Treblinka Death Camp: By Robin Sweeting
Today we left Warsaw and on our way to the Treblenka Death Camp, I saw a sign for Białystok and I wondered how many relatives of my family may have ended up at Trblenka during Operation Reinhard and the systematic murder of Polish Jews. The Nazis turned Białystok Ghetto into an important forced-labor center, especially […]
Treblinka: By Andrew Surloff
Yesterday, as part of my journey through Poland with Classrooms Without Borders, I visited Treblinka. It was an experience that challenged me in ways I did not expect. What struck me immediately was the setting itself. Tall trees surrounded the memorial grounds. Birds chirped overhead. Wildflowers grew among the paths, and the sun shone brightly […]
Monday, July 22: Warsaw Zoo – By David Barkovich
“The only person who is a hero is my wife.” is probably a statement that every husband should utter regularly in order to recognize the amazing contributions that a wife and mother provides to the family unit, but when this was uttered by Dr. Jan Zabiński in reference to his wife Antonina Zabiński it was […]
Monday, June 22: Umschlagplatz Memorial – By Gabrielle Buccino
As we toured the land where the Warsaw Ghetto once stood, we began the memorial walk. Navigating from one section of the ghetto wall, we walked back to the main road, and had a view of a fairly stereotypical European street. Avi began explaining that in 1942, the Nazi’s erected a wooden wall between the […]
Warsaw Deportations Monument – By Ryan Hurley
Monuments can be affecting due to their size, physical shape, coloration, symbolism, etc. Today when we visited the Warsaw Deportations Monument I was mostly affected by the adjacent physical space. The monument itself is simple and reverent, split grey walls, with first names representing the 300,000 Jews corralled here, awaiting their fate. Within the monument itself Avi […]
Monday, June 22: The Zookeeper’s Wife – By Robin Sweeting
When I saw on the schedule a visit to the Warsaw Zoo, I wondered why visit a zoo? But then I learned about the zoo keeper and his wife. The zoo is in the middle of the city and was established in 1928. It was and is again a delightful destination for families to enjoy, […]
Warsaw First Impression – By Sabrina
First impression entering Warsaw was the contrast between all of the green and the graffiti. The country as a whole is almost 50% covered in grass and trees and that was obvious by the parks we passed leaving the airport. As we came on to more buildings there was a lot of graffiti which I […]
Warsaw Zoo – By Clara Dourm
Being in Warsaw, I keep asking myself how would I even begin to fight back against so much hatred and power. Antonina Żabińska used her skills and talents to save 300 people, 298 who survived. She didn’t have an army or political power; she had a house, a piano, an incredible empathy for living things, […]
Ghetto Wall – By Michelle Karim
I have read a number of books and seen different movies with scenes that take place at Ghetto wall in Warsaw, however, none of this prepared me for what I would feel as I stood by the Ghetto wall today – small, isolated, cut off, trapped. I was struck by the height of the wall! […]