On Wednesday, March 29th, we visited the beautiful city of Lublin and Majdanek, the so-called "Hell on Earth". The contrast of life and death we witnessed as a kehillah was extremely emotional and strange for some people especially me. In just a few years, a thriving Jewish community like Lublin was completely wiped out of all Jewish influences in just a few years.
Lublin is currently the largest city in East Poland and was once the center of the arba arusot and had a thriving Jewish community. Lublin, after the occupation of the Nazis was turned into a ghetto and saw the extinction of its’ Jewish population. However, residents of Lublin currently are trying to revive the once popular Jewish culture. There is a theater company which puts on Yiddish shows, there is a kosher store which sells menorahs and kosher foods, and there is a street light which represents a ne’er talmeed to commemorate the loss of Jewish Culture.
After visiting the beautiful town of Lublin, we learned about rabbi Meir Shapiro in his school ישיבה חכמי לובלינ. To join this prestigious school, you only needed to memorize 400 pages of Talmud. Rabbi Meir Shapiro is the youngest ordained Rabbi at the age of 16. He started this school thanks to donations from people from donations from surrounding communities. The purpose of this school was to combat the assimilation of the Jews by implementing a system of Daf Yomi or a daily page of Talmud. It would take 7 ½ years for someone to learn the Talmud by studying a page a day. This also served as a way of keeping time like a calendar. However, Meir Shapiro died which brought hundreds of thousands to his funeral. Shortly after, the Nazis took control of this building and stripped the inside and used by the Germans.
To explore on the idea of death which was so prevalent during the Holocaust, we visited “Hell on Earth” or Majdanek. This camp is hauntingly beautiful, and evil actions such as the murder of 78,000 innocent Jews took place here. In 1941, Hitler finally found the solution to the Jewish question. Hitler decided to start the mass murder of Jews all over the world. In the beginning, 1.1 million Jews were killed in the forests by firing squads. However, this method was inefficient and difficult for the soldiers to carry out. Death and concentration camps were soon built all over eastern Europe to exterminate the Jews. Majdanek was a concentration or a work camp and originally started as a POW camp. This camp was not hidden to the public, and had houses of normal civilians right near the barbed wire fences. The Nazis also were extremely disrespectful and abuse to the Jews even after death. Nazis would go to cemetaries and destroy the tombstones. Also, they paved the road in Majdanek out of our ancestor’s tombstones. The Nazis also burned the bodies of the victims of the Holocaust immediately after their death which is wrong according to Jewish tradition.
Throughout the Holocaust, the Nazis were constantly deceiving the Jews. The Nazis told Jews before coming to the camps to bring everything they would need and then the Nazis would steal all of the Jews possessions including gold teeth. Also, the showers which were in the gas chambers were also used for their intended purpose. This would deceive the prisoners because they would believe they would be taking a shower instead of being sent to their deaths.
Throughout the traumatic experiences of the Holocaust, Jews could adapt to the extremely tough conditions of the camps. Their instincts were sharpened but they behaved like wild animals. The prisoner’s capacity to change to their surroundings increased as well. The Jewish people also found ways to bring humanity back into the camp. They impersonated the Nazi soldiers to try and bring humor. They told stories and wrote poems to attempt to bring back culture. Even though these people were being brutally tortured, the prisoners were still able to find ways to bring humanity back into the camp.
 |
| This is the original building Rabbi Meir Shapiro built for his Yesishva. This building was restored in 2007 and thousands of Jewish writings were returned back to their shelves. |
 |
| This is the view of the concentration camp Majdanek along with two classmates holing the Israeli flag. The view was breathtaking and its hard to think so many people perished in this place. |
 |
| "Let our fate be a warning to you." This is a Russian monument dedicated to the Jews who perished. Underneath the dome is a pile of ashes. |
 |
| This is a pillar designed by the Sanderkomandos with the German eagle on the top. In an act of defiance, the Jews who built this pillar included ashes of those who perished in Majdanek into the base |
Being able to see the contrast between the rich life in Lublin and the immesense death in Majdanek was extremely powerful. By being able to visit two completely opposite settings was strange and moving at the same time. What was the most powerful thing you saw/learned in Lublin and Majdanek and do you believe it is still important for everyone (whether Jewish or not) to be educated on the Holocaust?
The most powerful thing that I saw in Lublin was the huge Yeshiva. I thought that it was very cool that people had to memorize 400 pages of Talmud just to get in. That means that pure geniuses studied here. As for Majdanek, the part that stuck with me the most was the crematorium. I could not believe that the Nazis would take bathes heated by the burning of dead jews. Overall, I think that all people need to be educated on the Holocaust. The only way to prevent a future Holocaust is to educate people about what happened.
