On November 14th, 2017, Kitat Maayan went to the first concentration camp of our Poland Masa. It was meaningful beyond compare, and helped everyone grasp the holocaust in a new way.
We started off the day in Lublin to see what the jewish quarter was pre-war. The jewish quarter and the rest of Lublin was separated by the Grodzka Gate, also known as the Jewish Gate. Jews of the time lived outside the gate, right across from the Lublin castle, and they generally lived in nicer houses than those on the other side of the gate.
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| A View of The Old Jewish Quarter |
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| A View of the other side of the gate |
We then went to a museum which is actually located inside of the gate, right where the Jewish world and the Polish world meet. The museum, which is also a theatre, is dedicated to the jewish population of Lublin which was lost in the Holocaust, and educates people about the vibrant community that once was. It is called the No Name Museum, which I think fits a great deal with their goal. Inside the museum, there is a collection of photos, folders and biographies written about the jews of the Jewish District. There folders for each building that was destroyed, but even more meaningful there are folders for every person living in the Jewish District pre-war. There are 43,000 folders, some with just names or even just pictures. Something which I personally thought was beautiful is that they also have around 20,000 empty folders as a silent reminder that although people might not have physically left anything to be remembered by, they still are kept in mind. There are about 300 biographies about these people, which is almost a surprisingly large number when you keep in mind how hard it is to find information about these people even though the museum has had a team searching for information for the past 20 years.
As much as I liked the folders, there was something exceedingly special about the collection of photos they had in the Museum. You could see the thriving community that once was, and it was a truly bittersweet moment to remember them.
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| The Walls of Folders |
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An Example of the Type of Photos
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After we were guided through the museum, the classes got to see a special treat. A play was put on for us that involved songs and multiple jewish stories. The first and last songs were especially beautiful as they were sung in Yiddish. It is worth mentioning that the entire museum, including the people that perform in the theatre, are Polish. The words of the play were in Polish as well, but there were thankfully subtitles in english. My favorite was a story about two leaves in love, named Trufa and Ole. One of the lines from that story is "Gods creatures know that death is merely a phase of life", because although it will never justify the killing of people before their time, it helps people after other's death or could even comfort them before.
Our class then went to Majdanek. For many of us, it was our first time seeing a concentration camp in person. It is the thing of horrors from our Social Studies classes, jewish studies and more, and it was was almost unreal to see it in person. One of the most unnerving things about it was how it, from an outside perspective of someone who knows nothing about it, could seem almost peaceful and beautiful. As we walked in wrapped in our Israeli flags, I know we all felt thankful to be jewish and free in the way we are today, and even for the opportunity to learn about these tragedies. We followed the testimony of Halina Birnbaum from her book Hope Is the Last to Die. This made the experience much more intense, as we heard her experience as well as her family's where they actually happened. We learned about how cruel Nazis were, even more so than I had understood before, and where one might want to sleep in the barracks- despite there being no ideal place. Nothing was even close to ideal in this place of horrors, but despite this, the jewish people found ways to carry out acts of uberleben (surviving/surviving higher).
An act of uberleben meant finding the will to survive in a place that was meant to kill you, or even just being a friend. We learned about what it means to find or be a friend in a place like this by Halina's description of her sister-in-law. We talked about how for many of the jews that died there, there is no memorial for them. Even tombstones of jewish people that once existed were broken up and used as walkways, simply to torment the jewish people. So, when the jews were ordered to build a monument to support the third Reich in Majdanek, they secretly collected ashes from the crematorium and put them in the base. That way, whenever they walked past and had to salute the statue, they were actually paying their respects to their loved ones.
When we had walked through a majority of the camp, we got to a memorial which the Soviets built after liberating the camp. It was a large stone memorial with a place in the center for as many ashes as they could get, as a final resting place for many of the jews that died there. The class had a ceremony there, and it was a beautiful thing to get to practice our Judaism so openly and connected to one another in a place where it was once impossible. Overall, the day was emotionally straining but we came out of it with a deeper understanding of what it meant to be jewish, and how we must take advantage of our personal freedoms today. Although everyone took something different out of this day, I took from it that I must never forget to express my Judaism the way I want to, as I have the freedom which so many people did not. I must also use my voice to advocate for people's freedoms in the way people didn't for the jews of the past.
What did you take away from this experience, and do you believe that you have a personal responsibility to educate people about the horrors of the holocaust now that we have a first hand experience of the camps? Also, what did you think about the Poles running the NN museum and theatre?
Madjonek was where I made my first personal connection to the Holocaust. I do not have any survivors in the family, I am pretty sure we were already in America at the time. The first time I learned that I even had family from Europe around the time of the Holocaust was when we asked for family names to look out for on the trip. I was overwhelmed by the ashes and bones in the memorial, and that is where it all truly hit me, something I will never forget. I love how the NN museum in running in Poland, despite the few number of Jews living there today.
