Walking in the victims footsteps -- Birkenau

Railroad tracks in Birkenau

When I applied and considered the trip for Poland, us being able to tour the concentration camps was one of the main reasons why I wanted to be able to experience this. I have always been fascinated by the Holocaust and wanted to learn more about why and how something catastrophic like this could occur. Auschwitz-Birkenau housed over 80,000 people in the camp although the aim was to hold about 100,000 but wasn’t completed because of the camo being liberated. Before Birkenau became a concentration camp, the land was a village occupied by locals who were all eventually kicked out. A main reason that we learned about why the Nazis chose to put the camp here was because there were railroad lines created and in place way before, giving them easy access. Around 500,000 people were sent to this railroad line and most of those who were murdered were Polish Jews. I had already had a lot of knowledge about the Holocaust because of all the reading and movies I have watched on my own time, I learned so much more new information

than I expected. Although at Auschwitz there was a lot of information given because it has since been turned into a museum, Birkenau was raw. We had visited Auschwitz the day before and had a guided tour, but Birkenau had a different feel. Seeing the camp in person was so different than I had expected, it looked like all the photos I had always seen but I couldn’t believe that I was walking where harmless people were murdered for no reason other than they were thought to not fit the “Aryan” race. Most of the people brought to Birkenau were killed in the gas chambers but some without any documentation, so although we have numbers it could also be much higher than we’ll ever know. One thing that stuck out to me was when we were told about the Sonderkammando. This was a group of prisoners, mainly Jewish, who were forced with their own death to aid in the disposal of the bodies from the gas chambers. 450 of those in the Sonderkammando revolted and destroyed a gas chamber on the camp, after this occurred 250 prisoners from the camp were then shot as the punishment for what they had done. You can sit and question all day why people would revolt or go against the Nazi’s knowing that it would result in some other innocent prisoner being killed. But, the fact is they were nothing more than scared for lives and unless we could walk a day in their shoes choosing to be “selfish” may have been the only option to them if it meant possibly becoming free. Something I questioned a lot, which I could only imagine the victims of the Holocaust were questioning as well, was where was God during this time? But, I don’t think there is an answer to that question at all.

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Pope John Paul II

When I read over the itinerary and saw that we were going to Pope John Paull II’s house, museum and then a Polish mass, I was genuinely nervous. Although I do believe in God, I was not raised in a religious household or with any religion at all. So, going into this I was concerned that I would feel uncomfortable or not really interested at all. To my surprise, the tour of Pope John Paul II’s house was one of the things during this trip that I enjoyed the most. When we got to Pope John Paul II’s house/museum I was really impressed by how beautiful and thought out they had made it. The first part of the guided tour was all about his life as a child and what he enjoyed doing. He was born and lived in Wadowice, Poland which at the time the Jewish Population was 1/5 before the War. Something that really stuck out to me was that we learned he had many Jewish friends and even prayed with them as a little boy in the synagogues despite being and having high catholic faith because he just wasn’t afraid. I think that shows that there was Jewish Catholic relationships, especially before the war. In 2000, he even visited the Holy Land of the Jews and prayed with them, just like they do. I also really admired how he decided to become a Priest because all his family had passed and he didn’t want to be alone, so becoming one brought him closer to not only God but people thus giving him a family. Going through the museum really taught me a lot of things I didn’t know, about not only the Pope but about religion and what it can mean to some people. We also got to walk through the apartment that he grew up in, I think how they incorporated that into the tour and museum allows the tourists and visitors to understand the Pope even more. I think the part of the exhibit that stuck out to me the most was when we learned about the assassination attempt taken on him. On May 13^th, 1981, a Turkish Terrorist attempted to kill the Pope in Saint Peter’s Square. Something that fascinated me was that the Pope believed that the only reason he wasn’t killed was because he had picked up a little girl, so instead the shooter aimed for his stomach and not his. The little girl saved him. The museum also has the real gun used in the assassination attempt in the floor of that part of the museum. The Pope shows how much his faith really means to him by going to the prison of the man who tried to kill him, and forgave him. Forgiving someone who did something bad to you is extremely difficult but the fact that he was able to is admiring.

