Journey of a Lifetime
About two months ago I boarded a flight from JFK airport and left the comfort of home. The plane landed 10 hours later and I stepped into a gray country that immediately seemed different from New Jersey. I was finally in Poland on The March of the Living, a trip that I had been looking forward to for years.
The first thing we did was walk around Krakow. I saw where Jewish life strived and where an attempt was made to end it just across town. I walked with a survivor who had been in the Plaszow concentration camp located in Krakow and visited the camp for the first time this year. While walking through town, holding my hand, she told me that each time she comes back to the camps and tells her story it is a part of the healing process and that each time she speaks about her experiences it helps her cope with them a little more. The next day, I walked from Auschwitz to the extermination camp Birkenau, the same death march the Jewish “prisoners” took about 70 years ago.
There was only one difference. I was there in celebration. I was there with at least 15,000 other people on the March of the Living. People from Canada, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, United States, and many other places. We were there to see what was left. We were there so we can become a witness to the atrocities of the Nazis during the Holocaust.
We all became witnesses. Witnesses to the actions that can never happen again. We became a part of the history. We can stand up and say that the Holocaust did happen. We can show the pictures we took. Not just me. Not just the 200 American teens that I was with. All 15,000+ people who participated in the March of the Living.
All 15,000 of us were in Birkenau following the walk from Auschwitz. There was a ceremony being held by The March of the Living. At the end of this event, everyone said the Mourner’s Kaddish and Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem. This proved to be the most powerful moment to me. We were standing in the middle of a death camp where the extermination of the Jews was attempted and 70 years later, we were celebrating our Jewish Heritage. That could have been the biggest way to show that we persevered, in the end, we won the fight.
Just a few days later I went to Majdanek in Lublin, Poland, a camp that could be up and running in about 48 hours. I walked into a gas chamber. Blue stains on the wall. A funny smell in the room. I walked out of the gas chamber. Something my friends and I repeated multiple times during our week in Poland. Something that 70 years ago was unfathomable. We walked out of the camp. I went where the attempted extermination of Jews, Gypsies, Gays, Blacks and other groups took place. And I walked out, something they didn’t do 70 years ago. We won.
I went on to spend a week in Israel after the week in Poland. When we landed in Israel the dynamic of the trip completely changed. Everyone was happy. It was always sunny. We were having more fun. As a Jewish youth group, we were celebrating the Jewish state and seeing what good came out of the horrible atrocities of the Holocaust.
After going on the trip, I felt more responsible to stand up in situations where I am faced with somebody or something telling me that the Holocaust never happened. Or that the concentration camps and ghettos are “Hollywood sets”. If that happens, I can show them the pictures that I took. Not somebody 70 years ago. Me, 7 weeks ago. Not a 50 year old professional photographer. Me, an 18 year old high school student on my cell phone. I have proof. I have evidence. I saw it. I am a witness.
Before going on the trip, I felt educated about the Holocaust. I had learned a lot through the Holocaust and Genocide class at Livingston High School. I learned so much that I actually knew somethings that the trip leader had not heard before. I knew what to look for in some of the different camps. I knew what things were without reading the descriptions. Educationally, I felt ready to take my journey. But nothing can prepare you emotionally for what you are about to experience when you walk into those camps.