P2K - Shoah Experience to Poland and Israel
Personal Experiences
Personal Experiences
Having been fortunate enough to have just returned from the IUA/Partnership 2000 Poland/Israel trip, I was asked to write a brief article about my trip. The trip consisted of visiting Israel for a preparatory three-day session, prior to touring Poland for a week and then returning to Israel for debriefing. It seems to me now that writing about the experience, to some extent, does the trip an injustice. It is impossible to convey how much my life as a person, or more specifically as a Jew and a Zionist has changed as a result! I have never been to Israel before, so friends’ versions of “visiting our homeland” seemed unrealistic and foreign to me. My experience of Israel now was that it encapsulates all that is vibrant, joyous and exciting- contrasting so strongly with the sheer sadness and feeling of death that prevailed in Poland. Combined with the fact that incredible friendships and lifelong bonds were formed with the Israeli contingent who accompanied us on our tour, the sector of the trip in Israel was an altogether amazing experience.
One of the most memorable moments for me during the Poland tour was our Shacharit service in the Aushwitz-Birkenau command tower; a place where so many entered and never left, except in spirit! As I mouthed the words of the Amidah, and stared vacantly out of the huge glass window, the question of how the world stood by and failed to act –buzzed around my head. Framed by the lush and seemingly untainted surrounding forest, Birkenau appeared to be nothing more than another camp in the countryside. It was during a fleeting moment, whilst listening to the translation of a Hebrew song, standing adjacent to the destroyed gas chamber that the harsh understanding of the torture, pain and suffering inflicted on the Jews began to set in!
On our Shabbat in Krakow, we visited a shul inside the old Jewish Quarter, only to realize once we had arrived, that there was insufficient space inside for us to daven. As a result, standing outside I engaged in a conversation with a Polish-born Jewish girl, talking about her daily life in Poland. The fact that her only Jewish friends live in Warsaw and in another Jewish town in Poland came as a surprise. However, when I discovered that none of her friends in Krakow know that she is Jewish, and that she cannot tell them, because she is afraid that she might be isolated and possibly assaulted, (as the few Jewish boys who live in Krakow have been), I began to appreciate the difficulties she experiences in her everyday existence. On Friday nights and Saturdays, as an observant woman, she simply tells her friends she is busy, and nothing more. What baffles me is the question that in the 60 years that have passed since the Holocaust, how much has life changed for Jews in Poland? It struck me as a horrifying observation.
In my opinion, Auschwitz as a memorial to the Jews killed there, did not touch me emotionally as deeply as Majdanek Death Camp, which has been left untouched since the Holocaust. Entering the gas chambers and the showers in the “disinfectant” room was for me the single most harrowing experience of my life. The overpowering odour, similar to that of a sauna, envelops your senses as you enter the dark entrance room; slowly walking through the showers, we proceeded to the gas chamber. My eyes took time to focus, adjusting to the light or lack thereof, noting the stains of Zyklon B imprinted on the wall for all to remember, and the scratch marks of those who fought so bravely to end, etched into the walls. It was only once Jacob, our guide, played a Hebrew song, which he had sent to be played at his grandfather’s funeral in America, which he had been unable to attend, that an emotional wave overcame me, destroying all the composure, that up to this point, I had managed to maintain. A memory of that experience is imprinted on my mind, - one that I should hopefully tell my grandchildren about!
As I reflect on my trip now, I wonder whether two and a half weeks ago I would have thought that I could become best friends with this seemingly “foreign” bunch of Hebrew-speaking teenagers. I can almost certainly say no. Ask me that same question today, and I can honestly say that the friendships forged are fixed deep within my heart and they will be cherished forever. My Judaism is the one aspect in my life that made that connection possible, and that is probably one of the most important lessons (from amongst the many others) that I learned on this trip, and that I will never forget!
I would like to like to end with a quote that appropriately, hangs on the wall of the Auschwitz One Museum- between the piles of shoes and thousands of kilograms of human hair. I feel very strongly that it is an obligation of every single Jew, in honour of all those who perished in the Shoah to visit Poland at least once in their lifetime. As George Santayana said: “The one who does not remember history is bound to live through it again”.
One of the most memorable moments for me during the Poland tour was our Shacharit service in the Aushwitz-Birkenau command tower; a place where so many entered and never left, except in spirit! As I mouthed the words of the Amidah, and stared vacantly out of the huge glass window, the question of how the world stood by and failed to act –buzzed around my head. Framed by the lush and seemingly untainted surrounding forest, Birkenau appeared to be nothing more than another camp in the countryside. It was during a fleeting moment, whilst listening to the translation of a Hebrew song, standing adjacent to the destroyed gas chamber that the harsh understanding of the torture, pain and suffering inflicted on the Jews began to set in!
On our Shabbat in Krakow, we visited a shul inside the old Jewish Quarter, only to realize once we had arrived, that there was insufficient space inside for us to daven. As a result, standing outside I engaged in a conversation with a Polish-born Jewish girl, talking about her daily life in Poland. The fact that her only Jewish friends live in Warsaw and in another Jewish town in Poland came as a surprise. However, when I discovered that none of her friends in Krakow know that she is Jewish, and that she cannot tell them, because she is afraid that she might be isolated and possibly assaulted, (as the few Jewish boys who live in Krakow have been), I began to appreciate the difficulties she experiences in her everyday existence. On Friday nights and Saturdays, as an observant woman, she simply tells her friends she is busy, and nothing more. What baffles me is the question that in the 60 years that have passed since the Holocaust, how much has life changed for Jews in Poland? It struck me as a horrifying observation.
In my opinion, Auschwitz as a memorial to the Jews killed there, did not touch me emotionally as deeply as Majdanek Death Camp, which has been left untouched since the Holocaust. Entering the gas chambers and the showers in the “disinfectant” room was for me the single most harrowing experience of my life. The overpowering odour, similar to that of a sauna, envelops your senses as you enter the dark entrance room; slowly walking through the showers, we proceeded to the gas chamber. My eyes took time to focus, adjusting to the light or lack thereof, noting the stains of Zyklon B imprinted on the wall for all to remember, and the scratch marks of those who fought so bravely to end, etched into the walls. It was only once Jacob, our guide, played a Hebrew song, which he had sent to be played at his grandfather’s funeral in America, which he had been unable to attend, that an emotional wave overcame me, destroying all the composure, that up to this point, I had managed to maintain. A memory of that experience is imprinted on my mind, - one that I should hopefully tell my grandchildren about!
As I reflect on my trip now, I wonder whether two and a half weeks ago I would have thought that I could become best friends with this seemingly “foreign” bunch of Hebrew-speaking teenagers. I can almost certainly say no. Ask me that same question today, and I can honestly say that the friendships forged are fixed deep within my heart and they will be cherished forever. My Judaism is the one aspect in my life that made that connection possible, and that is probably one of the most important lessons (from amongst the many others) that I learned on this trip, and that I will never forget!
I would like to like to end with a quote that appropriately, hangs on the wall of the Auschwitz One Museum- between the piles of shoes and thousands of kilograms of human hair. I feel very strongly that it is an obligation of every single Jew, in honour of all those who perished in the Shoah to visit Poland at least once in their lifetime. As George Santayana said: “The one who does not remember history is bound to live through it again”.
Mark Greenbaum
