Video of our trip

Final Reflections & Thank You

Mrs. Wilson and I have been home just a little over two weeks and in those two weeks I have found myself reflecting on all we did, all we saw, and all we learned during our travels. I am so thankful for this experience and I do not know if I can truly express how much of an impact this trip had on me. It has taken me these two weeks to even muster the courage to open up our blog and actually read all of our postings. Reading my own words and those of Mrs. Wilson has had a surreal effect on me. I have been reliving some of our favorite moments, so I thought as my closing post, I would share some of those favorites with you.

Warsaw was my favorite surprise. I had no idea that I would be so taken with this hard working proud city. It was the perfect introduction to our trip. We were eager and ready for adventure in Warsaw and we attacked this city with an interest that didn't die out when we left.

Picture: My favorite symbol of the Warsaw Uprising


Prague was my favorite landscape. Prague is beautiful, simply beautiful. Everywhere we went looked like a postcard picture and Mrs. Wilson and I snapped photos non-stop. The city-scape was breathtaking in the early sunlight, the fading twilight, and the illuminating moonlight. One of our best nights was spent walking the Charles Bridge and listening to a trio of string players performing on a dock beside the bridge. Prague felt like home to me, but unlike any home I have ever known.

Picture: View from the Charles Bridge

Munich was my favorite educational experience. I learned so much in Munich about who Hitler was and who he became. Top five things I learned: Hitler was a postcard artist, Hitler was a vegetarian, Hitler escaped death on numerous occasions, Hitler hijacked an ambulance to escape the Munich government overthrow gone-bad, Hitler was afraid of fog (yes,fog!)

Picture: Beer Hall where Hitler started it all with his power of speech

Musée de l'Orangerie was my favorite museum (not related to Holocaust or World War II). In Paris, Mrs. Wilson dragged me to one last museum and I so debated skipping out on her and just sitting in a lovely green chair in the park alongside the museum. But I pulled myself together and followed her in to l'Orangerie, the museum where Monet donated his famous lily pad paintings. The first room you walk into has four lily pad paintings, one on each wall. They take up the whole wall and there is a sign asking people to use these rooms to reflect on their lives and to try to refrain from speaking. Mrs. Wilson and I did this; we sat in silence and looked around the room of lily pads and calm settled upon us. We also found one painting that we loved by Modigliani called Le Jeune Apprenti (Young Apprentice). When we saw this picture, I looked at Mrs. Wilson and said, " I think I know that boy." and she knew exactly what I meant. The young boy growing out of the arms of his jacket, the eyes half closed, the resting pose, the disengaged mood all spoke to us of students past, present, and future. We both purchased a postcard copy of this portrait, so stop by and have a look and see if you too know this boy!


PIcture Le Jeune Apprenti

And lastly, my favorite site is the most important site we visited: Auschwitz. Seeing Auschwitz/Auschwitz-Birkenau was an amazing moment in my life. I have said before on this blog that I was aware of the statistics of this site and I knew the calamity of it all, but seeing it and standing in that spot felt so much more real than I could ever have imagined. I know that being there will change the way I talk about our reading of Night. I always felt the book portrayed such an amazing balance of hope and despair. Seeing Auschwitz brought all of that to the surface for me. The hope of life coming from the ashes of destruction and the despair of knowing that such evil existed was difficult to ignore standing by the railroad tracks of Auschwitz. I hope that I can relate all of that to my students because in the words of Elie Wiesel, “Not to transmit an experience is to betray it.”

Picture:Remains of Auschwitz-Birkenau

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A special thanks to all of you who read our blog and especially to those of you who posted a comment, emailed us your thoughts, or called to let us know you were with us in our travels. It meant so much to me and Mrs. Wilson to hear that someone was reading our words. We chose to create the blog and update it as much as possible to benefit our students, but in actuality, we benefited the most. Writing our thoughts down and collecting photographs for the blog helped shape our memories. Knowing that you were out there reading our thoughts made us feel closer to home and we were so grateful to read someone else's views, as it got tiring listening only to ourselves. We wanted to take you all along with us on our journey and we hope we have accomplished that. Thank you for bearing with our spelling and grammar mistakes (ouch that hurts to say as your English teacher), but they were inevitable due to our late hours, busy schedule and lack of revising time. It is our hope that the blog will continue on with other Arrupe trips in the future, as well as being re-visited when 8th grade arrives at the point in our curriculum where reading this might help. Thank you again for reading and we hope you got as much out of it as we did.

