Visiting the Galicia Museum in Krakow, one of the temporary exhibitions they had on display was a photo series by Chuck Fishman conducted in both 1975 and 2018 in Poland. In 1975 Fishman sought to capture the last of Poland’s Jewish population, whom were believed to be the last of their community. This is important because where Poland once had a thriving Jewish population of nearly 3 million, the population significantly diminished due to the Shoah and post-war emigration from the country.

One of the events captured by his photographs that spoke to me were the scenes of Passover, and specifically the photo seen below.

I thought it to be particularly poignant because of the role that children play during the Passover seder. The Haggadah tells of four children: the wise child, the wicked child, the simple child, and the child that does not know enough to ask. The role of the children in the seder is to encourage them to ask questions and develop empathy and recognition for the narratives of others, As this holiday is about remembering, transmitting memory from generation to generation, it makes a particularly strong point that Fishman would choose to photograph a seder with his own belief that he was seeing the last generation of Polish Jewry.

Passover itself remembers the exodus of the Jews from the land of Egypt, detailing a story of bondage and escape. It makes me wonder how the generation affected by the Shoah were able to separate the story of Passover from their own histories. It becomes obvious that events like those in the tale of Passover are far from being in the past, that they still can happen, and still do happen to marginalized groups all over the world to this day.

Around 2010 I wanted to add Holocaust courses to the curriculum at Old Dominion University. I started by participating in a number of programs at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and in 2013 I launched a Holocaust Study Abroad. It’s amazing to me how once you start going to a place, you meet wonderful, warm people who just want to help. Dr. Gawon at Jagiellonian University has offered us a lecture on Krakow’s Jewish history every year since I’ve been coming; Maciek Zabierowski, the Learning and Special Projects Director at the Auschwitz Jewish Center, is such a knowledgeable and fun person. He offers us tour as a favor to me and enriches our student’s lives tremendously. And every year we go to “Bagelmama,” for lunch…such a fun place to eat with the best hummus in the world! This year I learned the owner is also John McEnrow’s personal chef at the Paris Open every year!

Tonight we ate dinner at “Dawno Temu Na Kazimierzu” or “Once upon a time in Kazimierz.” The restaurant tries to recreate the ambiance of a late 19th- or early 20th-century Jewish home. It’s small and intimate. Now admittedly we are in Kazimierz which is to Jewish culture what Colonial Williamsburg is to colonial times—made up, mythologized and surely fake. We all know that. But, the restaurant really was lovely with wonderful food, and whether it is really Jewish food or not doesn’t matter, because the “nut cake” reminded me of my grandmother’s pecan pie, and for a brief moment it carried me back to the 1960s and the wonderful flavors of her marvelous desserts. Additionally, I’ve been reading in Kraków, Ben-Zion Gold’s The Life of Jews in Poland before the Holocaust, a memoir in which the author recounts his childhood. Just last night I read the chapter entitled “My Jewish Upbringing,” which discusses what it was like in pre-World War II Poland for an Orthodox family to prepare for Shabbat. Ben-Zion writes, “At home we were greeted by a bouquet of Shabbat food flavors: the fragrance of freshly backed challah mingled with the pungent aroma of the gefilte fish, the soothing flavor of chicken soup, the lemon flavor of the dried fruit compote, and the vanilla fragrance of the cake. Friday lunch always included a little chopped liver or a piece of gefilte fish, a foretaste of Shabbat.” A smell or taste can transport one to the past and remind one of aromas of bygone days. So the restaurant was really enjoyable, and for a brief second, I had a vision of my grandmother, Alta Leona, who was not Jewish but shared a love of cooking for her family that any Jewish housewife who delighted in preparing food would have easily understood.

The thing I love about study abroad is getting to know the students. Of course I love being in the classroom, but on study abroad, the world is the classroom. It’s fantastic. We have such a great group of students…and no one complained that it rained all day. I have seen many a Kraków skyline, but none like today with such low clouds. We did four things today: 1) Visited the site of Płaszów, a former slave-labor camp (featured in “Schindler’s List”); 2) Met Dr. Edyta Gawron at Jagiellonian University for a great lecture; 3) Visited the Kraków JCC; and, 4) Had a marvelous group dinner in Kazimierz. Getting to know the students is a blast: Logan, Dan, Kaerra, Elena, Alex, Melonie and Kelly! We are still bonding at this point, figuring each other out before we face the most difficult sites on this trip.

