Unforgettable Experience

           It has taken me quit some time to write my final blog, I have done a lot of reflecting on my experience in Poland and finally have gathered all my thoughts. Traveling to Poland for a spring break is not what you usually hear, you usually hear about college students going to sunny paradises like Cancun or Punta Cana. However, contrary to popular belief I would not have wanted to be in any other place for spring break but Poland. My experience of visiting the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau are never going to be forgotten. Seeing the barracks, the exhibits, the monuments, the ruins of gas chambers and the overall camps are unforgettable moments due to their historical importance. It was an honor being able to travel to these locations and I will always hold it dear to my heart. Kind of a strange thing to say? I know right, but after learning things you’ve never known about the Holocaust and then being able to travel to this location of devastation you too would at first be at a lost of words and then greatly appreciate your own existence.

           

            It is insane that six million people were killed but we cannot forget about their individual personalities or identities since each person had their own life and loved ones prior to this genocide. I was astonished with the number six million, but then through each exhibit I saw their individual photographs, saw their belongings and heard their individual stories. Each person was different from one another but all sadly shared the same faith. 

Just a few children that were lost due to this tragic event.

           I related this to our last discussion with Father Manfred when he told us how important it was not to categorize people, not to be like Hitler or his followers who categorized the Jews and persecuted them. This may seem like an impossible task since many people, including myself usually do categorize people, we make stereotypes, we say hurtful things to one another or we never give a person the benefit of the doubt. This brings us to another important lesson that I learned from Father Manfred, he discussed human dignity with us. He said many people ask where was God during the Shoah, but he argues the real question is where was human dignity during the Shoah? Where was the respect for human life? He continued this discussion by highlighting how every person was made from God, how every person has good as well as evil in them. However, its up to us whether we want to be a good or bad person. Its difficult to understand this concept and took me a while to reflect on my own personality and past actions. But I came to the result that I want to better myself by being that good person, by being a good son, brother, friend and student. I want to surround myself with others who have this goal of being the best that they can be and I’m glad I was surrounded by my Poland classmates since I consider them all genuine people.

            I leave these horrific places with a better understanding, not about why or how it all happened since its impossible to know exactly why all this occurred. However, I leave with hope, hope that nothing like this ever occurs, hope in every single being, hope in God and hope in myself. I also leave with the commitment of not being a bystander to unfair treatment of others and with the responsibility of educating others that are not familiar with the Holocaust. Prior to this experience, I was a student and now I am a witness. I reread my first blog post and am glad to say that I have accomplished all of Sister Mary’s four dimensions. It was a difficult week of seeing the ruins of the Holocaust but I walked away with a whole new perspective of life and human dignity. I was educated on such a tragic time in history, I grew close to classmates and learned a lot about myself. I would not have traded this experience with anything else, thank you to my incredible classmates and my two wonderful professors that were there every step of the way on this unforgettable journey.

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From Student to Witness

           

            In all my history classes, I had always learned about the horrors that occurred at Auschwitz during the Holocaust. Upon entering the Auschwitz, I was confronted with a mixture of emotions ranging from being nervous to anxious of entering the camp where millions of people were dehumanized and killed. The first thing I saw was the ironic sign that read, “Arbeit Macht Frei” (work will set you free). Although I had learned and watched various documentaries about the Holocaust, it didn't compare to when I was on the actual grounds of the concentration camp.

The infamous sign translates to "Work Will Set You Free"

                 When I was under the sign all I could see were barracks, guard towers, and barbed wire surrounding the camp. It was disgusting thinking how people were caged in and not allowed to leave. The thought of being brought to this place sickened me because millions of people lost their freedom and never saw their homes again, unlike us since we were allowed to leave whenever we wanted. It's a thought that continued to consume me.

            Our tour began with an exhibit of life before this tragic genocide. The exhibit showed film clips of Jews and their everyday lives, they were normal people who were happy and practiced their faith. As we continued to walk through the exhibit their joyfulness was crushed as Hitler came to power and began to impose ridiculous laws that targeted Jews. Then another room showed the deportation of thousands and how they ended up at this devastating place.

            Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and gave us all the horrific facts of the Shoah. She explained the six millions of lives lost; the men, the woman, and sadly all the children who were ripped of their futures. She explained the rules and punishments of the camps and continued by explaining the way the gas chambers worked and how they would squeeze hundreds of people in them so that it would be “efficient killing.” Listening to this angered me since its unbelievable that people would do this to other people. Where was the respect for human life? Why would people take these orders? Where was God to end this suffering and torture? There are hundreds of questions running through ones mind when witnessing these exhibits and hearing the facts, except there are no simple answers. 

