P2K - Shoah Experience to Poland and Israel
Personal Experiences
Personal Experiences
AND THEY SAY IT NEVER HAPPENED ………
The Israel-Poland tour was without a doubt the most emotional and important 2 weeks of my life. The 2 weeks were an absolute roller coaster of emotions. The jubilation to be in Israel, some of us for the first time; the grief felt while standing in a gas chamber, the pride felt while carrying an Israeli flag through Auschwitz and the smell of a barrack filled with thousands of shoes is unexplainable.
The tour began with 40 Jewish teenagers from all over South Africa meeting up with 20 Israeli teenagers in Israel. After just 3 short days in Israel, with visits to the Old City, Yad Vashem, Beit Shemesh and Tel Aviv, it was evident that all the South Africans had fallen in love with Israel and were devastated to be leaving! We were consoled with the knowledge that we would return to the Holy Land in just a week.
Everyone had their own expectations of Poland but no matter how many Holocaust books you had read or movies you had seen, nothing prepared us for what we experienced there.
You cannot fully understand the extent of loss and devastation during the Holocaust if you do not know what existed before. Beautiful synagogues and Kazimierz, the Jewish Quarter in Krakow are testimonies to the large and vibrant Jewish communities that once existed. Sadly, the only people who pray in these magnificent synagogues are Jewish tour groups like us.
Auschwitz. A name that strikes pain and fear into the heart of every Jew. The weather was gloomy and it was rainy, an indication of what kind of a day was ahead of us. Driving up to the infamous entrance to Auschwitz-Birkenau I was overcome with emotion. I began having palpitations and found it hard to breath; it was truly one of the scariest moments in my life. I cannot even begin to comprehend how the millions of Jews, who passed through that entrance in cattle cars, must have felt. Undoubtedly, one of the highlights of the tour was praying Shacharit in that very guard tower. One of the most significant things for me was to be able to walk through the gates of Auschwitz not with a yellow star on our clothes, but this time waving our Israeli flags with pride and dignity. The whole of Auschwitz was so surreal. We see so many images of Auschwitz but it was so hard to believe that we were really standing there.
We visited many other death and concentration camps were hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed, including Plaszow and Chelmno-the very first death camp. We walked in the footsteps of our ancestors who were marched from their homes in Tykocin to their deaths in the Lopohova Forest. We visited mass graves in Zvilotowska Gora where the Jews of Tarnow were shot and mass graves in the Warsaw Jewish cemetery where thousands of Jews died due to the horrific conditions in the Ghetto.
At Auschwitz I felt angry but at Majdanek there was no anger, only pain and anguish. My heart absolutely broke and my experience at Majdanek will remain with me forever. The harsh reality of Concentration camp life is really felt there. It somehow became easier to understand why Jews did not try to escape or start a rebellion when we saw the living conditions and the struggle just to live one more day. The most memorable part of my entire trip occurred at Majdanek. The 65 of us were singing Hatikvah. The Israeli flag was waving in the wind on my right. On my left was a heap of 7 tons of human ash; behind me was a mass grave of 40 000 Jews and in front of me was the crematorium where hundreds of thousands of my ancestor’s bodies were burnt. It was at that exact moment, surrounded by friends, Israelis, Cape Townians and Durbanites that I realized how important Israel is to the Jews. A lump grew in my throat and tears streamed down my face. I had never been so proud to be Jewish!
At Treblinka nothing remains but a few monuments. Walking among 17 000 rocks is so confusing. Each stone represents one community that was murdered at Treblinka, not one person, a whole community. It is hard to imagine 17 000 rocks. It is even harder to imagine 17 000 communities. It is impossible to comprehend over 6 million Jews!
After a long and extremely emotional week with visits to the camps, remaining parts of Ghetto walls in Warsaw and Krakow, Janusz Korczak’s orphanage, the salt mines in Wieliczka, various cemeteries throughout Poland, the old city of Warsaw and of course shopping in the Sukiennice Square-the city center of Krakow, we were utterly exhausted. It had never felt so good to be ‘home’, back in Eretz Yisrael!
After going on a trip of this nature you would expect to come back with answers; you expect to understand, BUT YOU DON’T! I came back with so many more unanswered questions and a thirst for knowledge. For me, the Holocaust is not just a story from the past anymore; the victims, the millions murdered now live within me and I carry their memory with me every single day!
We all returned with a newfound love and appreciation of Israel, intense Jewish pride and a special bond between the 40 South Africans that will never be broken.