In preparing to leave for Poland, remember to pack two important items:

1) Peter Hayes, Why?  Explaining the Holocaust

2) Patrick Desbois, The Holocaust by Bullets

To be very frank, I am not sure how I feel about this trip coming up so soon. On one hand, I am eager to be in Poland and be able to learn from others various dimensions of the Shoah. On the other hand, it makes my heart sick.

Reading “Holocaust by Bullets” by Father Patrick Dubois, I can see how his own personal connection brought him to study and investigate various killing sites across eastern Europe, beginning in Rawa-Ruska. I myself, am the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor.

Born in Hamborn, Germany near Duisburg my  paternal grandmother, Susan Simon was in hiding for a few years before she and her family obtained passage on the steamship Villa de Madrid. The steamship (pictured left) sailed from Barcelona to Gibraltar to the Canary Islands and finally Ellis Island. Before being allowed to board the Villa de Madrid, she and her family had their citizenship revoked by the German government and the obligatory middle name “Sarah” was added to her passport. Germany closed its borders to any further emigration six months after she and family were able to leave. They arrived in Boston in June 1941.

For me, this was something I generally knew about my grandmother, my roots, and how my family came to be. Just like Father Dubois with his grandfather, I never learned the intricacies of the events that led my grandmother here. Contrary to Father Dubois and his upbringing, the story of the Shoah is not an easy one for my family to retell. I am still unsure how this has effected various dimensions of my father’s side of the family. It’s hard for me to reconcile the absolute privilege I have to be a Jew in this place, in this time, with what I know my family and millions of others and billions throughout history have had to endure.

The past year, I have been to Israel twice, to look at a land built up by survivors and begin to understand the basis of anti-semitism. At a forum on Peace in the Middle East I attended, I heard an interesting idea about the basis of Nazi hatred. The speaker said something to the effect of there being a great fear among Nazi’s because they could not easily differentiate Jews from “Aryans”. That because visible differences were difficult, the fear was in Jews tainting the “pure” German population. This was fear of the unknown. Did you have Jewish ancestry? Would you face persecution? Were the Jews infiltrating the Blood and Honor of Germany?

This is one of the things I am most proud of now, the various identities I hold and that I am able to (generally safely) express myself. As a Jewish, Latina, Queer woman, I know that these are identities that others may fear. This fear comes from stereotypes, lack of human connection, exposure, and the fear of the unknown. Despite, or perhaps in the face of, hate, I know the importance of living my truth and believing in the best of the human race. I know that this trip will hurt. Hurt me in both familiar and new ways. I welcome these experiences as the opportunity to grow and learn… further increasing my ability to empathize and live with responsibility.

I still feel amazed at the fact that I am able to head back to Poland for a second time so soon. When I went on this trip last year I absolutely fell in love with Poland and discovered a passion in historical studies of the Holocaust. Though I knew I would make it back one day, I never could have imagined that I would be able to return just a year later. I see now that I had a lot of maturing to do with my “historian’s gaze” after last year, so I am looking forward to applying a deeper and more refined understanding of the course’s material on this trip. After getting to hear Father Desbois speak, and reading his book, I am beyond excited to work with his organization to speak with bystanders at a site in “middle-of-nowhere, Poland” (to quote Dr. Finley). I can’t wait to expand my knowledge on the Holocaust and experience the amazing culture this country has to offer.

I’ve always loved travel. In fact, when I was a kid, I use to pack up a nap sack and sit on my bed pretending it was an airplane taking me somewhere. I don’t even really mind airplanes…they get me places. I do look forward to traveling with Tom and the students on this trip. So my picture here is from one of my 1st trips to Paris, made in 1985 when I was a graduate student and living in France. Travel is such great adventure, and what I love most are the unexpected surprises that you just can’t anticipate.

One of the things I look forward to most on this trip is spending the day with the faculty from Yahad-in Unum to visit previously unknown killing sites. I am aware that the scope and the scale of the Holocaust goes well beyond established killing sites, so this will be a rare opportunity to expand my knowledge by actually visiting these ‘hidden’ places. There is not much I am apprehensive about for this 2nd time visiting Poland, except a fervent hope that I don’t injure my foot again…limping around while trying to keep up with the group was not a pretty sight!