My class trip to Germany and Poland has resulted in lifelong memories and knowledge that I could have never received by reading a textbook.\u00a0 Reading about something is completely different than experiencing it.\u00a0 For example, reading about Auschwitz taught me a lot, but going<\/em> to Auschwitz made everything I learned come to life.\u00a0 Everything became real.\u00a0 Going to the Topography of Terror in Berlin taught me so much about the perpetrators while I stood in a building that used to be the Gestapo headquarters, in the city that the perpetrators once controlled.\u00a0 We had the opportunity to talk to people who currently live in Germany and Poland, and they shared with us how they feel about the each other now. \u00a0I also learned a great deal about the Jewish culture in Germany and Poland, and how it has changed over the years. \u00a0One of the most fascinating conversations we had was with the students at the Jewish Community Center in Krakow. \u00a0One boy there told us how he had not known he was Jewish until recently, and now he is getting involved in the Jewish culture of Krakow. \u00a0These experiences and conversations made me rethink things I would have never thought of, like how the Holocaust is taught in the United States of America.\u00a0 I realized how much the war and its aftermath impacted both countries while walking around and finding cultural things that they shared with their neighboring countries (such as nesting dolls in Poland).\u00a0 The little things like shared cultural affects taught me how the frequently changing borders impacted these countries in a permanent way.\u00a0 I am so grateful that I was able to have this experience, and I hope that this EYH continues to run so other students can learn from experience this as well.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0Berlin Reflection:\u00a0 Memory Void\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n This art installation by Daniel Libeskind in the Jewish Museum of Berlin was very moving and summarizes the Holocaust in an artistic way. \u00a0Metal crying\/frowning faces that look in pain line the floor. \u00a0The sizes of the faces vary which indicates that people of all ages were victims. \u00a0The entrance of the installation is wise and bright, but it becomes increasingly dark and narrow as it continues. \u00a0This represents how the persecution of the Jews in WWII occurred. \u00a0When Hitler first got power, the future seemed bright to many Germans. \u00a0This new leader gave them hope. \u00a0Slowly, the fright future fades as Jews begin to be treated inhumanely. \u00a0The darkness can also symbolize the Jew\u2019s leaving their happy lives behind as as SS officers force them into dark cattle cars, trains, and barracks that became their futures. \u00a0In some extermination camps, the skies were gray due to the crematorium smoke. \u00a0Gray, the color of the metal, represents death, and is the color of ashes. \u00a0The structure is filled with symbolism, but the interactive component provides a deeper experience.<\/p>\n As you walk across the installation, you must step on the faces that look like they are crying out to you. \u00a0This act becomes increasingly difficult because of the noise that the metal makes when it hits together. \u00a0It sounds like the faces are crying out. \u00a0It also sounds like shackles hitting the floor, which is symbolic because the victims are imprisoned and enslaved to Hitler now. \u00a0When you have reached the end, there is no way out. \u00a0This represents that the Nazi\u2019s had no choice but to surrender, and could not escape from the crimes they had committed. \u00a0When you turn around to exit the installation, you see the sea of faces. \u00a0You are forced to see what you just walked across, and must walk back through the installation to exit. \u00a0This represents the fact that the people responsible had to face their crimes and see the damage they had done (although I later learned that they were often not persecuted for their crimes). \u00a0Walking on the faces is also symbolic because you are stepping on people. \u00a0The Nazis put down other and \u201cwalked over\u201d them until the end of the war. \u00a0The indistinct faces indicates that everyone had at least one thing in common (religion, or just viewed as an enemy of the Nazi regime), and all struggled together in the death camps and persecution. \u00a0Walking across the memory void made my stomach drop and sadness rush over me. \u00a0It was a unique and emotional experience.