April 26, 2014: Day 2

 

Today we walked all over Krakow!  In the morning, we visited many synagogues.  Krakow had over 60,000 Jews and 60 synagogues.  Dan Ginsburg insightfully noted that this is 10,000 Jews per synagogue; however his comment was not so insightful because it is actually 1,000 Jews per synagogue.

 

Next we went to the Krakow ghetto. Definitely not what is pictured when you say "oh my god, that's so ghetto!" Our navigator Magda talked to home and business owners to gain access to historical buildings, now converted into apartments and stores. We have trouble understanding how the citizens knowingly or unknowingly live where hundreds died. We passed buildings with hebrew engraved in the doorway with a Polish restaurant sign hanging below.

 

We ate lunch in a train station turned restaurant with hundreds of other Jews from around the world, all of whom were on the March of the Living trip. Even with the vast amount of people in the building, some of the kids - and even the adults - ran into old friends from other groups. One group was particularly entertaining - singing, waving banners, and dancing around the building.

 

The afternoon was spent in the bustling square of Krakow, which Matt Schneider compares to Miami Beach because of the outdoor/indoor restaurants - but definitely not the weather.  We enjoyed shopping, ice cream, and even a little bit of sun!  A worker at the hotel joked, "The sun is always out! It's just behind the clouds."

-Dana Coleman, Madelyn Dukart, Rachel Klein

Peppi, Cincinnati's tour guide for the past 5 years!

April 25, 2014: Day 1

Our journey from Dayton to Poland had lots of excitement.  First, in Dayton, Rachel Klein coined the term #SteinBeard for Matt Steinberg's daily picture of growing out his beard.  The progression will be updated often on Twitter.  

In Washington, D.C., the short layover was spent at the Duty Free store, where many of the girls invested in nail polish.  Our last stop before heading to Poland was spent at the JFK airport, where we ran into many other March of the Living groups.  This was especially exciting because many of us have friends from around the world going on the trip that we get to see.  Also at JFK, we indulged at The Shake Shack, and consumed everything from cheese fries and burgers to specialty milkshakes.

The plane from JFK to Poland was chartered, meaning every single person on it was a part of March of the Living.  It was a huge, double decker plane, filled with teenagers and chaperones.  Abby and Matt were lucky enough to get business class, while the rest of us were stuck in coach, but we were more than happy to have a plug at our seat and a screen to occupy us.  When we landed in Poland, we knew something was up when we saw five airport workers on the tarmac snapping pictures of the plane.  Our flight was one of the biggest the Katowice airport has ever received.  This was easily noted, as it took a good three hours just to retrieve our luggage, since the same five people who were taking pictures of the plane were evidently the only five workers the airport had.  But after lots of commotion with our bags, we found the tour guide and were on our way to Bendin!

Waiting for our luggage... 

We learned that Bendin had over 30,000 jews and they were all victims to the Holocaust.  Currently, the jewish population in Bendin is little to none.  We visited a few memorials and historical jewish places, but it was upsetting that the current population in Bendin doesn't appear informed about the past jewish history their town had.  

Bendin Memorial

"Satellite Synagogues" filled Poland before the war.  There were sometimes even 2 on the same block, like Starbucks.  There were over 45 in Bendin alone.

"The Temple" old Orthodox Synagogue 

From Bendin, we went to our hotel in Krakow, and showered and freshened up for Shabbat service.  We had a very special Shabbat service because we went to an Orthodox synagogue, where traditionally the women are supposed to sit separate from the men, however us women persevered and stayed with the men in our group.  We did receive many stares and glares, but it was a different experience, being surrounded by men and praying with them.  Tomorrow we look forward to lots of walking, exploring, and supposedly great ice cream around Krakow!

-Dana Coleman

April 25, 2014

Final Pre-Trip Session 04/17/14

*Posted by Alex Weisser*

The calendar seemed to be almost standing still, but alas, days were passing. After what seemed like years our final pre-trip meeting had begun and the time to leave for Poland began to inch ever closer. During our sixth and final of the meetings we got down to the basics of what we’d need on the trip. It was the usual, sunscreen, underwear, passport etc. But then came one of the most anticipated moments of the meeting, the reception of our official March of the Living backpacks and all of the paraphernalia they had inside. Included amongst the various goodies within the knapsacks were the clothes we had selected to purchase for our group on the trip, the tank tops, snapbacks, and of course the quarter zips. It seemed like nothing could get our attention away from the presents that had just been placed in front of us.