ReplyDeleteThe Yeshiva was so amazing. To be able to sit at a table where Jewish scholars once studied Talmud was so amazing. Also pretending like I was an actual student at the Yeshiva during the session with Rabbi Sykes. Majdanek was absolutely chilling. The systematic structure of the place made it horrifying. For me, it wasn't a certain moment that hit me, but the experience itself that made the entirety of the holocaust seem so real.
ReplyDeleteI strongly believe everyone should be educated about the holocaust, to prevent terrible things such as this to happen again. Often, we as humans turn a blind eye to those in need, because it makes our lives so much simpler. But we really need to acknowledge that there are terrible things going on even today. If we where all to be heavily educated on prevention of genocides and massacres such as the Shoah, we would know how to stop the modern day ones.
ReplyDeleteThe detailed work of the Nazis displayed through the remains of Majdanek is one of the aspects of the site that struck me the most. It is impossible for me to comprehend how these death factories were planned out by normal people as their normal job. Seeing all of the different parts of concentration camps that we only touch on in our Jewish education at home was strange, as if it could not have been real. Something so elaborate and large for such a brutal genocide did not make sense in my mind, which has been a really powerful concept for me while reflecting on Poland.
ReplyDeleteThe most powerful thing that I saw in Majdanek was what remained of what was once the Jewish people. It really hit me when I DSol was talking and explained that 1 cup of ash is equivalent to one person. This is a fact that I will never forget in my life time. After seeing the great amount of ashes that was left behind, it really hit me. It is important for people to get an understanding of what happened in the Holocaust to prevent anything like it from happening again. I personally believe the Jewish people should learn what had happen because these are their people who died.
ReplyDeleteThe most powerful thing I learned at Lublin was hearing how great Jewish education was at this Yeshiva. The students who attended this school were very smart and had to really study in order to get in. This was once of the strongest institutions in Europe for the Jewish people. Seeing the gas chambers at Maidonik was something that really touched me. It really helped me put the Holocaust into real life terms. I 100 percent think that it is still important for everyone to learn about the Holocaust. It is a super important event in history that affects the world today.
ReplyDeleteWhile I was not able to experience Lublin and Majdanek first hand, the stories of the mountain of ashes really hit me. It's so hard thinking that so many Jews were killed in such a short time. I really wish that I was able to have been there that day and experience what the rest of our class saw.
ReplyDeleteSince I was not able to be physically present at Lublin and Majdanek, I don't have a specific moment that really spoke or reached out to me. However I think as an overall takeaway, and from my experience at Auschwitz, concentration camps have a very intense impact when even thinking about their sheer purpose, as well as the fact that they were able to do so much damage and murder in such a short period of time. I believe every individual from every culture or background should be educated about the Holocaust, as it is not only the Jewish people that will progress forward. We must all understand the damages of our past so that we understand our capabilities, and teach a more moral and stronger humanity for generations to come.
ReplyDeleteIn Majdanek, the most powerful thing I saw was the memorial at the end. I am so haunted by the ashes and the quote above them: "Let our fate be a warning to you". This echoes my belief that everyone should learn about the Holocaust, as a warning for the future. There are so many important aspects about the Shoah that people should understand but I think one of the biggest is that the perpetrators were just human beings, which means that anyone has the capability to cause atrocities. Education is vital to understand how such a horrible event happened, and to prevent more genocide in the future.
ReplyDeleteI think that learning about the holocaust is absolutely very important. I think that learning the Shoah is the only way that we can understand how the world runs today. Ever since the holocaust, racism has been dealt with very differently. Also if it weren't for the Shoah then europe would look very different. We cant't understand the present if we don't understand our past.
ReplyDeleteThe ashes at majdanek were completely and utterly moving. As I walk up to the memorial it wasn't said what was in there, but inside of me I had this feeling of complete emptiness. It was horrendous, so many ashes of our people.
ReplyDeleteTo not educate is to forget and to forget is to lose a people, our people. We are educated about the holocaust so it will never happen again. We remember the lives of the people who have no one left to remember their lives for them. The moment these messages hit me with full force was when we walked to the memorial. DSol explained to us that one persons ashes makes up about one cup. I sat in pure disgust that this mountain of ashes made up more cups of ashes then I could ever be able to count. This evidence was so raw. My peoples remains were sitting right in front of me. The people I was told to remember because they had no one left to were right in front of me and I couldn't have felt weaker due to our loss yet at the same time, so strong that I was able to be there to witness it years later, with my strong jewish community. I felt so connected to the Jewish people even though I had never met them. Judaism isn't just a culture, it's a people and that is why we should continue to learn about the Shoah in school.
ReplyDelete