Today is our last day in Poland. This means that it is also the day we will visit Auchwitz. When we departed this morning I could not have prepared myself. The shear amount of stuff that was stolen is incredible. I almost broke down in tears at the sight of the children's clothing, and the suitcases, many of which belonged to children younger than eight years old. Today was a day for mourning. I was unprepared to see the similarities between the holding/torture cells of the Holocaust and the slave trade out of Ghana. I was not expecting to see a crematorium or gas chamber and then walk through them. I could feel the emptiness in that place. I wondered how people felt walking in there and if they knew they were walking to their death. Chills ran through me.
As we made the switch to Birkenau, again I was shocked by the scale. So many barracks full of so many people. I was horrified to see the barracks for what they really were, stables. I was moved by Dr. Kellerman's question about where the Hungarian women were kept and then to see him looking out, knowing he has a connection there. I was almost brought to tears again while Dr. Kellerman prayed for his family and I cried when we all said Kaddish over the ash pits.
I am so grateful for this trip, for our work and for the new and deeper understanding I have of the Holocaust. I know that nothing will be able to compare to this experience. Going from where the Jewish community lived and worked, where their families were respectfully buried, to where they were senselessly murdered, was very difficult, but necessary. Those people have become my people, and I understand now that they very easily could be.
This trip has become my awakening and strengthening to change the world. I pray that God will keep my resolve strong as I go out and that I will never forget. As I share the story of this trip with my friends and family, I hope that they too will be changed and moved to make this world a better and safer place. I am thankful for all of my professors and guides on this trip. They have added meaning to the down time and have encouraged my growth, both as a student and as a spiritual being. I pray that God is with us all and using us all as active instruments of peace.
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