A Good Way to End Our Trip

Pictured: Mrs. Wilson at the Eiffel Tower

Pictured: Hall of Mirrors where the Treaty of Versailles was signed.

Pictured: Ms. Guiney at Versailles

Pictured: Notre Dame

By Elise Wilson

In many ways our trip seemed to fly by and we did not feel that we had been traveling in Europe for a week and a half when we reached Paris. On the other hand, we were getting tired of packing up, taking a train, getting a new map of an unknown city, figuring out customs, etc. Warsaw seemed like the distant past. But here we were arriving in Paris relieved we would not have to take another train, and relieved that when we packed up our bags on the last day, it would be our last.

Paris is plain and simple a beautiful city. Buildings have these lovely little terraces or Juliette balconies strewn with flowers and plants. We arrived late at night and as we zoomed through the streets in our taxi, we caught a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower golden in the deep of darkness. The gardens throughout the city are charming with flowers of every variety. Paris wins for the best gardens out of all the cities we visited. I highly recommend walking through the Tuileries and take time to pull up one of their green chairs by a fountain or a perfectly composed flowerbed, and simply be.

Paris was a place on our trip where we took time to slow down and simply enjoy. We still packed in our days, but we found moments in parks or museums to revel in the moment. We were pleased to meet with Ms. Smith who is now a dean at BC High. She was visiting a friend in Paris and we were able to meet at a lovely bistro and relax. The next day we met with Mr. Kiely at the Eiffel Tower who was also exploring parts of Europe with one of his brothers. We exchanged stories and enjoyed some French food at some cafes. Mr. Kiely, his brother, and I all tried beef carpaccio which is thinly sliced raw beef. It was pretty good, though I can't say I would order it again.
Pictured: Mrs. Wilson, Mr. Kiely, and Ms. Guiney.

Out of all the cities we traveled to, Paris is the most diverse in pretty much every way, the people, the religions, clothing, types of shops, food, etc. You will find the mecca of high fashion contrasting with people begging on the streets outside their storefronts. Of course there is French food, but there is also a wealth of food from around the globe. Ms. Guiney and I made sure to go to a landmark bakery, Laudree, and their caramel macaroons are delectably divine. But we also meandered through unique shops in a center for artists along the canal where one can find all sorts of treasures.

Pictured: Duck Confit

We bought a museum pass which made Paris so much more enjoyable since one can wait in a ticket holder's line which is significantly shorter than the regular line. Ms. Guiney and I have learned that we do not do well with long lines. We get antsy and a long line can set a mood that will negatively affect how well we enjoy whatever we were waiting in line for. Crowds are a major issue in Paris. It really makes me think about how empty Warsaw and Krakow seem by comparison. There is almost constant bumping and nudging which leads to irritation and maybe even exasperation. We were dumbfounded by the audacity some people have of cutting the line and refusing to move even when it is pointed out by angered people in queues. The Louvre is a perfect example of how crowds can have a negative impact on one's experience. We spent several hours looking at all sorts of art, and of course we saw the Mona Lisa, but I was left uninspired. The crowds made the experience uncomfortable.


I suggested that we go to the Musee L'Orangerie known for its impressionist paintings. Ms. Guiney had reservations about yet another museum, but we both walked away liking this gem of a museum more than the Louvre and Musee D'Orsay. It is a modest size which helped me as I did not feel overwhelmed, and it focuses on the collection of one man who worked with and sold the art of Picasso, Monet, and Renoir, to name a few. This is a museum worth seeing in Paris and it was my unexpected jewel.

Pictured: L'Orangerie

Pictured: Our favorite painting from L'Orangerie by Amedeo Modigliani


My last surprise was the Arc de Triomphe. We went to the Eiffel Tower where we gazed at its famous design, but we did not go to the top of it. Instead we went to the top of the Arc de Triomphe which was included in our museum pass. One gets stunning views of the city and a spectacular view from up high of the Eiffel Tower.



I am glad we finished our trip in Paris as we were really able to reflect on our trip as a whole. It felt like a wonderful conclusion to a phenomenal experience.

Bonjour, Paris!

