Study Trip in Prague: Monday, our last day.

On our last day in Prague, we ventured outside the city to visit Terezin. I do not need to give you any of the details. Our students did an unbelievable job reflecting on the events of the day, and I will not even attempt to match the power of their words.

A poem by Douglas

A moat surrounds this overarching

maze work of brick that paints a

historic blue sky with a stroke of

near-black gray. Within it grows scarce

plots of pathetic green blades, ignorant

of all that has happened here, impartial

to the history of pain that has been

invaded. As people wander out, the gold

stars around their necks, gleaming

triangles of gold across the now-dusk

sky. As they stumble forth, their emotions

dissipate outwards, a dark cover over a once-blue sky,

as if they have just visited their own funeral

Hannah F: Today was, out of all the days we’ve spent in Prague, out of all the things we’ve done, the most powerful and moving by far. We visited Terezin, a concentration camp. The first things we did were the usual; toured the bunks, saw pictures and literature and walked through a never-ending (500 meter) tunnel. Okay, so maybe that last one wasn’t so normal, but we did it because the tunnel was made so soldiers could fight from a safe location. It wasn’t used during WWII, I don’t think – that’s what our tour guide said. But then again, I couldn’t really understand his accent all the time – I kept thinking he was saying “president” when he was saying “prisoner”. Anyway, after lunch and a (short) bus ride, we visited a cemetery near the crematorium. That, out of everything, was the most moving experience. The grave stones were slabs of marble (I think) with Jewish stars. No names. Everything I’d read, seen or heard about the Holocaust came together with the image of the cemetery and I gained a new level of understanding about what happened. However awful it may sound on paper, nothing can compare to the overload of emotions I felt while walking around the cemetery. We were told to put stones on the graves because, unlike flowers, stones can’t die. They last forever. Of all the things that really got to me was that there were no memories of these people because we didn’t know who they were. We had a short memorial service, which only reinforced my thoughts. No family was coming to say prayers – for all they knew, their family member could be ashes. Or there could be no family left. Visiting the crematorium was heart-wrenching. Shlomo, our guide, told us that , before the Jews were cremated, the Nazi’s went through their mouths to find any gold teeth. The idea that anyone could desecrate a body like that was just unbelievable. I definitely now have stronger feelings about Hitler and the Holocaust, and even thought it was painful to witness, I’m glad we went to Terezin.

Zach R (student): Today we visited Terezin, a ghetto an hour away from Praha. It was my first time at any time of Nazi camp. The first thing that struck me was how normal the town’s exterior seemed. The reality that I was standing in the place where thousands of people suffered and died in Terezin set in once we reached the bunk house. As the docent described the living conditions I felt a pain in my stomach – not of hunger, but of sickness. He described how entire families shared one bed only covered with hay, packed in like sardines. No one had lived in the shack for more than half a century, and there was still a stench. I tried to imagine the smell of the bunk magnified a hundred times. Simply the thought of people having to sleep in this type of cabin was horrible.

Raquel K: Going through the first part of the town was an extremely moving experience. Seeing where all of these prominent political prisoners were living and even the torture chambers they occubied made the crazy things the Nazis did even more real. While we were in one of the holding cells where the tour guide described the experience that 60 peipole had to endure of standing in a cold, dark, small room with no toilet made me cringe. Even after seeing the place that all these horrible stories emerged from, its still hard to wrap my mind around the factuality of it. My absolute favorite part of the day was walking through the underground military tunnel. It was dark and extremely spooky but at the same time such a fun adventure.

Phil S: Today we went to Terezin, one of the concentration camps which rounded up Jews and political prisoners until they were sent to one of the death camps. It was my first time at a concentration camp and it was heart-breaking to see what transpired there 70 years ago. However, it was still a beautiful place, made more than just an echo of the garrison, its original purpose. Truthfully, I was not that moved when I saw the dwelling places of the Jews and how they were at risk of disease and death every day. I knew these facts already; we have been taught since we were very young about the cruelty and inhumanity of Hitler and the Nazis. Even the crematorium did not really affect me. Only when I came to the cemetery, and saw the mass of unnamed graved dedicated to ashes of the Jews whose lives were erased did I finally feel something and connected it to my own history.

Jami M: Today we went to Terezin, located about an hour outside of Prague. Our first stop was in the main part of town. We went to the school building to start our tour & there we sang our morning prayers. I liked that we started our day in the school because it showed us that the Jewish people had hope & they tried as best they could to continue living their lives. Being there singing was proof that we have withstood so much & are still here. For me, the most powerful & most emotional part of the day was when we sang all together in the secret synagogue & in the cemetery. I felt so connected to our whole group, the Jewish people & history.

Noah S: Today we went to a place called Terezin, it was divided into two main parts. The first was a small fortress that was used as a prison for political prisoners and Jews. I found this place interesting because we were taking a tour around the ruins of an old abandoned prison and seeing how the prisoners lived and what they did to survive. The second part was used as a ghetto to house Jews that were on the way to other concentration camps. I found this area interesting because it showed me that even though the Jews were in such terrible conditions, they still built a synagogue and put on plays in defiance of the Nazi regime.

Jacqueline F: I was surprised with today’s experience at Terezin. Whenever I go to Holocaust related things, I always feel slightly disconnected, because my family wasn’t affected at all. but today I walked out of the concentration camp inspired just like the rest of my friends – some who have family that survived and some that don’t. In Terezin, Jewish culture was able to grow, as we saw today from the art, music, theater, and a small synagogue. Even while oppressed, the Jewish spirit survived. Now, Terezin is an actual town that people live in proving that live was able to continue not only during, but after the war. Seeing the live in Terezin, rather than just the death, was a testament to the resilience of the Jews and of all humanity. When we were walking along the train tracks as well as when we were leaving the cemetery, I couldn’t help but feel grateful that I was a party of the generation that could leave that place alive. Looking back, I feel empowered. The victims of the Holocaust are a reason for me to live. They took advantage of the smallest opportunities in the worst of circumstances to try and assure continuity of their people and I feel that its our responsibility to honor that. What bothered me was the way the camp had been restored. There was a gift shop in the columbarium that made me particularly angry. I think it’s so imappropriate to have a tourist attraction nadjacent to where the ashes of thousands of people used to be stored. There’s apparently a shirt sold that says “I survived Terezin” which I find disgusting as well. I was offended that the people who supposedly care the most would even think of commercializing one of the darkest events in history.

The train tracks that were used to transport people living in Terezin to other concentration or death camps

The entrance to the political prison located just outside the boundaries of the Terezin ghetto -- "Work will set you free" -- the same words over the entrance to Auschwitz.