Written by Elijah Kosta, Yallah! Israel 2024 participant
July 2, 2024
Today we visited Auschwitz II, or Birkenau. It was a very different experience from yesterday at Auschwitz I, yet it presented its own challenges.
Although the initial shock and anticipation of visiting a concentration camp had worn off slightly, today was really difficult since Birkenau was the main place of the Jewish story at Auschwitz, including a significant number of murders in its now-destroyed gas chambers.
One of the biggest moments of our tour for me was when we came to a small pond with four marble blocks in front. We learned that this pond was essentially a mass grave of Jews, whose ashes had been discarded into this pond.
As the rest of the group continued on, after taking pictures of the writing on the stones, it seemed to me that just walking away would be almost disrespectful. In that moment, I felt very insignificant, unable to do anything useful. So, I decided to place a flower from a nearby patch of grass at the foot of the “gravestone” to pay my respects.
While it still didn’t feel like enough, I realize that just being there and learning about this dark time in our history in the place where it happened is a big part of bringing a small form of justice to the victims. For as long as we keep the history alive l’dor v’dor, from generation to generation, we can continue to keep the memories of the victims as a blessing.