Mrs. Wilson and I arrived in Paris, France late last night via our very last train ride (which we were quite happy to say). In our first official day in this beautiful and lively city, we toured the Concierge or the "bed of justice" during the French Revolution which was famous for its executions. One particular prisoner executed here was Marie Antoinette. We saw the cell were she wrote her final thoughts, received communion, and awaited her punishment. We walked through the cells and we read of the horrible treatments of the prisoners, and it all just seemed ridiculous to me. Throughout our trip, we have seen horrific pictures and read haunting accounts of Polish prisoners of war, European Jews, Gypsies, and homosexuals who were all tortured by the Nazi regime, but this bizarre French prison just seemed crazy to me. The justice system pretended to a power it did not have and it all just left me angry. The French seemed chaotic in their regard to justice, but the Nazis were so calculated. I guess it all serves to remind us that power can be a truly dangerous thing in the hands of the wrong people. A favorite quote of mine by Abraham Lincoln sums this up nicely: “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.”


After the visit to this prison, Mrs. Wilson and I spent a good portion of our day in church! Much of our trip has been about balance. We have seen places of destruction and despair, but we have also seen amazingly beautiful sites that remind us why we are here and why we carry on, even with the sadness in our hearts. Many of these uplifting sites have been churches and today was no different. First we visited Saint Chapelle and saw some beautiful stain glass windows depicting the books of the Bible. Then we headed to the Notre Dame Cathederal of Paris. It is a massively beautiful church with so many arches, stain glass windows,paintings, statues, and side alters where we lit candles and said some final prayers of thanks for this wonderful trip.


Our final stop of the day was the Memorial de la Shoah. This is a Holocaust memorial dedicated to the the French Jews who were deported and killed by the Nazis. This was a very different museum/memorial for us as it was created by the Jewish community of France and not the government of a city we were visiting. The museum had a more emotional feel to it because of that, whereas other museums seemed more fact based. It was interesting for us to see this side of presenting the information. During our trip through Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, and now France. we have come at this topic from every possible angle and learned so much from each lens we tried on. I am soaking up the information from all our stops and hoping that I can use it all to deliver a better understanding of the people, places, and the times we read about in our novels of World War II and the Holocaust.

The Birthplace of the Third Reich Remembers Its History Well

By: Elise Wilson

We arrived in Munich on a rainy day and were happy to find that our hotel was right across the street from the train station. As weary travelers we found that this could not have been planned out better. This hotel wins for best view as one can look and see steeples and domes in the old town of Munich. This is what we were missing in Berlin.

As I mentioned before, Berlin is a modern city with a sprinkling of old monuments. Munich, on the other hand, looks more like old Europe with men walking the streets in lederhosen, and women in Bavarian dresses. Interestingly though about 90% of the city was destroyed after WWII, so most of the buildings have been rebuilt to look old, but are really relatively new.

Ms. Guiney and I went on a city walking tour of the Third Reich because Munich is the birthplace of the National Socialist Worker’s Party and it was Hitler’s favorite city. Our tour guide was very informative and had many anecdotal stories and details about the events which transpired from 1918-1933. As a history teacher I was familiar with all the events, but our charismatic tour guide brought the facts I knew to life. The famous beer hall putsch, for example, was far more engaging than I thought. There were many mishaps and ironic twists that I did not know. For example, Hitler’s plan was foiled because he forgot to lock the door containing the leaders of the Munich government. During the actual firefight 11 soldiers were standing about 20 feet from Hitler and they all fired. Not one bullet hit him as a bodyguard stood in the way! By the way, that body guard survived as well.

Pictured: The area where the putsch took place.

Aside from the stories about Hitler and the rise of the Third Reich, what also struck me were the diminutive memorials throughout the city remembering all those who were victims, including many Germans of the Nazis’ reign, and those who resisted the Nazis. Some resisted by refusing to walk down a road where they would be required to give the Nazi salute. This small act of resistance came at a high cost, one could end up in a camp for “re-education.”
Pictured: Bronze path to mark where resistors walked.

A more overt act of resistance was a students movement that produced leaflets informing the German people of the crimes the Nazis were committing. They suffered a horrible death of decapitation with axes, not a guillotine, when they were eventually caught, and there heads were plastered on the covers of newspapers throughout Germany warning what could happen if Germans did not follow the Nazis.

And this is what is important for me and all my students to keep in mind, that the Nazis used such terrorizing tactics on everyone, that many many Germans were also victims of the Nazis. Today Germans have to live with the guilt of about 12 years of their history. Our guide said that there are very few large memorials because one does not want to be faced everyday with such immense guilt that a large memorial will evoke. At the same time the Germans, unlike other countries deal with their history. Children as young as 6 start to learn about the Nazis, and throughout a child’s education in Munich, he will go to Dachau 3 times. Bavarian soldiers go to Dachau with an order to act for justice if the army ever asks them to go down this horrible road again. They want all of us to learn from their mistakes. Perhaps there are lessons for all of us not only of preventing atrocities like those committed by the Nazis, but also lessons on how we would deal with our own history.