          What moved me the most was when we entered another exhibit that had all the belongings of the prisoners. When they were told they were being deported they thought it would be to start a new life, they never imagined being brought to a place of destruction like this one. There were piles of different belongings like hundreds of glasses, shoes, suitcases and house hold items like pots and plates. There were items such as kid’s toys, women’s cosmetics and men’s combs. They truly had no idea where they were going but the sad truth was all their poccesions were taken away from them. Their clothes were exchanged for stripped uniforms, their names were changed into identification numbers, their families were taken and everything that made up one’s personality was stripped away from them. These exhibits were extremely hard to walk through but another thought that consumed me was how could people still deny that the Holocaust ever happened. How can people believe it never occurred? Especially when there is all this evidence and remains of camps. How can people in 2016 be misinformed, uneducated, ignorant, blind or choose to ignore the atrocities that occurred to millions of innocent people?

            Nothing could have prepared me for walking through Auschwitz, it was all too real with all the emotions running inside of me and all the hundreds of questions as to why and how this got to the point where six million lives were perished. To say the least it was not an easy visit, but a visit of pain and compassion towards the lost lives. I had become a witness and it was now my duty to tell those who genuinely cared about my experience of what I witnessed. It was now my duty to not be a bystander to injustices towards a certain group of people, my duty not to spread hate but to terminate it and spread positivity as well as love, we must love our neighbors and that comes with understanding them and being good people to one another. We must all do this because history can repeat itself and its up to us to make sure nothing like this ever occurs again. 

                                                                                            

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The Anticipation and the Expectations

Center for Dialogue and Prayer, Oswiecim

As we made our way to the airport, I couldn't believe the day had finally come. I remember going to the first informational meeting and then receiving the email saying, “Congratulations, you’re going to Poland!” All I could think about was I’m going to study such a brutal part of history and walk the grounds where so many people suffered. I remember briefly learning about the Holocaust in middle school and in high school. I always found this genocide interesting as well as terrifying due to all the pain and mass destruction. I didn't know what to expect, but shortly spring semester was here and so would begin our class discussing the Holocaust. From our very first classes I learned many new things, like, the term “Shoah.”
 

Last Jewish cemetery in Oswiecim

Prior to this class I had no idea this was the proper way to discuss the tragic events that affected the Jews. But not only did the Jews suffer many others faced the same unfortunate events. As we met every Friday, my knowledge soon started to expand and I questioned the events more and more. For example, where was God during all of this? And how did people keep their faith alive after experiencing near death experiences? Or how could others be so cruel and dehumanizing to others?

Broken headstone in Jewish cemetery

 We arrived on Saturday morning to the Centre for Dialogue and Prayer in Oswiecim, which was nothing like what I was expecting to see. I didn't think it would be this big or this close to Auschwitz. After we had settled down, we soon went out to explore the town . We walked through the Jewish Cemetery and I was in utter disbelief as I saw tombstones that were cracked in half and other tombstones with numbers, not names or information. There were so many and all I could think about were all the lives that were ended. This saddened me since the cemetery had been destroyed out of hatred towards Jews. Its unbelievable that people could hold such a hatred towards another group.

Later that night we had a discussion with Sister Mary and she introduced these four dimensions that she wanted us to consider during our trip and experiences:

1.     “Listen to the voices of the earth.” By this she meant learn the facts and have a knowledge and a sense of the “invisible”

2.     “Listen to the voice of your heart.” This is all about reflection, which is very personal. One must think of their experiences and question what they observe.

3.     “Listen to the voice of others.” To do this we must interact with others and conversate to learn of the perspectives of others. We must create trust and enter a place of dialogue where everyone feels safe to speak openly. Many people may be hurt and instead of running away from this pain, we must empower it and so we empower life.

4.     “Listen to the voice of God.” This is referred to the spiritual dimension where we question God and his existence during these horrific years and deaths of thousands. We must question where he was and why he allowed this suffering to exist. This is the issue of consciousness and faith.

As this trip continues I’m both anxious and excited to see what awaits us. I wonder whether or not I’ll be able to open up and feel as well as understand Sister Mary’s four dimensions, I guess time will have to tell.

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