Am Yisrael Chai!
The Israel-Poland tour was without a doubt the most emotional and important 2 weeks of my life. The 2 weeks were an absolute roller coaster of emotions. The jubilation to be in Israel, some of us for the first time; the grief felt while standing in a gas chamber, the pride felt while carrying an Israeli flag through Auschwitz and the smell of a barrack filled with thousands of shoes is unexplainable.
The tour began with 40 Jewish teenagers from all over South Africa meeting up with 20 Israeli teenagers in Israel. After just 3 short days in Israel, with visits to the Old City, Yad Vashem, Beit Shemesh and Tel Aviv, it was evident that all the South Africans had fallen in love with Israel and were devastated to be leaving! We were consoled with the knowledge that we would return to the Holy Land in just a week.
Everyone had their own expectations of Poland but no matter how many Holocaust books you had read or movies you had seen, nothing prepared us for what we experienced there.
You cannot fully understand the extent of loss and devastation during the Holocaust if you do not know what existed before. Beautiful synagogues and Kazimierz, the Jewish Quarter in Krakow are testimonies to the large and vibrant Jewish communities that once existed. Sadly, the only people who pray in these magnificent synagogues are Jewish tour groups like us.
Auschwitz. A name that strikes pain and fear into the heart of every Jew. The weather was gloomy and it was rainy, an indication of what kind of a day was ahead of us. Driving up to the infamous entrance to Auschwitz-Birkenau I was overcome with emotion. I began having palpitations and found it hard to breath; it was truly one of the scariest moments in my life. I cannot even begin to comprehend how the millions of Jews, who passed through that entrance in cattle cars, must have felt. Undoubtedly, one of the highlights of the tour was praying Shacharit in that very guard tower. One of the most significant things for me was to be able to walk through the gates of Auschwitz not with a yellow star on our clothes, but this time waving our Israeli flags with pride and dignity. The whole of Auschwitz was so surreal. We see so many images of Auschwitz but it was so hard to believe that we were really standing there.
We visited many other death and concentration camps were hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed, including Plaszow and Chelmno-the very first death camp. We walked in the footsteps of our ancestors who were marched from their homes in Tykocin to their deaths in the Lopohova Forest. We visited mass graves in Zvilotowska Gora where the Jews of Tarnow were shot and mass graves in the Warsaw Jewish cemetery where thousands of Jews died due to the horrific conditions in the Ghetto.
At Auschwitz I felt angry but at Majdanek there was no anger, only pain and anguish. My heart absolutely broke and my experience at Majdanek will remain with me forever. The harsh reality of Concentration camp life is really felt there. It somehow became easier to understand why Jews did not try to escape or start a rebellion when we saw the living conditions and the struggle just to live one more day. The most memorable part of my entire trip occurred at Majdanek. The 65 of us were singing Hatikvah. The Israeli flag was waving in the wind on my right. On my left was a heap of 7 tons of human ash; behind me was a mass grave of 40 000 Jews and in front of me was the crematorium where hundreds of thousands of my ancestor’s bodies were burnt. It was at that exact moment, surrounded by friends, Israelis, Cape Townians and Durbanites that I realized how important Israel is to the Jews. A lump grew in my throat and tears streamed down my face. I had never been so proud to be Jewish!
At Treblinka nothing remains but a few monuments. Walking among 17 000 rocks is so confusing. Each stone represents one community that was murdered at Treblinka, not one person, a whole community. It is hard to imagine 17 000 rocks. It is even harder to imagine 17 000 communities. It is impossible to comprehend over 6 million Jews!
After a long and extremely emotional week with visits to the camps, remaining parts of Ghetto walls in Warsaw and Krakow, Janusz Korczak’s orphanage, the salt mines in Wieliczka, various cemeteries throughout Poland, the old city of Warsaw and of course shopping in the Sukiennice Square-the city center of Krakow, we were utterly exhausted. It had never felt so good to be ‘home’, back in Eretz Yisrael!
After going on a trip of this nature you would expect to come back with answers; you expect to understand, BUT YOU DON’T! I came back with so many more unanswered questions and a thirst for knowledge. For me, the Holocaust is not just a story from the past anymore; the victims, the millions murdered now live within me and I carry their memory with me every single day!
We all returned with a newfound love and appreciation of Israel, intense Jewish pride and a special bond between the 40 South Africans that will never be broken.
Am Yisrael Chai!
Jenna