Tempus fugit

Pictured: Monument to the White Rose Resistance -- the student martyrs.

Lessons in Germany

Our travels in Germany have been fast paced and very educational. My favorite stop in the city of Berlin was the museum called the Topography of Terror. It was an extremely informative museum with amazing pictures and details of how the SA & SS were formed and who they victimized. This museum provided me with the opportunity to look at the face of evil. For days, Mrs. Wilson and I have seen photos of the victims of the holocaust, but in Berlin this museum allowed us to see the instigators and inventors of torture. Another valuable lesson this museum gave me were the pictures and stories of those Germans who refused to fall in line with Hitler’s views for Germany. One such picture that both Mrs. Wilson and I spent a good deal of time admiring, was of a man surrounded by Germans doing their enthusiastic salute and shouting “Heil, Hitler.” This man, though, is not doing the routine salute of respect. Not only is this one man refusing to conform and participate, but he is crossing his arms expressing his clear disinterest and even disgust of this activity. Seeing this photo made me think about the millions of Germans who didn’t like Hitler’s politics and about those who were brave enough to stand up against him. It might not seem like much, but not saluting Hitler could have had serious repercussions for this man. If he was found out, his name could go on a list and he could be sent to a concentration camp to be “reeducated.” This photo and this man were inspirational to see and I am thankful for the reminder that Germans were victims of the Nazis as well.




Munich served to teach me similar lessons. Mrs. Wilson and I took a walking tour of Munich to see the sites of the Third Reich. It was a very interesting tour led by a very engaging man who really knew his history. His passion for the stories he told us and the sites he showed was contagious for us. I very much enjoyed learning about the White Rose resistance movement. White Rose Movement was young people writing leaflets trying to educate the German people about the extermination and torture of the prisoners in concentration camps (death camps). Our guide also pointed out a bronze walkway down a small side street. This was the path that Germans took to avoid walking by a wall at which they were required to “Heil, Hitler.” The SS men eventually caught on that people were avoiding the wall and they waited on that side street to viscously beat the resistors. After all this many resistors continued to walk down this side street and just as many were probably sent to concentration camps to be “reeducated.” These were brave people and I think it is sometimes hard to look at the Germans and think that they too were victims of Hitler and the Nazis. So many of them joined Hitler and there are numerous factual and emotional reasons why, but so many other Germans refused to follow him, refused to believe that he had Germany’s best interest at heart, and refused to allow him to take control of their lives, even if it meant their imminent death.




I enjoyed our trip to Germany very much and I feel that I have learned more of the truth behind who the German people really are and who they have become because of Hitler and the Nazis.

Berlin: A Modern City with a Long History

By Elise Wilson

Upon arriving in Berlin one is immediately struck when stepping off the train. The main station, Hauptbahnhof, is a huge complex made of glass. They boast that they are the premiere station in Europe, and so far I agree. This is a very modern looking city and our hotel is situated in the city’s busy shopping district, Kurfurstendamm. It sounds, smells, and looks much like New York City. After we arrived and settled into our hotel room, we meandered through Tiergarten which to me looks very much like Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. We stopped at the Soviet Memorial for WWII, the illuminated and almost magical Brandenburg Gate, the Memorial for European Jews who died in WWII, and the Reichstag. The Memorial for European Jews is large and stark, and as you weave your way through you cannot help but get an ominous feeling. It was annoying however to have adolescents playing hide and seek disrespectful of the people who are there to memorialize, and to the victims for whom the memorial was created.
Pictured: Soviet Memorial

Pictured: Brandenburg Gate with Ms. Wilson

Pictured: Memorial to European Jews

Among other things we went to the Topography of Terror, a museum on the grounds of the former Reich Security Main Office. In Poland and the Czech Republic we spent much time looking at the victims of the Nazis, but this was a look at the Nazis’ security force, and the tools and justifications they used to terrorize people and ultimately murder them. No excuses were ever made at this museum like people were “brainwashed” as many of my students come to my class thinking. Nevertheless, people who chose to commit acts knew what they were doing and their methods were meticulous, calculated, and frighteningly clever. For example, the Nazis required a company to produce a radio that was cheaper than anything else on the market so that Germans, or members of the Volk Community, could afford to purchase one inexpensively. This action increased the number of households with radios. The Nazis then put forth a tremendous effort to broadcast their propaganda via radio. I would highly recommend this museum to anyone traveling to Berlin, and it is free.