ReplyDeleteWhen I got to Majdonek the first thing I thought about which couldn't escape my mind was that it was literally in the middle of a city! I could see buildings from it which made me really confused... how could someone just live by that. Also there was a christian graveyard next to it which means people must have gone there to visit graves... and they would be driving/walking past the camp, I thought that was pretty ironic. I do think it is my job to educate people on the holocaust because personally, I feel like I knew nothing about it before (when I think about it now) Also no one has ever denied the holocaust to me but now if they ever tried I would have a lot more to say to them.
ReplyDeleteI thought that Majdonek was interesting. I really liked being able to see where the events I have learned about for so long. It was very weird being there because I couldn't imagine what happened even though I saw the real things. I think that I would teach people about it if it came up but I wouldn't go up to someone and be like OMG you know this about the holocaust?1?!?!? I thought that the museum was cool. I really like the files of the people living in the community. I didn't like the play I found it really hard to pay attention to. It made me happy that there is a place to remember the community in Poland despite the very small amount of Jews now.
ReplyDeletemajonek was where I first got to see first-hand what had happened during the Shoah. It was much more than I thought it would be almost too much to handle. I was shaking at some points. Whoever persevered majonek did a good job and as hard as it was to see, im glad that I was able to.
ReplyDeleteYes I honk it is in some part our responsibility to educate Americans on the girls of the holocaust and really prove and show them all of the gory details that occurred.
I really liked he museum and theater in Lublin, I’m glad Christians are commerating all the Jew that once made there community so special
Majdenek was the first tangible contact I've ever had with the Holocaust and that means a lot to me. To be there, in the footsteps of thousands of people who didn't get the right to live, is unimaginable. I don't have the words. For me, to be educated and to educate others about the Holocaust is a duty. It's a duty for me as a Jew and as a human being.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the NN museum in Lublin was quite possibly my favorite place we could have visited. To know there are people who feel the gap of having no Jews shows me that we are not forgotten, that we are valued, and the millions who died in the Holocaust are being remembered even if they don't have a family to be remembered by
I'm not sure that I can fully explain some of the things I took away from Majdenek. I never would have been able to reach the understanding of the horrors and the feelings that come with learning about the Shoah with out going to Majdenek and the other concentration and death camps. Most people only learn a number of the innocent Jews who died at the hands of Hitler and the Nazis and most never have an experience such as ours. However, to stand in the place were thousands of individuals were locked in a room full of gas and were suffocated, or to stand before the ashes of those murdered by the Nazis is something I will never forget.
ReplyDeleteTo see the NN museum and knowing that it is the Poles who created and are running it was very powerful to me. My biggest take away from our Poland Masa as a whole is the importance of teaching everyone about the Holocaust, not just providing those who are Jewish a full story of the horrors that happened. I think because they were not Jewish says a lot about other people wanting to inform the world about what happened in the Holocaust.
It was an incredible experience, and I feel after it I have to offer my unique perspective of the holocaust to others. While most non - Jewish people learn about the holocaust solely in an educational setting like a classroom, I have the perspective of someone how has visited the sites and experienced the human emotion aspects in a Jewish way.
ReplyDeleteThe people running the museum in the theater were amazing. The concept of devoting your work and studies to an entirely different culture than your own is something I had never thought of before. It was surreal, but in a good way to see the caring of the workers and the actor.
I think is a responsibility of the educated world to inform people on the horrors of the Holocaust. I believe that this could prevent another genocide since people are disturbed by the systematic murder that occurred during the Shoah. Also, I think it is very reasonable for the Poles to run a museum based on the history of their city. They feel that they have an obligation to remember the community that was destroyed and I think that is very special.
ReplyDeleteAs a Jew and as a human being I think I do have a responsibility to educate people about the Holocaust even if I hadn't been to concentration camps, but now that I've been there my responsibility is even higher.
ReplyDeleteI have only respect for the Poles running the NN museum. It shows how non-Jews also have to know and educate others about the Holocaust because they were also involved in it even though they weren't the victims. Those people have a lot of passion for what they are doing and I find it absolutely incredible.
As awful as Majdanek was, there was such a disconnect between what I saw and what I knew had happened that I found it difficult to grasp the enormity of what I was witnessing. In Lublin, On the bridge from the Palace to the gate, overlooking the market square and the park, there was a lone street light. I'll never forget that light. It stood there, in the middle of what was once an entire Jewish community, and now it's alone in a silent park. I found it really beautiful that the Poles put that up there and that they've started that museum. It really goes to show how much of an impact the holocaust has on the world, even 70 years later on non Jews.
ReplyDeleteIn my eyes, it is my personal responsibility to educate people about the horrors of the holocaust. Teaching people about these horrible things is the only way to prevent them. Genocide is not a thing of the past. It still occurs in the modern day. About the Poles running the museum. I was extremely touched to see the connection the Pole’s at the museum felt they had to the Jews living in their community. They described it as a piece of their community and a piece of their town was lost. This was heartbreaking to me. They felt that the Jews were apart of their own culture and when they disappeared it hurt them. They are taking on a huge responsibility by educating the public of the great injustices severd in the holocaust.
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