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Love Over Hate

 What I have seen and learned in Poland has taught me the power that love has over hate. On Saturday, March 11th my class and I arrived in Oswiecim, Poland at the Center for Dialogue and Prayer after a long, exciting flight together. Right away we were introduced to Oswiecim, our home for the week. We were all told about what we would be seeing and learning about this week as we walked through the brisk Poland air. I was anxious and excited to see physically in the flesh what we had been learning about in books all semester. Throughout my time in Poland I learned about significant Polish figures, Jewish-Christian relations, and about the power of love in a place where love and God are often not seen. 

   Sunday morning, as we got off the bus in Wadowice, Karol Wojtyla (St. John Paul II’s birth name) birth city you could feel in the air the significance of this Polish city. The empty streets and very cold air made the experience feel surreal. My excitement was met with many questions. After walking around a few short corners we arrived at Karol’s High School, Martin Wadowity. This beautiful building was the place where Karol became the person he would grow up to be. When Karol was younger the relationship between Christians and Jews in Wadowice seemed “normal” in Karol’s life. One of Karol’s close friends, who he played soccer with, was Jerzy Kluger, a Jewish boy who lived in Wadowice. Kluger’s family was very involved in the local Jewish community and it’s synagogue. The synagogue would later be burned down by Nazi’s and destroyed. Woityla and Kluger were separated at the beginning of World War II, but would later go on to reunite almost 30 years later.

Karol Wojtyla's childhood church in Wadowice, Poland

   As we continued we walked to The Holy Father John Paul II Family Home Museum it hit me that the man who worked to advocate for human rights, teach others about the meaning of forgiveness and promote better Jewish-Christian relations as pope lived in the exact apartment we were walking into. A pope had never before exemplified John Paul II’s dedication to restoring and reconciling Jewish-Christian relations so much and increasing dialogue between Christians and other religions. Pope John Paul II understood the importance of Nostra aetate. Nostra aetate is the Second Vatican Council’s declaration on the relation of the church with non-Christian religions. Specifically in Nostra aetate it mentions “… in her rejection of every persecution against any man, the Church, mindful of the patrimony she shares with the Jews and moved not by political reasons but by the Gospel's spiritual love, decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone.” Pope John Paul II understood this.

Plaque in Wadowice, Poland commemorating
the Synagogue destroyed by Nazi's  

  He worked to establish formal diplomatic relations with Israel and was the first pope to make an official visit to the Great Synagogue of Rome and to Auschwitz. John Paul II said during his first visit to the concentration camp, “Can it still be a surprise to anyone that the Pope born and brought
up in this land, the Pope who came to the See of Saint Peter from the diocese in whose territory is situated the camp of Auschwitz, should have begun his first Encyclical with the words "Redemptor Hominis" and should have dedicated it as a whole to the cause of man, to the dignity of man, to the threats to him, and finally to his inalienable rights … It is well known that I have been here many times. So many times! It was impossible for me not to come here as Pope.” John Paul II’s friend from childhood, Kluger also aided him in his work with fostering better Jewish-Christian relations and he presented a speech on behalf of the Pope in 1989 at a dedication of a plaque where the old synagogue from his childhood, in Wadowice, that had been destroyed by the Nazi’s had been located.

Karol Wojtyla's High School in Wadowice, Poland 

  Walking into the home of John Paul II was simply incredible. The feeling of being in the apartment felt similar to being backstage at a concert and getting to have a closer look into the life of someone through their belongings. After looking through the museum we had the opportunity to attend mass and walk through the town of Wadowice. The power of John Paul II’s love for the poor, love for someone who tried to take his life and love for people in other religions is why so many people from all over the world feel a connection to him and see God in him through his love.