Pictured: Advertisement for cheap radio

Pictured: Topography of Terror Museum

Pictured: Covers of American periodicals exhibited.

Jesuit Churches -- They Keep Finding Us

By Elise Wilson

We had hoped to find at least one Jesuit church on our trip, but we just keep stumbling upon them. We first saw one in Warsaw which we quickly recognized because of the IHS emblazoned across the front of the church. It was a modest church right in the middle of the old town. We had found our Jesuit church!

A couple of days later, and after our horrendous train ride we arrived in Krakow. We were not planning on spending much time in the city itself as we wanted to concentrate our energies on Auschwitz. When we got back from Auschwitz and finished with the Schindler museum, we then decided to take a unique opportunity from our hotel. Our hotel was situated along the Vistula and they offered complimentary boat cruises. I had wanted to ride down a European river at some point, so we seized this opportunity. We thought the boat was a round trip on the Vistula, but to our pleasant surprise, the boat pulled over near Krakow’s old town and the driver said we could ride back to the hotel or get off here. We wondered around the old town and came across a towering old church. The twelve apostles graced the front of the church and we learned that it was St. Peter and Paul’s Church. We looked more closely at the facade and saw a figure with a book and inscribed was Ad Majoriam Dei Glorium, another Jesuit church. Organ music began to stream from the church doors so we decided to check it out. We saw a figure wearing green vestments at the altar and realized that a Mass was just beginning. We were wondering how we would attend Sunday Mass since we did not know what time churches had masses. This was truly providential! Even though we do not speak Polish, one of the beauties of a Catholic mass is that you can still follow along because it is so universal. The church was breathtakingly beautiful.

When we arrived in Prague we decided to see the Prague castle since that is what everyone does when they go there. When we were looking at the map to see which tram line we should take I noticed a church called St. Nicholas right on the way. We stopped in and paid a few crowns (Czech currency) and entered. As we were walking around looking at the opulent Baroque style of the church we saw many statues. At one of the side altars I recognized the figure of St. Ignatius. Could this be another Jesuit church? I looked around and sure enough I found that one of the statues that I had so quickly taken a picture of was St. Ignatius right on the main altar . I had never seen Ignatius portrayed in such a way. According to our guide he was slaying a hereza. (see picture)

The Jesuit influence in eastern Europe surprised me and Ms. Guiney. We cannot seem to escape the Jesuits, but at the same time, finding these churches made us feel like we were being watched over and protected.

Pax vobiscum

Terezin

Hitler and the powers that be sat down and discussed "final solution to the Jewish question" and their answer came in 1942 with the plans to "exterminate" the Jewish population of Europe. Terezin, an established Jewish ghetto about an hour from Prague in the Czeck Republic, became an integral part of that plan. Terezin started as a ghetto for elderly Jews (over 65), Jewish veterans from World War I, and artists that SS men felt would be of help in running the camp. However, as the "final solution" was implemented, Terezin became a sort of rest stop on the way to death camps that had not been completed for their deadly plans. Jewish transports from Germany, Austria, Holland, the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, Hungary, and Slovakia all spent time in the Terezin ghetto before being deported to concentration camps. Terezin originally housed around 12,000 Jewish inhabitants, but in the final push for "extermination" the walls of the Terezin ghetto contained up to almost 60,000 inhabitants, which caused numerous problems in sanitation and diseases. Terezin is most known for its appearances in propaganda films portraying Jews playing soccer, performing in a concert, and living "normal" lives. These films were made during a scheduled inspection from the Red Cross, during which the Red Cross saw only the "beautification" of this camp and not the reality.


Mrs. Wilson and I visited Terezin during our trip to Prague. It was about an hour bus ride from our hotel and we arrived just as the rain began. I thought it was an eerie coincidence that it rained during our trip to Auschwitz as well. It's true that the weather fit our mood here too. Terezin Museum is based out of what was once the home for boys, ages 10-15. Many of those in Terezin fought to keep their education and culture as a daily part of their lives. Teachers continued teaching, musicians continued performing, artists continued drawing, and the children of Terezin thrived because of them. Much of what is left behind in Terezin is the work of the children. Their artwork, their performances in plays, their published literary magazine, and the palpable hope in all of this for them to one day be free. Unfortunately, along with most of those interned at Terezin, the children too were deported to death camps and perished there. We learned that most of the inhabitants of Terezin were deported to Auschwitz, the deadliest of the camps. We looked at so many pictures of these children, we read their words and looked at their drawings, and I was struck with how much talent these children had and what beautiful things they might have accomplished, if only they had been allowed to live. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the walls of Terezin, but I will remember the faces of the children the most.

