Eastern Europe, Last Day: Krakow & Auschwitz

"Thumbs up" at The Jewish Museum bookstore

This morning's activity was a workshop at The Jewish Museum. It had been raining all day, and we were excited to finally get inside. Indoors, there was a bookshop and small cafe. We took some time to browse the different books among the shelfs. There were many quite terrifying novels/texts describing the Holocaust, however there were also works that looked to find hope in the future. After taking the time to look around, we moved to a room to begin the workshop. We were given biographies of different people or families during the Holocaust. Some of them were Nazi supporters like the insane doctor, Josef Mengele, or the victimized Polish family who lost their lives protecting Jewish friends in their town. We were encouraged to think about each situation from as many points of view as we could. While some of the people were obviously guilty or innocent, it was interesting to look at cases that were more ambiguous. For example, the Polish man that betrayed a family of Jews. While it is awful that he did this, it what important to remember the pressure that he was under during that time and how he was trying to keep himself alive. This workshop was very interesting because we were able to take a closer look at the lives of humans during the war and try to understand what they were facing. ~Baker Casagrande

Prosecution & defense of Holocaust Poles & Germans, part 1

Prosecution & defense of Holocaust Poles and Germans, part 2

Devouring Polish pancakes at the tram stop

Auschwitz I

Our Auschwitz guide

Zyklon B canisters

Suitcases left behind

Execution wall

Auschwitz II - Birkenau

Auschwitz II - Birkenau

A film by Davis Whitley: Our Group at Auschwitz I and II