Jodi Edington, Daniel Brady, Jordan Dewbery, Luke Page and Alex Preece
After an early start (2:45am) and a short flight (7am) over to Krakow, Poland, we then travelled by coach to our first stop in Oświęcim. Here, we visited the site of the Great Synagogue and had time to reflect on the ‘life of a typical Jewish community’ before the war. We were accompanied by a Rabbi who was able to give a short talk and the opportunity to ask questions about this particular site.
From there, we then made our way to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial. On arrival, our group leader from Holocaust Educational Trust (HET) introduced us to our tour guide for the day. We spent approximately 2 hours at Auschwitz I – where we were able to see the various display and exhibits including the newest addition, of a book of 4,000,000 names of those who lost their lives. Researchers are still working on looking for an additional 2million+ names to add to it.
We spent the remainder of our trip walking around the vast site that is Birkenau. Here we saw the living quarters, working areas and the ruins of Crematoria II.
A memorial service was held before we left, readings from 5 students of the 200+ that had attended our trip. This was followed by a Jewish prayer in Yiddish by the Rabbi who had joined us and the lighting of a memorial candle.
The HET have been so helpful, providing seminars before (including a testimonial from a Holocaust survivor, Zigi Shipper) and after the visit, literature and the opportunity to speak to others about our experiences.
A truly heart breaking place, but one that will be remembered forever.