The Beauty of Prague

Prague

Today we spent our last day in Prague. It is an absolutely beautiful city with amazing views from every vantage point. Mrs. Wilson couldn't stop taking pictures and I just walked around in awe!


Our first day here we walked around Old Town and visited Prague Castle which is the oldest medieval castle in the world and has the most amazing view of the Prague out almost every window. I have to say that while I liked walking around the castle, I much more prefer to see it from a distant in the back-drop of Prague. It looks so impressive taking up the skyline.




That first day we also found St. Nicholas's church- a Jesuit church. We have found so many Jesuit churches or I guess I should say they have found us! (I will have to elaborate later on that) As for St. Nicholas's- it is an extremely ornate church with so much to see and even with so many tourists running about snapping pictures, it is able to hold it's holy ground and remain foremost a place of prayer. We found one alter dedicated to St. Ignatius and spent time here taking photos, saying a prayer, and thinking of our BC high connections to a place so far away from Morrissey Blvd.




The last place we spent a good deal of time at was the ghetto/camp at Terezin, which is about an hour from Prague. I need a little more time to put my thoughts together on this moving memorial, but will blog later about what we learned there.

All in all, I am sad to leave Prague. It has been a magical place to discover. Mrs. Wilson and I wandered up and down streets, alleys and of course, the Charles Bridge. It has been a wonderful part of our trip.

Surprise in Krakow

A surprise for us in Krakow was the Schindler Museum which was only a couple of blocks from our hotel. The purpose of the museum was to show the history of Krakow during WWII. This museum was amazingly well executed as it was highly visual and interactive. As a whole Poland has AMAZING museums. Like the Warsaw Uprising Museum you can see the pride the Polish have of their history. I learned a lot about life under the Nazis. The Poles were looked down upon as a whole and the Germans made every effort to eiradicate Polish customs and culture. Everything was Germanized, and one way the Poles resisted was through educating its people in secret about Polish culture. But Jewish Poles had the worst of it. One thing that struck me at the museum was one account of the building of the Krakow ghetto. On Passover, a time when Jews celebrate their ancestors' freedom from the Egyptians, the Nazis started to build the ghetto walls imprisoning them. Additionally, the walls were formed in the shapes of graves as a foresight to their futures.

Overall this museum was a pleasant surprise as I was not impressed with the city which looked run down. Thanks goodness we went to the old town after the Schindler museum because that was charming and in the end, Krakow was a good place to visit.

Overwhelmed at Auschwitz-Birkenau

Our trip to Auschwitz and Birkenau was so important for me to do as a social studies teacher who teaches about the Holocaust. One can read facts and figures in a book, and one can even read stories from witnesses, but until one sees the fences and walks the grounds one cannot truly connect to the history. I walked away from these camps with a better understanding of how the camps were run. The kids always have questions about how the camps worked, what happened there, and what they looked like. Well, I feel I can better answer their questions and bring them my experience as well. We saw Auschwitz I which was a concentration camp where prisoners there worked outside the camp, but there were also medical experiments, firing squads, and the first gas chamber and crematorium. Then we went to Auschwitz II-Birkenau. This camp stirred some strong emotions. The immensity of the camp was astonishing. The shear size was impressive, I had no idea how large the camp was and it was overwhelming. Again I probably had read the figures, but to see how expansive it is, how small you feel standing there, and then realizing how many people it could accomodate makes you realize how much devastation and destrcution occured. The conditions there were worse than Auschwitz I. The barracks are wooden structures that were crammed full of people waiting to die. Everything was so well planned out by Himmler, that it frightens me that humans can do this to other humans. I cannot fathom what it must have been like to be awaiting your fate there. I pray that we have grown as humans, but then I return to the hotel room and watch CNN or BBC, and I wonder if we have. I will continue to pray and teach because it is so important for my students to learn how important it is to love each other as human beings.

Beware of Polish Trains --Slice of Life

For those of you who are familiar with our Writing Workshop last year we wrote slices of life. This is my slice of life on a Polish train. (This is why it is longer than a normal blog entry.)

