Krakow, Poland

After our weekend field trip to Poland I am left with many tough emotions to understand. Some of our field trips are focused on historical landmarks, some are focused on fun, but our trip to Poland was focused solely around the history of WWll and the emotions that come with it. This blog might be a bit of a downer, but it is so very important to learn about what the Jews went through, and just how horrible human beings were to other human beings. I have never felt such a deep heartbreak for other people. We got the opportunity to visit the Salt Mine, Schindler’s Factory, and Auschwitz and Auschwitz- Birkenau.

Going to the Salt Mine, was a nice & emotionally easy start to the weekend. There used to be a Mayan sea, in place of the salt mine. Over time the sea was no longer there due to evaporation. Then, with the moving of the tectonic plates, the salt was more accessible for miners. There is 9 levels to the massive salt mine, with about 2,000 chambers. We went on a 2 hour tour of the mine and only saw 1% of the whole mine!! Our tour guide told us that they have around 1.7 million visitors per year and about 9,000 per day! During the time period where the most mining was done they had about 1,500 workers, with only 10% of those miners suffering from injuries, which seemed like an extremely small amount to me given the dangerous working conditions. The part that I found most interesting was that the air down in the mine has no pollution and lots of minerals in it, therefore the horses used in the mines, and the workers tended to live longer than the average person! Overall, the mine was a fun experience however, I would never be able to work hundreds of feet underground every day and I admire every single worker who did!

Sunday we made our way to Schindler’s factory, which was not at all what I was expecting it to be. I had seen the movie Schindler’s list prior to going and I had envisioned the factory in the movie to be what we were going to see. They have made an entire museum showcasing the timeline of the entire war, and also showing Oskar Schindler’s involvement. It was much more in depth than I had thought it would be and I really enjoyed learning so much about the timeline of the war and how the brutality and violence progressively got worse and worse. There were many quotes throughout the museum that really tugged at my heartstrings and made me think about what life would have been like back then for a Jew. At the end of the factory there is a quote that says, “He who saves one life saves the world entire” It goes on to explain that what Oskar Schindler did during the war, saved so many more people than the 1,200 he is known for saving. Each of those 1,200 people went on to have kids, and grandkids, and more generations that never would have been possible had he not saved the people that he did, which to me is very powerful.

Our last stop before we left Poland on Monday was Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau. I had assumed this would be a very emotional experience and very tough to see but I had not realized just how much this trip would impact me mentally and emotionally. If you have been to a concentration camp you understand the incredibly somber ambiance that covers the entirety of the camp. We walked through various bunkers where prisoners had stayed, that have now been made into museums. One museum was filled with items that were taken from the Jews upon arrival of the camp, or before they were killed. We entered a room that had a giant glass showcase, the size of 2 normal classrooms put together, completely filled with hair that had been cut off the prisoner’s heads…can you even imagine… not only do they take your clothes, jewelry, shoes, and anything else you may own but your hair? Other rooms were filled with all the shoes taken away from them, children’s clothes, glasses, and pots and pans. Before coming to these camps, they were under the impression they would have a decent life here and be able to cook for their families, and their worlds were completely turned upside down upon arrival. I have never felt more anger in the pit of my stomach than when walking through those rooms with the hair and shoes. How in the hell can one human being tell another human being they are not worthy of these things, they don’t deserve to live a life like the rest of us. It made me sick to my stomach to think of all of the innocent and good people who deserved nothing more than a free and happy life and yet they were treated so so horribly.

As we walked through the hallways there were pictures on the wall showing some of the prisoners and listing off when they arrived and when they died, and what their occupations before the concentration camps were. One lady named Eugenia Smoleńska, was a chemical engineer before the war. She was a smart, educated, and capable woman and yet she was treated like an animal because she was a Jew? I still do not understand and I don’t think I ever will, how the idea that “Jews are bad” ever became a thing. Did Hitler just wake up one day and decide that? It seems so random to me. These people had no control over this, if I was born into a Jewish family, odds are I would be Jewish too. I just cannot wrap my head around the fact that this group of people was targeted so violently and harshly for absolutely no reason.

On our tour we went and saw the “Death Wall” where thousands of prisoners were shot. We also went inside the gas chamber and crematorium and if that isn’t the most morbid thing I will ever feel in my life I’m not sure what is. Knowing that I was standing in a room where thousands of innocent mothers, daughters, fathers, brothers, grandparents, etc. were killed instantly brought me to tears. Our tour guide told us that over a 2 month time period, 400,000 Hungarian Jews were killed. That is thousands of parents that will never get to see their kids again. Thousands of children who will never get to grow up and find their place in this world. Thousands of grandparents who worked so hard to make a life for their families just to have it all taken away from them. The number itself is heartbreaking, but the stories behind the number are absolutely devastating to think about what could have been for those people.

We went into the children’s bunkers where there were 3 layers of brick or wood that they slept on. They didn’t have access to a bathroom so they would just soil themselves so often times if you were in the middle or bottom bunk, you would have urine and feces dripping down on you every night. The children didn’t get to be with their families, all they had was each other. I could not even imagine being a mother and having my kids taken away from, let alone be tortured and killed.

“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it”

This incredibly powerful quote helps us to remember that the Nazi’s and everyone involved in the mass murders of the Jews, were human beings just like you and I. As our tour guide said, “They aren’t from a different planet, they’re from the same Earth as us.” I think a lot of people look back on the Holocaust and say how horrible the Nazi’s were and yes that is 100% true however if we don’t educate ourselves and the people around us, on a deeper level than what you learn in high school history class, history will repeat itself. If this happened once, it can happen again, and it is our job to learn about it and understand just how tragic those years were and to ensure that the human race never lets something like this happen again. There is a memorial at Auschwitz- Birkenau that says it best,

“Forever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity, where the Nazi’s murdered about one and a half million men, women, and children, mainly Jews from various countries of Europe."

I still am trying to process everything I saw and learned on this tour. It is a lot to take in and very hard to look at and listen too, but yet very very important. My hope is that the world as a whole can come together and recognize the lack of love and compassion in WWll and realize that if we don’t want history to repeat itself we must learn to be kind to all races, understanding to all religions, and compassionate towards ALL human beings.