Conclusion

As we headed back to the United States on our final day I can reminisce on what I have seen and experienced on the trip to Poland. On our final day at Poland we explored more of the city of Krakow and saw many beautiful sites. The group that I was with was able to see the lake where the Soviets crossed during the winter to liberate the city. The churches were massive. In one of them we saw a drop of blood of pope John Paul 2. The city was packed and filled with so much of Poland’s history.

What still gets to me is the hatred of the Jews. On the whole trip in general I still cannot get over the fact that their was so much hatred towards Jews. What got to me was looking at the history when I learned in class about some of the famous people who had big hatred towards the people and its religion. What I realized is that Hitler had similar views about the Jews as Martin Luther did. While on the trip it was easy to tell how hatred and history can repeat themselves especially in today's society.

Hundreds of years ago Martin Luther stated that the Jews were nothing but liars. He even wrote about in a book even said quote the the Jews are “Spawns of Satan.” As time progressed to the 1930s we can see how Hitler uses his quotes in order to persuade others by saying “The Jews are nothing but thieves and are evil.” We often learned about Anti Semitism and its routes especially when it comes to Martin Luther. It can show people can be motivated by the past and reenact history to the best to its ability. When we look at today with Anti Semitism we can learn how it’s still alive and that past can be recreated.

With shootings and vandalism in the U.S. against Jews it can show how some like to reenact or be motivated by others actions. But some believe that people will target a whole group of other people especially in the present day. 911 brought a big number of racism towards Muslims and in a article a while ago it said that China began to separate and even deport Chinese Muslims. This is a giant red flag and warning how history is repeating itself but with a different religion and group of people. Hitler blamed the Jews for Germany's problems and now with Islamic terrorism people are blaming the Muslim religion. My greatest fear after going to the concentration camp is that one day someone will have that much hatred towards Muslims that god forbid will begin deportations and will ultimately repeat the worst time in human history. So what we need to do is always be tolerant but mainly if something bad happens and someone or some group takes credit for it. We must not always blame the whole race or group. Because one doesn't speak for all.

Read More

Jewish victims and Why

The primary victim of the Holocaust was mainly the Jewish population of Europe. Over six million perished but there are reasons why Hitler targeted the Jews. There are also reasons why nobody understood why they were being attacked in the first place.

On March 20-21 we learned many reasons why the Jews were targeted and how it can relate to some of things we learned in class. Hitler’s hatred toward the Jews started when Germany lost World War One and went through the Great Depression. He felt with most of the Jewish population not supporting or fighting well enough on front, was the reason why Germany lost the war and why the country was in such a bad economy. Hitler used his Anti Semite and other racial hatred towards others to help him get into power. Only then his ultimate goal was to have a true Aryan nation. Hitler's main goal was to racially purify Europe. By this Hitler wanted to kill anyone that wasn’t an Arien and make sure that nobody would oppose him. So that germany won't ever lose or go back to the bad state it was in before. To this day it’s still never clear of where hitler's hatred for the Jews came from.

During our trip we learned more about Anti Semitism and how it relates to some articles we learned from the past. From class and in the tours, we were told the history of Anti Semitism and how it came to be. Many people are Anti Semitic because they always believe in the same thing. One of which is the killing of Jesus. They all blame Jews for most of world's failures because they see Jews as parasites who take away good advantages and always have more money than others. This and other religious beliefs begin the hatred which will then lead to genocide. In the yellow book “Memory and Reconciliation Part A” was an article called “The Address to the Churches”. It had a section called the Ten Points. In the Ten Points it talks about how Jews and Christianity are very similar and how they have a lot to do with each other. The first major point that it talks about is how Jesus was Jewish. What many Anti Semites forget is that Jesus was Jewish and fail to realize that he was king of the Jews. Also it talks about how God spoke through the Old and New Testaments. The last example that I can think of is that since Jesus was Jewish and that people use the word Jew as if they were enemies of Jesus make us believe that they where. When obviously they weren’t. The Jews were Jesus’s people and they weren’t his enemies.

There are many reasons and excuses why people are Anti Semitic but all we know is that we must learn. What I have learned is that people will have hatred for something without even having good facts about it and not looking at the people of they target, and think they are not human. In one of the museums we went to. Marian Kolodziej a catholic who survived the holocaust drew the hatred of the victims of the Holocaust. His work showed the Jews and other victims as zombies as they were starved, beaten, tortured, and killed. To this day I will never and nobody will ever know a good reason why this hatred has occurred or happened. People believe it began in the 19th century or later. But the only question is why do people have a hatred for a group of people who Jesus represented and was apart of.

Read More

Gas Chambers and Deportation

Today on March 18th 2019 me and my class visited the concentration camp of Auschwitz on our spring break trip to Poland. This was personally my first time to be in Europe and to ever experience something like this.

On this day we took our first tour of part 1 of the German Concentration Camp. Once we first got their we saw the famous gate with the words “Work shall set you free.” but in reality it didn’t. While we explored the concentration camp I came across the gas chambers. This was pretty graphic because I saw the scratch marks of the people who were trying to desperately get out as they slowly died. As I was exposed to this environment I couldn’t help but think about the visualization of what these people went through as they were slowly being poisoned and trying to desperately get out and not die.

Another part of the camp we saw was a room full of hair from female victims. This was a shock. One reason because after all of my readings and knowledge of the holocaust I have never heard or seen something like this. Apparently when the females were killed in the gas chambers their hair would be cut off, or if any female victims died their hair would be taken. Once the Nazis took their hair off they would use the hair for themselves. The hair would be used for insulations, parts for boots, and warmth for their cloths, Seeing this made you wonder especially since most of these were ponytails. Who did that ponytail belong to? What was their story before and during this mass genocidal campaign. It just makes you wonder “Wow that use to be somebody's ponytail.”

After we left Auschwitz we went to a railroad track. Their Professor Folly told us how this was where the Jews were deported and where they stood as they were to be sent of to the camp. As I was told about this information I thought about the book we read for the class. The book we read was called “The Holocaust Kingdom”. In the book it would often talk about how Jews were deported consistently to the death camps. While I was there standing the only thing I could think about was the SS men and their dogs forcing people into the trains and dragging others out of their home. While standing in place you can feel the conception of the scene when the Jews were forced out of their homes and place in trains. On March 19th when we saw the train carts you can really see and just sense the over crowdedness when they were forcibly crammed in these karts against their own will.

Read More