Beware when riding Polish trains! Our train ride from Warsaw to Krakow could have only been made worse if we had had our luggage stolen. We rushed to the railway station in Warsaw planning to take the 2:15 train to Krakow only to find ourselves stuck at a ticket window with a woman who spoke no English. She told us we could not take the 2:15. Were there no more tickets? Was the train cancelled? Did we read the timetable incorrectly? Did she know what we wanted to do? Clearly irritated by us she barked at us to go to the international window up the stairs. As we ascended the staircase we were enveloped by many different ticket windows and Polish words. Our eyes darted everywhere as we searched for an international window but we could not see one clearly labeled. We saw an information line and proceeded to get in what we thought was the line, but after a while we realized we were not actually in the line. We then spotted a sign that had in English “Information” so I went over and tried to ask the people in line if this place will help us to buy tickets. I got no where with that. We resigned ourselves to taking a later train and found another ticket line and after a few minutes, finally I spotted the long international line which the lady told us to go to. We waited there for a while and some men who also spoke English asked us if this was the right line to buy tickets to Krakow. We told them we were not sure, but that we were also looking to go to Krakow. They continued to ask others and we followed them with our attentive eyes and ears hoping to catch a bit of information. They found a Polish woman who spoke English and she said that this line was only if you were going out of the country. They caught our eyes and told us to change lines. The men left and we asked the woman why the other ticket lady would send us to this line when she knew we were going to Krakow. She guessed it was because the woman thought that these ticket sellers would speak English.

Confused and filled with trepidation that we would not get a ticket, we decided to go back to the original ticket line and try to buy a ticket for 3:15. The Polish lady volunteered to come with us and aid in purchasing the tickets. We told her that was too much trouble on her part, but she insisted. We descended the stairs and got back in line. When we approached the window, this time with a different woman, the Polish savior did all of our talking, and then we had to pay. Of course they only take cash and we did not have that much on us. I raced to the ATM which was about 20 feet away and got 200 zlotys. I came back to the window to confirm a 3:15 train to Krakow. We got our tickets, thanked the Polish lady who gave up her time to help us and went back up to wait for our train.

We sat down finally feeling more at ease. But when we looked at our tickets, it looked as though our departure time was for 5:15 not 3:15. In despair I left Ms. Guiney with our bags and went back down to the ticket line and got to the window with the original ticket lady. I wrote on a slip of paper Departure 15:15? I wrote departure in Polish, or at least what I thought was Polish based on what was on the ticket, and she shook her head. She then proceeded to put the tickets through a machine, stamp them, take out new tickets, she had me sign something, and then she handed back tickets along with 111 zlotys. Why was I getting money back? Did she understand me? “15:15 to Krakow?” I asked. She nodded. “Receipt?” She shook her head, and I left.

So I went eagerly back to Ms. Guiney and we surveyed the tickets. Where was the departure time? What platform were we supposed to go to? We looked at each other with desperate looks in our eyes. I then heard a man speaking to his family in English with an American accent. I asked him if he knew how to read the ticket and he gladly tried to help us. Another man who spoke English also came to our group to see if he could help. In the end none of us could figure out the ticket. Then the American man took out his notebook and wrote out in Polish what we should ask the lady at the information window. It turns out he is a professor from Ohio and was here in Poland for two years doing research. I waited in line at the info booth, and handed over the message to the lady, and she told us our platform.

At the appropriate time we headed to our platform and asked 3 people if this was the train to Krakow. Well, it was more like pointing to a track and saying, “Krakow?” The train arrived and there was a mad rush to the doors. We each were carrying suitcases that weighed at least 40lbs and small bags, and purses. People kept squeezing by us. We turned into the first car and it was the dining car, so we kept going, but people stopped all of a sudden in front of us. We looked around and soon realized to our chagrin that the train was full and there were no more seats! The train was hot and we were standing with all of our luggage in a small space right at the doors between cars. In the end we ended up standing or sitting on the floor for 3 hours. We could not eat, rest, read, nothing. It was the worst train ride we could imagine. We asked each other what we could have done to avoid this, but there was nothing. So, when traveling in Poland, beware of the trains, and rush to the doors when the train arrives so that you get a seat.

Auschwitz

My desire for this trip started with last year’s 8th grade class. As we began reading the Elie Wiesel’s autobiography Night, these particular students bombarded me with questions. As this was only my second year teaching this book, and I can in no way say that I know it in the way that I know To Kill a Mockingbird, their questions made me anxious. Each day we would read a little and then the questions would begin.