<\/p>\n Having this piece in symbolic, too, because Berlin is where Himmler and other SS agents held the Wannsee Conference. \u00a0This conference determined the final solution was extermination, and concentration camps began to be built\/used.\u00a0 Berlin was also the headquarters of the Gestapo, who arrested many of the initial camp prisoners.\u00a0 In Hitler\u2019s Berlin<\/i>, we learned that Berlin was, in many ways, the heart of the planning of the Holocaust.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Drawings from the Warsaw Ghetto Artist\/Life in the Ghetto<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n Before coming to Warsaw, I thought the people in the ghetto would resemble homeless people in America. \u00a0I pictured them to be thin, a little dirty due to a lack of resources, and to be in worn clothes. Roth says, \u201cit is impossible to subsist on the food rations allocated by the German authorities,\u201d in\u00a0Here There is No Why<\/em>, but it was not until I saw these drawings that I truly understood what Roth was trying to say. The drawings by Gela Seksztajn on display at the Jewish Historical institute illustrate life in the ghetto. \u00a0The people of the ghetto were extremely malnourished and underweight. \u00a0They were dirty because of the inescapable filth they were forced to live in due to overpopulation and bad sanitary systems, and wore rags. The Jews in the ghetto did not resemble homeless people, but instead resembled concentration camp prisoners. \u00a0The differences between the camps and the ghetto appear to be that people in the ghetto had slightly more freedom in what they did and had somewhat of a choice in what they wore. \u00a0Gela Seksztajn recorded what the people and life in the Warsaw ghetto were like through very powerful and disturbing artwork. \u00a0She brought the ghetto to life, and shows the horrible conditions in which the Jews were forced to life. \u00a0In fact, quality of life was so low, and there was so much suffering that Gela Seksztajn was eventually driven to commit suicide. \u00a0Her decision to take her own life when she had a family really impacted me and showed to me just how bad her life must have been.<\/p>\n Warsaw was home to many ghettos and is known for its resistance movements within the ghettos. \u00a0Roth talks about both life in the ghetto and the uprisings in her book, Here There is No Why<\/i>. \u00a0She recalls walking by dead bodies on the streets, and at first this really upsets her and she would want to help the dying people. \u00a0Eventually she begins to just walk by the bodies in the streets because she had to have spiritual resistance. \u00a0Roth needed to stay strong in order to survive. \u00a0Below is a picture of a remaining section of the Warsaw ghetto wall.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Auschwitz Reflection<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n This reflection is the most difficult to write because, in my opinion, there are no words that can truly describe the feelings that I experienced while visiting Auschwitz\/Birkenau, or the horrible crimes that were committed there. \u00a0First, I was shocked. \u00a0The main camp of Auschwitz was nothing like what I expected. \u00a0I have always heard that Auschwitz was the worse camp that you could get sent to, but when I went to Auschwitz\/Birkenau, I learned that it was actually Birkenau that was the worst location. \u00a0In Birkenau, the barracks are made of wood or bricks. \u00a0The buildings are cold and gray, and beds line the sides of the walls. \u00a0In the book Auschwitz<\/i>, it describes the bunks has being about the size of a twin bed, but they were expected to hold approximately 6 people each. \u00a0The tour guide told us that you would want to the top bunk in order to maintain your health because dysentery was such a common problem, and feces would drip down onto you if you were on a lower bunk. \u00a0Shocking comments like this made me think about things I had never thought about before, and seeing the place where this all happened made the words even more powerful. \u00a0The words \u201cSei Ruhig!\u201d (silence) were painted on the barrack walls. \u00a0The barracks were close to silent as we walked through them which made these words impact me, and also symbolized the lack of life in these barracks.<\/p>\n Another powerful moment was seeing a train car used to transport Jews to the camp. \u00a0Imagining over 100 people crammed into the little train car was difficult. \u00a0The train car was on the tracks right next to the selection area. \u00a0The passengers would exit the cart and stand in two lines. \u00a0Someone, usually a doctor, would stand at the end of the line and say \u201cleft,\u201d or \u201cright.