   After returning home to the Center after the day I began to reflect and ask myself what Auschwitz was going to be like the next day. After learning especially all semester about how many Jews suffered through this genocide I was extremely anxious to see it in the flesh. As we walked on the dirt roads around barbwire and brick barracks I wondered to myself “how could so much hate and darkness exist in one place?” “Where was God?” Fr. Manfred, a German priest and author, said in one of his lectures to my class and I, “God was seen in action and love.” Whether that action was small or large, it was through others actions that God could be seen in such a dark place. Upon arriving at Block 11 we were told about the story of St. Maximilian Kolbe.

Cell of St. Maximilian Kolbe where
Kolbe was starved for two weeks

   St. Maximilian Kolbe was an imprisoned Franciscan priest who in 1941 made the ultimate sacrifice to give up his life for a man with a family in Auschwitz. He was imprisoned in a starvation cell for two weeks and kept people’s morale as high as it possibly could and led them in prayer. After not dying from starvation after two weeks he was given a lethal injection of carbolic acid and died shortly after. Fr. Manfred had the opportunity to speak to a prisoner who told him that Kolbe’s act gave prisoners back some sense of dignity and that Kolbe had a “victory of love in a system of hate.” St. Maximilian Kolbe’s moral victory proved that action and love was possible in the camps. John Paul II also said during St. Maximilian Kolbe’s canonization “this was victory won over all systematic contempt and hate for man and for what is divine in man-a victory like that won by our Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary.”

Location of where Maximilian Kolbe
volunteered to take the spot of a man with
a wife and child

Plaque commemorating the life and actions of
St. Maximilian Kolbe

   This genocide may never be fully understood but it is important to work to educate people on what happened, work to improve and encourage better Jewish-Christian relations, and, I believe, to recognize God (seen through people’s demonstration of love and action), in such a dark time. St. Pope John Paul and St. Maximilian Kolbe are just two non-Jewish figures that have worked like others so selflessly to spread God’s love. The more I have learned about people’s actions and love, the more I see God in Auschwitz. It is hard to know where God was but I believe he worked through all of the people who showed love through small actions.

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The Beginning Of My Poland Journey

Today, Friday, March 10th, 2017 is a day already filled with many mixed emotions.  As I am writing this, I am on a flight from New York to Poland. I am eager to witness and learn first-hand where the Holocaust had taken place, but I am anxious. I am anxious because I do not really know what to expect. Sure, I have heard about the Holocaust throughout my years in school, but that is simply information coming straight out of a textbook. Stepping foot in Auschwitz, or any concentration camp, is not something that any person can prepare for. Walking on the same ground, and being in the presence of where millions of Jews had been brutally tortured and murdered is not something that can be taught out of a textbook and expected to be fully understood. I am in belief that you do not truly understand anything until you experience or witness it, and in this case, that is stepping foot on the concentration camp and using our senses to get a better understanding of those dark times. While I am anxious about this trip, I am also intrigued. I have many questions, some of which I would have never asked if I wasn’t traveling to where it had all happened. I am not sure if all of my questions can be answered, but I feel as if the Holocaust left many unanswered questions. One of the questions that has constantly been in the back of my head since the start of this course was why the Jews. I have heard so much about the Holocaust up to this point in my life, but I have never truly understood why the Jewish people were targeted. Throughout the course of this experience, we have been constantly reminded of the teaching of contempt. At first, the teaching of contempt had made perfect sense to me, but throughout the course, it had only raised more questions. In early Christiaan literature, there were many anti-Jewish impressions such as the Jews being responsible for crucifying Jesus, which makes them responsible for the deicide. Other anti-Jewish impressions that I found interesting are that Jews rejected Jesus after he tried to preach to them, and the tribulations of the Jews was God’s punishment to them for killing Jesus. The idea was that the Jews were stubborn, faithless to God, and were an obstacle to everyone else around them. If something was wrong, it seemed that the Jews were the go-to to blame. In Poland, and while on the grounds of the concentration camps, I hope to get a better understanding of the questions that I still have. I hope that I can have a better understanding of these questions, so that I can have a better understanding of this tragedy. I don’t know what to expect while I am in the presence of where this all happened, but I feel as if that is a good thing. I am going into this experience with questions, and no expectations. I am excited for this experience, and it begins now.

