By Joel Magalnick, Editor, The Jewish Sound
They’ve done this trip before, but this summer, the Holocaust Center for Humanity is doing something new. Added onto the educational trip through Warsaw and Krakow that the organization formerly known as the Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center will be an optional trip to Jerusalem.
“It seemed like it’s a nice end to a Holocaust trip to look at post-Holocaust Jewish renewal,” says Ilana Cone Kennedy, the Holocaust Center’s director of education who will be leading the trip.
Not that spending 12 days learning the Holocaust should be depressing. While what trip participants learn will certainly have heavy moments, Kennedy said the hard parts are intermingled with uplifting elements about how the Holocaust is taught and understood today in Poland.
“On one of our last trips, we met with…college students who were studying about the Holocaust…who are really trying to make a difference in their communities to bring this history to light,” she said.
While some elements of the trip will be Jewish, about half of the participants are not Jewish, but have an interest in learning about the Holocaust and its history. Part of their education will be about Judaism, such as with the Shabbat dinner and the regular tourist sites the group will visit in Israel.
“We’ll really try and make sure we introduce Judaism to them,” Kennedy said. “For the Jewish people who are there, [we will] really give it some Jewish cultural interest and Knowledge and history.”
The itinerary includes visits to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where participants will mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camp, the Treblinka death camp, the Warsaw Ghetto, the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, and multiple museums in both countries. Throughout the trip, scholars, students and experts will join the group to offer their insights.
This trip, which will be a group of about 15, is near capacity, so Kennedy said anyone interested should be in touch soon. Learn more about the trip on the Holocaust Center for Humanity’s website at HolocaustCenterSeattle.org.