I found visiting Poland to be a very important part of my summer experience. There was the expected, the emotions, sadness, pain, and frustration when visiting the main sights, Auschwitz, and the Warsaw Ghetto. I also learned a lot in Poland that I did not expect. I had no idea how vibrant a Jewish life in Poland had been before the Holocaust. I didn’t know that almost half of the Jews killed were Polish Jews, or that it was 10% of the Polish population.
The things we saw all meant different things to different people and hurt in different ways. When visiting Auschwitz, there is one room that plays videos of Jewish life around the world before the war. There was one clip in particular that showed a group of kids, around my age, singing in Hebrew and dancing with each other. I can imagine myself doing that exact thing today. Those kids were just like us. They are not some novelty or a story in a textbook; they were normal Jews gaining joy from the same things I get joy from. It so quickly personified the story and the number that feels so large. I can’t imagine six million people, but u can imagine a group of teens.
This was a theme for me throughout our time in Poland. I think it is so easy to get lost in the extremes of the Holocaust and take yourself out it. Standing at a mass grave of 800 children in the middle of the woods, seeing the tiny barrack of where 600 people would have had to sleep, walking around where the Warsaw ghetto would have stood, watching a clip of children playing, these things personalize the tragedy. It is impossible to grasp the vast extent of the horrors that occurred. However, you can attempt to grasp the story of those 800 children, or 400,000 Jews in the Warsaw ghetto. It’s far easier to imagine Jews in Auschwitz when you are standing on the path they took to the gas chambers or walking under the “work sets you free” sign. Poland helped make a story I learned about in school real. It made the unimaginable slightly more imaginable.
I also found going from Poland to Israel to be very powerful. We saw exactly why Israel is so fundamental to us as Jews in Poland, and then we got to actually go and experience that place. We learned about Jews having to wear stars on their chests to ostracize them, then we went to the only place in the world where the basic assumption is that everyone is a Jew.
I have been to Israel many times before this trip because I have family there, but it had been almost 6 years since my last visit. Before this trip, I heard stories of how landing at Ben Gurion is such a spiritual experience. I never expected to have that experience landing because I have been so many times. But it was powerful for me. I think I would have felt it either way, as now I truly understand what this place is in a way I didn’t when I was younger, and because of the rise in antisemitism, but I know without coming from Poland, it would not have been as meaningful.
Going from Poland, where millions died for nothing more than believing in the things I believe in, to landing in a country that is built for people with those same beliefs was such a powerful moment. I felt a sense of pride and happiness in myself and the people around me in a way I never experienced before. Israel’s existence is incredibly important, regardless of the Holocaust. Having that history, emotions, and stories fresh in mind made the importance of landing in a Jewish state more real for me
Experiencing Poland, the Holocaust memorials, and the memory of Jewish life there before the Holocaust is an incredibly powerful experience. It allowed me to try and process what I was seeing in a deeply personal way. I was able to see the horrors firsthand and learn more about the history of the Jewish people. Going with my camp friends, the biggest group of people who are Jewish I know, and situating that trip with a trip to the Jewish Homeland, made me so much more thankful for this experience. The week I spent in Poland was certainly difficult and emotionally draining, but it was also a fundamental part of my summer. I am very grateful for what I saw there, and am also incredibly grateful for my experiences in Israel and the community I have had for it all.
Eden R
