Because we are going to Birkenau tomorrow, I know I will probably have more self-reflection, so I will try to end on a happy and positive note. We got to meet up with Polish college students around the area of the Centre. They're really interesting, because they shared their different perspectives. We talked for a couple of hours about varying opinions on everything from Polish-Jewish relationships to even technology and schooling. We then exchanged Facebooks and Tumblrs and the like. I am excited to speak with them more! Today has so far been the most educational day, both in the camp and in the college.

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