REFLECTIONS ON OUR TRIP TO POLAND AND ISRAEL

We have been home a few days already. Life certainly goes by fast. I remember being in Florida and thinking about Passover and my trip. Now they are both over! Both made me nervous beforehand as I wasn’t sure if I was physically strong enough to go through both. BUT I DID IT!

I am taking a Tylenol every morning and maybe that’s helping. I think I will continue taking them until I return to the doctor in June.

Poland was a surprise! I guess we were thinking of Poland during the war and how it would be devastated. Instead Poland wasd a lovely green, clean city. The first place we went to for lunch was a HUGE mall. I was disappointed that we would go to such a modern place but guess it was the best place for a large group to eat their lunches. None of shopped at all in Poland. After what happened to our people in Poland during the war we didn’t want to support their economy in any way.

Not all of the Polish people were evil. There were some that helped to save the Jewish people and those have been honoured by Israel. Trees have been planted in their memory and plaques have been placed in a street called Street of the Righteous. This place is located near the Holocaust museum in Israel.

While in Poland we visited several concentration camps. These were very upsetting. It was hard to imagine what actually happened there. A lot of the concentration camps had been destroyed because the Germans didn’t want to leave any evidence of their crimes. In Treblinka there were hundreds of stones of various sizes with names of cities, towns and countries that had been affected by the Nazis.  Some stones had no names because certain "towns" were so small.

Aushwitz was where the MARCH OF THE LIVING took place. It was here that about eight thousand people from all over the world gathered to walk from Aushwitz to Berkenau. There were many teens and young adults. What an experience it must have been for them! When we reached Birkenau we were given "paddles" to write a message on and to "plant" in the railroad tracks. One person wrote: For those who have noone to remember them." I thought this was great as many whole families perished.

Warsaw had a thriving Jewish community. There were over 300 synagogues!

In one location a Gentile woman had fifty Jewish children she was trying to save. However SS soldiers found them and one by one killed each child!!!!!!!