                

That is until Louis Weisser, our sixth and final speaker began to present. Him being my grandfather, one might have gotten the impression that I knew his story as told by him. This would be incorrect, I’d only heard him tell bits and snippets through friends and family as well as what was in his memoirs. As he spoke it was especially enlightening to me as I was able to put faces to all of the people he was telling us about from his memory. The aunts, the uncles, the sisters and comrades, all of them. So to hear him personally explaining his experiences to us was incredibly humbling for me and I’m certain for many others.

                

As the Thursday of our trip nears the excitement is building and tension is thick in the air. I cannot wait to travel with all of these great people to such great and often somber places. The memories that we will create and that we will invoke, will be certainly powerful and life-changing. The clock is still forever ticking, and the hour hand draws near.

Fifth Pre-Trip Session 04/10/14

       The “Friends from Israel” joined us during our fifth pre-trip session.  They shared with us some of the differences between Israelis and Americans, so we would be prepared for when the Netanya teens host us one night.  One difference is that Israelis are a lot more personal and touchy.  We shouldn’t be offended or alarmed.  The “Friends from Israel” also shared with us some of the fun things we will be doing in the cities we will be visiting. By helping us to bargain better, each of us had to bargain with the seller, Drew Eichel, and pick an Israeli item from his collection.  Next, we practiced floating in the Dead Sea and challenged each other to see who could “float” the longest.  It’s a lot harder without salt water!  Dan Ginsburg lost first and then we all followed quickly.  People really enjoyed the games and snacking on the treats. 

Kelsey Bardach exclaimed, “This meeting was learning all about Israel which got me very excited because I have never been before.  I learned everything from how to bargain to how to float in the Dead Sea and I can’t wait to do them for real in two weeks!”

            In the second half of the meeting, we watched a video about Michael Levin, an American who after visiting Israel joined the IDF.  He was small, but had a big heart and a lot of determination.  He was shot and killed in Jordan and his story touched many people because so many of us know soldiers just like Michael who join the IDF and are risking their lives also.  I have seen this video and visited Michael’s grave before and I am grateful to be visiting his grave in Mount Herzl again soon to honor what he stood for.

Fourth Pre-Trip Session 03/06/14

            We started off this meeting by comparing definitions of the Holocaust from around the world.   It was evident that each region of the world has a different perspective of the Holocaust.  Washington D.C., for example, acknowledges all minorities attacked, and not just the Jews, while others focus more on Jews.  Alex Weisser noted that it is important that we recognize all groups involved because we were not the only ones targeted. 

            Next, in small groups, we made “narratives” of the Holocaust by selecting six pictures out of thirty that struck us as significant.  It was very interesting to see that most of the groups had similar themes and many of the same pictures were chosen.  As Drew Eichel and I were creating ours, Werner Coppel, Holocaust survivor, pointed at a picture of Nazis deciding whether people should go to a work camp or a gas chamber and said, “I was there.”  Drew and I both agreed that after hearing that, our upcoming trip felt more powerful and real.

            Werner Coppel then told our group his Holocaust story.  He is the third speaker we’ve heard and I am noticing that each Holocaust survivor has their own unique story that they are very proud of.  Werner stated, “Your trip is holy because when you walk from Auschwitz to Birkenau, know that it is the same walk that I did.”  Matt Steinberg pointed out that yes, it is the same walk, but for completely different reasons. 

            Werner’s statement made us all realize that the march and our trip will be very emotional and “an experience that will change you as a person.”

Thoughts on Werner’s story:

“Werner had a fascinating story and I was captivated by it” – Matt Schneider

“This session was very profound.  Of all the speakers, Werner evoked the most emotion out of me because we will be visiting the same place where he suffered so much” – Dan Ginsburg