“What did Auschwitz look like? How big was it? Were there just Jews in concentration camps? Did the people in surrounding towns know about these camps? Why did they get on those trains? Why didn’t the inmates try to escape the camps? What did they eat? Where did the sleep? Did Hitler ever come to Auschwitz? What happened after they survived? After they died?”

Each day had me on edge, I knew some of these answers, but many more that I did not. I also knew that my vague answers were not good enough for the boys. They wanted so much from me and from our unit of study that I needed a way to get it to them. I did so much research and reading in the last year about Auschwitz-Birkenau (where Elie and his family are sent), but mainly what I needed was a visual. The boys didn’t want to hear me say, “Auschwitz was located 30 km from the city of Krakow...” They wanted to see it! I found some great websites that gave us interactive maps showing how large Auschwitz, Auschwitz-Birkenau, and Auschwitz-Monowitz were (Auschwitz, though commonly referred to as one camp, was actually separated into three camps- Elie Wiesel spent time in all three sections). I was so proud of myself for finding these maps and photos, but when class was over there was still this sense of something missing. They hadn’t gotten their fill of information; they wanted (no-needed) more. But how do I get more? How much more reading can I do? So when Mrs. Wilson and I heard about the Winchenbaugh grant generously donated to teachers looking to travel to enhance their curriculum, we knew that a trip to Europe studying sites of the Holocaust and World War II would greatly benefit both ourselves and our students.

Yesterday, that desire became a reality, as Mrs. Wilson and I toured the death camp, Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau. The Nazis destroyed much of the Auschwitz section when they heard troops were coming in, so much of it was burned to the ground, in hopes of concealing their deeds. The Auschwitz museum has built replicas in its place, but used the artifacts that could not be concealed. The Nazis burned many of the records of those kept at Auschwitz, yet they did not destroy the luggage with the names of the victims, the millions of shoes (both adult and children), or the pounds of human hair the Allied armies found in storage bags. All of this was on display in the replicas of bunkers. We saw the infamous bunker 11 where the Nazis perfected their use of Zyclon B- later used to gas the one-million Jews that died at Auschwitz-Birkenau. We saw cell 18 in Bunker 11, where Fr. Maxmillian Kolbe was sent to die of starvation in a retaliation punishment. Some of you know his story- he offered himself to the Nazis for this punishment in place of a Polish man who cried when they started to take him. Fr. Kolbe bravely took his place, and lasted 14 days without food or water. The SS men were tired of waiting for him to die and gave him a lethal injection to the heart-later claiming he died of a heart attack. In his cell, Pope John Paul placed a candle (one of four he placed in the country of Poland). We also saw the gallows where many inmates were hanged for trying to escape, or for taking extra food, or simply used as a reminder for other inmates to “behave.” The same can be said for the wall of execution, where the SS men took the inmates from bunker 11 and shot them in the head. The inmates were lined up and brought out one by one to the wall. From there we went to see the gas chamber and first crematorium used on the site of Auschwitz. Because the room was small and there were only three ovens in the crematorium, they could only kill about 300 inmates a day. That upped the need for a more efficient way of killing for the Nazis and so they created a mass killing center at Auschwitz-Birkenau (camp 2).

When we arrived at Birkenau, the first thing to see is the railroad that goes nowhere. It was all a trick to get the Jews to think they were at a checkpoint before going on to Krakow, their final destination. However, this was their final destination. Mrs. Wilson and I saw yesterday, the spot where SS men forced the Jews to disembark their train cars and line up for selection. Some were sent left, some were sent right. Some lived and some died. What struck both of us the most at Birkenau was the sheer mass of the site. I have read the dimensions, I have calculated the number of deaths, I have seen the pictures of huddled inmates, but I was still unprepared for the blocks of barracks that went on for what seemed like forever. There are only 22 barracks left standing, but hundreds of chimneys (for a heating system that wouldn’t work, but looked good to the Red Cross) left that showed where more bunkers once stood. It was an amazing site to behold.


I am still anxious about the questions that I will get this year when I read Night with my new set of 8th graders, but I can provide so much more than pictures, maps and statistics now. For now: I have walked the dirt road of those who suffered, I have touched the walls where they once leaned, and I have prayed where they once prayed. I know I speak for both Mrs. Wilson and myself, when I tell you that seeing this place has changed us, as teachers and as human-beings. I feel so grateful to be here to bear witness to such a place.