Today, although long, was a day filled with many different emotions. First we went to the Rama cemetery in Krakow, then to Plaszow (the concentration camp from Schindler's List), and finally the March.
At the 500 year old cemetery, we visited three different graves. First was the grave of Rabbi Isserlis. A few days ago we heard his story and how he became a rabbi at the age of 13 and created a code for the Jewish people in Poland. It's tradition at his grave to write a note or a wish and stick it in the headstone so each of us got to write our own and we placed them among all the others. The next grave was Rabbi Yom Tov Lippman who chose to bury himself in the corner because he mis-judged someone and else and felt the only way to forgive himself was to be buried in the corner next to him. Lastly was the grave of the unknown. 70 years ago the Nazis pushed over and broke many of the headstones in the cemetery, and afterwards there were bones and broken pieces that were not identified. To honor those people, a grave of the unknown was created and the broken off headstones were added to a wall which is referred to as the Wailing Wall, just like the one in Jerusalem.
Next we went to Plaszow which was a very different camp visually than Auschwitz. It is in an urban area because it was one of the camps that the Nazis wanted the public to know about. It was an enormous plot of hills, caves, and trees, but during the war there were no trees and no green land. This camp was different because it was not an extermination camp, solely a labor camp. We visited the ruins of the dome, the memorials of the lost Jews and Poles in the camp, and another grave of a rabbi. Even though the land looked beautiful today with all of the green and trees, it was crazy to imagine what the torture was like 70 years ago.
After a long drive it was finally time for the March. We arrived in our purple hats and tanks ready to go. We all wrote messages on our boards to place on the train tracks and found our spot in line (even though we cut to the front). From the second we stepped foot on the March people from every country started making trade offers for our stylish snapbacks (hats). We met people from South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Israel, and more! Walking into the camp today was so different from yesterday because today was not only sad, but happy. It was a day of celebration and pride that 10,000 people from all over the world were able to walk freely out of Auschwitz and Birkenau. Seeing a sea of blue jackets and Israeli flags walk from under the "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign was the coolest thing I personally have ever seen and it brought tears to my eyes. Throughout the whole March chills covered my body. Once we reached the gates of Birkenau we met up with former Cincinnati march delegates Jeffery and Sarah, creators of Project 6 Million. It is an organization to help never forget what happened. You go online and make a statement of your experience and weeks, months, and years from now they will keep asking you, "Where are you now?" which helps you understand how this journey has impacted your life. We had the honor of handing out Project 6 Million bracelets to thousands of people. Not only were people excited for the free gifts, but it was a great feeling knowing that we were impacting people from all around the world. After we handed out the thousands of bracelets, everyone wanted to trade their hats with the cool gear from other countries. The popular picks were hats from South Africa, shirts from Brazil, and scarfs from Panama.
After the actual March there was a ceremony. We heard words from the Prime Minister of Israel, the President of Hungary, and survivors of the shoa. Even though it was long it was incredible to hear them all speak in a crowd of ten thousand people. The part from the ceremony that struck me most was from the Hungarian President. He said that if we gave each Auschwitz prisoner one minute of silence, we would be silent for three whole years. To end the ceremony, the 10,000 delegates of the March all rose to sing the Hatikvah, Israel's national anthem. Looking around and seeing the unity from people all over the world, gathered into one place was so moving and it was definitely something I'll never forget.
Once the March was over we got back onto our bus and left for Lublin. It was a long drive but luckily we stopped for some good old American McDonalds! Everyone enjoyed their burgers and McNuggets and ended the day on a very, very satisfied note. So all in all, today was incredible.
-Kelsey Bardach
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