Guilty Of Ignorance

As I am writing this on May 1^st, 2017, it has been seven weeks since our journey from New York to Poland. Although I am finally settled back to life at Iona College, overloaded with work as finals are quickly approaching and surrounded by my friends in a residence hall that has become a place that I can call home, I am still constantly reminded of my journey to Poland. I knew that going to Poland would be a rare experience that I would treasure forever, but I did not know how many things in the United States would remind me about what had happened during these devastating times. For the past year, U.S. President Donald Trump has been compared to Adolf Hitler, but I have never focused or understood why people had this opinion. I thought it was nonsense and people simply being upset because they did not like this political figure, but after my journey to Poland, I understand peoples concern. Following my return from Poland, I saw an article about the early warning signs of fascism so I clicked it. The article was directed at Donald Trump, and his similarities towards Adolf Hitler. Some of these warning signs included a distain for human rights, rampant sexism, controlled mass media, obsession with national security, and fraudulent elections. While Donald Trump and the RNC deny this, there have been many allegations towards Donald Trump that go along with these warning signs. A few weeks back, White House press secretary Sean Spicer while talking about the danger of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad argued in a press conference that Hitler had not used chemical weapons for World War II. These examples of Sean Spicer and Donald Trump comparisons to Adolf Hitler make me realize that people are ignorant and ill-informed when it comes to World War II and the Holocaust.

I would have never guessed that my journey to Poland would affect my life so much and so deeply. I learned that this trip was not simply to learn the material, but to witness and reflect. I have many pages of notes, but it is not the notes that will stay in my head and my heart; it is the images and sounds of the Holocaust that will stay with me forever. Following my journey, I did not think that I would constantly be putting thought into what had happened. I consider many things that I would have never even thought of before witnessing the grounds of the Holocaust. I still have many unanswered questions, and I know that I will always have unanswered questions, but I know that I will always look at every question with multiple perspectives. Poland changed my life, and I have a whole new understanding of the Holocaust, but I know that there is still so many things to learn and witness. As I end this blog, I will finish the same way I started, constantly pondering about the Holocaust, Hitler, Nazis, Jews and Poland, but I am okay with pondering now, because that is what this journey was for.