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The Power of Relationships

By our second night in Poland, I felt like in the short time we had been there, we had already learned so much.

Though we were warned we would be jumping right into everything, I didn’t know what to expect. However, I can say that it definitely wasn’t the desecrated Jewish cemetery that we started our Oswiecim tour at shortly after our arrival at the Center for Dialogue and Prayer. Before we entered the cemetery, a naive thought crossed my mind – something like, “Wow, it’s amazing that this is still here,” thinking it was going to be a somewhat normal cemetery. Unfortunately, I quickly realized that this was not the case. Walking through it, past the chalk-numbered tombstones, crooked and close together, no longer marking where their corresponding bodies are actually buried, I was shocked, though with everything we’ve learned I probably shouldn’t have been. The Nazis had not only tried to break the spirit of the living Jews – exterminating them wasn’t enough; they also tried to destroy their memory. I think just seeing the destruction, seeing the pieces of broken-up stones that once commemorated the lives of human beings, seeing that in person, was just kind of insane. However, they didn’t succeed in this goal. The white-chalk numbers were written by those who volunteered to work towards restoration of the site to mark and count the stones. They didn’t succeed in destroying their memory. I thought that the Polish custom of leaving little lamps on the gravestones was beautiful, and especially considering how there is no longer a Jewish population here in Oswiecim, I thought it was amazing that there was a good number of these lamps around the cemetery. To me, this represents the progress that’s been made since the Shoah. Seeing how non-Jewish Poles still visit this cemetery, a site they could become desensitized to and forget about as it is in their neighborhood, and witnessing how they leave the lamps at these tombstones, still honoring their memory today, provided a little bit of light in the darkness of the still-present destruction.

            Someone who played a big role in this visible progress was Saint Pope John Paul II. I was so excited to go to Wadowice and see the town he grew up in and to visit his home and the parish he was raised in, the place where his faith was fostered. Arriving in Wadowice and going to see his high school was a very cool experience, but visiting the Old Synagogue and hearing the story of Lolek and Jurek was incredible. I thought it was a fascinating story – one full of friendship and hope – and it definitely shows the power that strong relationships create. They were childhood friends, Karol Wojtyla/Pope John Paul II (Lolek) and Jerzy Kluger (Jurek), and one particular story told of how when Jurek got his acceptance letter, the two were so happy they would be attending high school together. They understood from a young age that they were equals, and their religious difference didn’t stop their great friendship or the good relations between their families. However, after they graduated from high school, the war caused them to lose touch, as Jurek had to leave Wadowice with his father to escape capture and a terrible fate. He joined the Polish army heading towards Russia and survived the war. In 1951, he ended up in Rome with his wife, and when John Paul II went to Rome in the 1960s for the Second Vatican Council and was made a Cardinal, the two reconnected. Amazingly, their bond was so strong that it was as if time had never passed, and after all that had happened and all they had gone through separately, they came together in mutual love, understanding, and respect and worked towards mending Jewish-Christian relations.

Klugar contributed a lot to the impact that John Paul II was able to make during the Second Vatican Council, which can be seen in the Nostra Aetate that Pope Paul VI published in 1965. It is a “Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions.” This document specifically highlights that Jews are not to blame for Jesus’ death, and it points out similarities as well as promotes respect between different religions. This story of friendship is so powerful – the two men went from being childhood friends to being an unbeatable team that worked towards unity after a long war that encouraged disunity. I wish it was a more well-known story because I feel like it has the power to open a lot of minds to the idea of how powerful human relationships can be and are. This depiction of the power relations can hold only reinforces why the reparation of Jewish-Christian relations is so important. Restoring the relationship between Jews and Christians and mending it into one that embodies understanding just as Lolek’s and Jurek’s did can help to create a more respectful and peaceful environment and promote mutually beneficial conversations.

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