Paintings from a Survivor

Some of the paintings of Marian Kolodziej During one of our final days in Poland, we were able to look at the astonishing paintings of Marian Kolodziej, one of the first prisoners at Auschwitz I. After his liberation, Kolodziej became a set designer for theater productions and didn't want to share his experiences about the Shoah. However, after he suffered a stroke, he began to draw out his memories of the Shoah. These paintings are located under...

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Wall of Death

A reconstruction of the Wall of Death During our first time visiting the location of Auschwitz I, we learned about the Wall of Death, locating right next to Block of 11, a place of pure horror. This building was responsible for the torture and murder of thousands of people, including Father Maximilian Kolbe, who eventually became a saint after his martyrdom. Not only that, but the first tests of Zyklon B were used down in the basements of Block...

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In Wadowice

The central church at Wadowice, Poland While visiting Wadowice during our first full day in Poland, we learned about the childhood of Pope John Paul II. Learning about his living situation, how he was brought up, and what the community was like back when John Paul II was growing up gave us more insight into the relations between Christians and Jews before the start of World War II. We also attended a Sunday Mass at the central church located...

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The History Behind The Picture

This picture was taken on March 19th in Auschwitz ll - Birkenau. In this picture many different things are going on. Not only at the time this picture was taken but also the history behind this sight pictured above. This picture was taken in Auschwitz ll - Birkenau was one of the largest concentration and death camps of the Holocaust or the Shoah. The site of this picture was in the far back of Auschwitz ll – Birkenau, away from all of the prisoner...

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View From a Guard Tower

This picture was taken on March 19, 2019 in Auschwitz ll - Birkenau at 10 am. This is the view from on top of a guard tower at Auschwitz ll - Birkenau. The view from on top of the guard tower was really eye opening, the view from the top went on for miles and miles. It was at this point of the trip that I truly got a full understanding of how many people were in and could have been forced to live and work here and how many people have died...

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Father Kolbe and his perspective on unselfishness

While in Auschwitz we walked passed the cell in which father Kolbe was held prisoner and starved for two weeks. This part really had an impact on me. Seeing the cell in which Father Kolbe was held captive for death made me think about what we learned in class, about the righteous and how some people risks their lives for others. Father Kolbe choice to be in the position that he was sent to because he wanted to save a man who was screaming for...

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Memorization

After coming back from Poland, I have been finding it hard to give myself space and time to process all that we witnessed. Feeling bombarded by family, friends, and professors with well-meaning questions about the trip and our experiences has been overwhelming. I keep coming back to the phrase “the more I learn, the less I understand”, which was a title of a book I saw in the book store at Birkenau. The more we learned and saw, the less I understand...

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