It would be hard to describe the highs and lows of this trip to anyone not along for the bus ride. Walking in the footsteps of those entering Auschwitz’s then eating lunch with educators at a park bench during a mild summer afternoon. Learning of the post war pogroms, while watching a grandchild and grandmother reunited at the scene. Standing along a highway construction area, learning of a terrible atrocity while a far off gun range makes a shocking racket. Seeing the moving tribute at Treblinka with the sounds of a violin resonating over the voice of history. Those same voices recounting history upon a peak overlooking the beautiful river valley. Our colleague Andy finding the name of a family member and the peace of completing a voyage, even with the knowledge of its tragic beginning. The contrasts have been unimaginable to anyone who is now on this journey together and all the while we find some support with the idea that our energy for education and dedication to the future can and will make a difference.
We have learned about the holocaust since our childhood and attempted to make sense of it in numbers and graphs and possibly maps but nothing could come close to the experience we are having together this week. It seems that after every stop or story or museum, we share an energetic conversation about what it meant to us, what we saw, or how we can utilize this to change the way our students see the world. One educator accurately described this journey as the ultimate professional development. Each of us taking a piece and part of this collective journey and attempting to formulate plans to integrate into curriculum in classrooms across four states and multiple disciplines. We are inspired by the idea that we can make a difference and supported by the examples we have seen where individual decisions made an impact on the lives of individuals. We see this in the monuments that stand because of the advocacy of Howard Chandler and his family and the impact that Classrooms Without Borders can have on our world and our future.