\u201d \u00a0One word decided each person\u2019s fate.\u00a0 In Here There is No Why<\/em> Roth recalls these selections, and she says, a \u201cquick flick of a stick\u201d could cause them to be killed.\u00a0 This selection area was often the last time many camp prisoners saw their families. \u00a0The cart and the selection area reminded me of when Roth\u2019s grandfather is practically dead after the long train ride which killed many others. \u00a0Roth\u2019s grandfather barely makes it out alive, but it is the last time the remainder of her family was together. \u00a0I thought about Roth frequently as I walked through the camp, and I tried to imagine what the camp was like when she was there. \u00a0It was a crazy feeling to know that someone I had met was standing in the same places that I was, and had survived the horrible stories that were being told to us. \u00a0Sometimes I would wonder in which locations did Roth exactly stay? \u00a0I wondered if it was in the main camp, or in Birkenau. \u00a0Reading Roth\u2019s book really made the experience impact me more.<\/p>\n As I finish this reflection, I realize that I still have many questions. \u00a0How was the town impacted by the camp? \u00a0How often did people encounter prisoners? \u00a0How much did the people of the town know? \u00a0Did they try to tell anyone about the camps? \u00a0Trying to understand how Auschwitz\/Birkenau could have happened is a hard concept to grasp. \u00a0Although I have a much better understanding as to why these events did occur, I still have difficulty putting into words the experience of going to Auschwitz\/Birkenau, and seeing the sights of so many tragedies into words.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Krakow Reflection<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n It is immediately apparent that Krakow is different than Warsaw, Poland. \u00a0In Krakow, the architecture was older because it was not as destroyed as Warsaw was from World War II. \u00a0Krakow was, however, impacted from the war. \u00a0The Generalgouvernement, lead by Hans Frank, was based in Krakow. \u00a0The photo above is of Wawel castle; the castle in which all the Polish monarchs lived. \u00a0Hans Frank was the only person to reside in Wawel who was not a monarchy, and he was the last to live in the castle. \u00a0Frank\u2019s ability and decision to live in this historic castle shows how little care he had for Polish history. \u00a0As far as Frank was concerned, this was now his land, and therefore his<\/i> castle. \u00a0Frank\u2019s living in the castle is highly symbolic of the power which the Nazi\u2019s had. \u00a0It is a symbol of strength and superiority. \u00a0In addition, the castle is surrounded by a brick wall which isolated Frank from the Poles and the Jews. \u00a0Hans Frank\u2019s extravagant lifestyle in Wawel can be juxtaposed with the impoverished lifestyle in which the Jews of the Krakow ghetto were forced to live.\u00a0 It can be inferred that Frank approved of the horrible conditions the Jews of Krakow were forced to live in because Frank believed that Jews were not worth feeding, “except for the 300,000 who were useful workers.” (Gutman, Resistance).<\/em> Frank oversaw the ghettos, and demanded that a brick wall be built around the ghettos. \u00a0The walls looked like tombstones, and is symbolic of the death that awaited the Jews in the ghettos. \u00a0When I think of all the atrocities that occurred in the ghettos and how horrible life was there, it is shocking to think that an important Nazi party member lived so close by. \u00a0All of these horrible things were happening practically in his backyard. \u00a0It is not far away that people are being round up and shipped to Auschwitz, which is also nearby. \u00a0<\/p>\n Since Frank left, the castle has been made into a museum. \u00a0I wish that we had time to go into the castle. \u00a0I wonder if there are remains of Frank\u2019s residency. \u00a0I wonder how Frank changed this important piece of Polish history, and what life was like for his family living in there?\u00a0\u00a0 How did the Krakow citizens, like Arthur Spielman (a survivor who spoke at Wagner College), feel about Frank living in this historic castle?<\/p>\n![\"IMG_6374\"](\"http:\/\/faculty.wagner.edu\/lori-weintrob\/files\/2015\/04\/IMG_63741-e1429039909680-225x300.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"photo](\"http:\/\/faculty.wagner.edu\/lori-weintrob\/files\/2015\/04\/photo-11-e1430021908609.jpg\")
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