Day 5

The past two days have been extremely emotional for the group. Yesterday, we visited the notorious concentration/death camp Auschwitz. The camp's reality and the way it was tangible touched everyone. The first camp we visited was Auschwitz 1, where 16,000 prisoners were held at a camp the size of less than two AISes. We visited multiple exhibits inside the barracks, including one where human belongings were shown. The second camp we visited was Auschwitz 2, or Birkenau- three km away from Auschwitz 1. We sat on the railroad tracks and told a few stories, and proceeded to do the walk of the living with our arms around each other towards the gates of the camp. Inside the camp, the enormity shocked many of us. So many of the barracks were still intact, and we heard stories that shocked us to an unimaginable extent. As we were struggling with our feelings, we recieved our letters from our parents- at the exact right moment. the letters comforted many of us more than we would have ever imagined.

Today was a little less difficult. We began the day by visiting a castle in the middle of Krackow which was taken over by the Nazis during WW2. Then, we enjoyed some free shopping time in the middle of the city. Later on, we visited Schnidler's factory, after finishing the movie Schindler's List. Finally, we visited a memorial for a site where many horrendous acts were performed on prisoners right outside of Krakow.