By Ilana Cone Kennedy, Special to JTNews
In July, Ilana Kennedy, Education Coordinator at the Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center, participated in the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous Summer European Study Tour. Kennedy works both with Holocaust experts and with teachers from across the state to find the most useful and applicable materials for the classroom. Because the Holocaust Center is one of JFR’s 17 “Centers of Excellence” she had the opportunity to participate in this tour of Germany and Poland.
Kennedy joined 12 other educators, both Jewish and non-Jewish, from across the U.S., including Stephen Pagaard, an award-winning teacher at North Kitsap High School, and renowned scholar Robert Jan Van Pelt, co-author of Auschwitz: 1270 to the Present. Here is one excerpt from her trip journal.
July 23, 2004.
I felt disconnected at Auschwitz. Buses packed with tourists filled the parking lot and the entrance to the camp was choked closed as each person tried to take their own photo of the infamous “Arbeit Macht Frei” sign at the entrance.
Birkenau was different. Here I felt an overwhelming sadness. Robert Jan Van Pelt led us away from the tourist path, over uneven ground covered in neatly cut grass, to seldom visited buildings. The weather was overcast but mild, and when the sun occasionally poked through the clouds the heat was surprising.
The camp is huge. I really had no idea of its size. All day we spent walking through this camp – and still we didn’t cover the grounds. In some areas there were birch trees, but not the “birch forest” to which the name “Birkenau” translates.
After hours of walking we came upon Bunker 2 – the scant remains of an early gas chamber. In only one month, July 1942, 107,000 people were gassed at this spot and their bodies buried in the field behind the building. The earth was described as moving, as so many bodies shifted and decomposed. Clearly disturbed by this, the Nazis ordered the bodies to be exhumed and burned. The field became known as the “Field of Ashes.” The sun came out as we stood there, and ironically, this field with the trees behind it, is quite lush and beautiful. It is one of the saddest places.
A memorial was erected between the remains of the gas chamber and the Field of Ashes. I took a stone out of the Ziploc baggy that held my little collection of rocks from Seattle, and set it on the memorial. Our group gathered and those of us who wanted to said kaddish.
I stared at the field and felt the heaviness of this place. Our prayer of mourning was not only for this field, I knew, but for all of those who had died in this terrible place. Stanlee Stahl, Executive Vice President of the JFR, turned to me and commented softly while shaking her head, “We just said kaddish for 1.5 million people.”
I looked at Stanlee and had to turn my head away as my own tears silently began to fall. I am not one to cry and, after two weeks of visiting Holocaust sites, this was the first time I had done so. I stood there, unable to walk away. I didn’t want anyone to comfort me, I just wanted to be alone.
Without saying a word, one of the teachers in our group quietly handed me a tissue.I was truly touched by this small action.
The group continued on, while Stanlee and I stayed behind. We walked together without any words, and I felt enormous comfort in this silence and in her company.
We continued to the sauna, and then to the remains of another gas chamber with a crematorium – another memorial. I pulled out my little baggy of stones and picked one to leave behind. I looked at the little bag still with its few stones. How insignificant they looked – almost pathetic.
I crumpled up the baggy and shoved it into my shoulder bag, almost angry at myself. Not 10 steps further did I pull the bag out again. I clung to it. I couldn’t listen to Robert Jan’s intellectual account at that moment as I was lost in my own racing thoughts and conflicting feelings. I picked a pinecone up off the ground somewhere between Crematorium 5 and the pond where ashes were dumped. And then I picked up a couple more and put them carefully in the plastic bag.
What could I bring back for people to share this experience? The trinkets and souvenirs for sale everywhere were trite and almost inappropriate. I am not one for shopping, and even less so on a trip like this one, but a pinecone from a tree growing in Birkenau somehow seemed to fit. I don’t mind if those to whom I give these pinecones don’t keep them. That isn’t the point. It is just a reminder –
a symbol – of the many who suffered and who were killed in this place, and of the many people who continue to suffer around the globe. A reminder that even in places filled with horror, beautiful strong trees will grow.
While in Poland and Germany, I took photos with the teachers of Washington in mind. Visit to our Web site, www.wsherc.org, to find photos useful for classroom lessons or individual study. Each photo will have a description and links to other sites that can provide further information about the image.
The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous provides monthly financial support to more than 1,600 aged and needy non-Jews who rescued Jews during the Holocaust and educates future generations about their extraordinary acts of courage.
Stephen Pagaard and I were sponsored by the Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center and the JFR. Without the assistance of contributors and grantors, this incredible opportunity would not be possible.