Written By: David Mitchell, Dean of Education

Today the students went to Auschwitz-Birkenau.  The camps are actually in the Polish city of Oswiecim.  At first, the transports only reached the town train station, and the prisoners were forced to walk from there to Auschwitz.  The group passed the train station and drove to the camp.  At Auschwitz, a local docent of the Auschwitz Museum guided the group through the camp. After lunch, the students went to Birkenau.  Today was overcast, a bit foggy at times, about 32 degrees out, and all dressed appropriately, with the camps snow covered except for the slushy paths we were walking.  One was left only to imagine what it must have been like during the Shoah for the prisoners dressed only  in their striped garments and wooden clogs. At various points along the way, our logistics person, Tzvika, told his mother’s story.  Her family was transported to Birkenau from Hungary.  Her mother and grandmother were killed on arrival, while she and her two sisters were in the camp until sent off to Germany for slave labor. Before leaving the camp we had a ceremony on the train tracks at the entrance to Birkenau.

The day  ended in the Lomdei Mishnayot synagogue in the town. Prior to WWII Oswiecim had a 70% Jewish majority (8,000 Jews lived in the town).  The town agreement was that the Mayor would be a gentile and the Deputy Mayor a Jew.  It was a typical Jewish community with “all kinds of Jews” and many synagogues and shtibles.  One of the synagogues was called Lomdei Mishnayot, as those workers who frequented the synagogue would daily learn Mishna.  It has been renovated as a small museum and Bet Knesset.  We began by lighting the last candles of Hanukkah, while Sim lead the singing and dancing with an accordion.  Sim then studied some mishna and other sources with the students, followed by maariv.

From Oswiecim, the students travelled to Tarnow, one of the important cities and Jewish communities in Galicia.

We have posted some pictures from the last couple of days on our website.  Please go in your browser to www.amhsi.org,  On the bottom of the page you will see a button for photo Gallery. Find the weber gallery and see the pictures.