MOL_JFEDSNJ

We have left Poland, and technically the March of the Living is over. Our mission continues in Europe as we explore some roots and revival.  We spent a few days in Berlin. The group toured the Holocaust Memorial and a few other sites to get oriented. Chris and I missed the day as we were in Wroclow tracing my fathers grandparents roots. We toured the old Stork Synagogue, where his family attended shul. It was destroyed during Krystallnacht but has been refurbished as a museum and education center. We then were guests at the city's dedication of a memorial plaque to honor the Jews who were deported. It was a ceremony in Polish and German, as it was paid for by the German government. I really did not understand much. The Director of the Jewish Community, who one of my relatives some how knows, was lovely and so excited for me to be there. I had to make it a quick visit so I could return to the group in Berlin. We used a car service and after it picked us up we stopped at the Old Jewi...

Another early start since there is so much to do. We had an amazing and inspiring walking tour of Krakow. Several synagogues, a JCC, Schindler factory, a bathroom break where we ran into 1/4 of  the people on the March - there were blue jackets all over Krakow, and even Emma Weiss who is here with BBYO. Cantor Ed led us and another group in HaTikvah in one of the synagogues. What a talented Cantor! His voice filled the old shul. The area had old symbols of the Jewish life that once filled the streets, but also new life as all the shops were clearly targeting the Jewish tourists. My favorite was Sababa - Hummus and Happiness.  I think we need one of those back home. It oddly made me feel at home. Then, what we were here to do, we marched, with 13,000 (!) other people of all ages and nationalities and religions from Auschwitz to Birkenau (Auschwitz II). As we marched the almost two mile walk, people lined the route as if it were a parade. Some cheered, they held posters, and...

Today we saw evil. Pure evil. We toured Birkenau and Aushwitz. Nothing can prepare you for seeing the image that is so closely associated with the Holocaust. I knew it would be there, but when I saw the gate I couldn't breathe. We knew the meaning, we knew the lie, those who entered during the holocaust did not. The oddity - Auschwitz was originally an army base, so the bunkers as they look today seem benign. It almost looked like a college campus. We had an amazing tour guide. A Polish woman who has been doing this for 25 years, she is a teacher and does this once a week. Her passion and compassion are still evident in her tours. She explained although there is grass, there was none when it was in use as the prisoners ate it or used it for other needs. The bunkers now house artifacts and are a museum. The hair. The shoes. The personal items. SO MUCH. SO MANY. Birkenau on the other hand was constructed by prisoners and looks exactly as we have seen camps  in documentaries. It w...

Today we toured Majdanek, a concentration /extermination camp. How does one put into words feeling death all around you? This camp was left mostly intact, many of the others were destroyed by the Nazis trying to hide the evidence of the genocide. But in their haste to flee, most of the camp is still standing. The group saw a gas chamber, a crematorium, the barracks that on a 70 degree day and empty were almost too hot for just a few people, and so much more. The shoes.....all the shoes. We started the tour by a memorial, and although the memorial was moving, the amazing site was when a group from Israel came and they had an Israeli flag waving with them. Our group was captivated and uplifted by that image. But that high was shortly lived. As we walked the grounds, we could see apartments. As the city of Lublin grew, the homes have come right next to the camp. We saw a couple with a young girl on a scooter just cutting through the camp, a woman doing yoga, and every day lif...

We arrived in Warsaw after flying all night. We flew LOT Polish air, and it was a pretty smooth flight. The tour educator met us at the airport and we were off. First stop - McDonalds for lunch. I am serious. We were provided box lunches but Mc D's was the easiest place for us all to sit together. We then went on to the Jewish Cemetery. It was humbling to see the old graves, some in polish writing, some Hebrew or maybe Yiddish. I think what stood out the most was the mass burial of those who perished in the Warsaw ghetto. The guide said over 100,000 bodies were buried. This trip is so much about numbers. 6 million, 13,000 marchers, 30th anniversary for the March, 23 in our group, and so on. Yet, so few of these numbers can be comprehended - how can 100,000 bodies be in one large grave? How can we comprehend 1 million killed in one camp? Rabbi Jerry David and his wife Peggy co-chaired this trip. They were instrumental in planing an itinerary that was informative, but not overly de...

Tomorrow Chris and I leave for a trip we do not want to take, but we have to take. We are participating in the International March of the Living. We will tour Poland and see concentration camps, the Warsaw ghetto, and many other sites now famous and infamous from the Holocaust. This is the 30th anniv. of the March of the Living, we join over 13,000 students and adults from around the world who will march to say we remember, we will never forget. From our local community we are joined by 20 people. Opportunities like this make me thankful to work for Jewish Federation and live in this amazing community who trusts me to coordinate this experience. After the week in Poland, Chris and I will take a day away from the group and visit Breslau, where my father was born, now called Wroclaw and in Poland. The emotions are overwhelming. Thanks to my sister who visited Wroclaw we know where to go and will visit the grave of my great grandfather, and tour the synagogue where my grandfather was ...