Reflections

All 2011 MRH participants were given the opportunity to put their reflections on paper, or in video / photo form and share this with the remainder of the group, through a contest in which there is a prize.

With few entries this year, we had the opportunity to see / hear these four, which included a beautiful film by Dmitri Panfilenko.

The film creates such emotion, and is a wonderful example of the program and the sites we visited while in Europe. 

Please turn on your speakers, and spend the next few moments watching the film, so you can continue to pass this around and reach a wider audience: to help us in our mission of educating.

To view the video, click here.

"We have a hereafter because of you" - Faigie Libman.

Inspiration: Liberation Stories

Our retreat was held in
Orangeville, Ontario at the
Ecology Retreat Centre.

This past weekend, I had the honour of sitting in and listening to more stories of survival, hope, and love as told by Pinchas Gutter and Faigie Libman: the survivors who travel with the March.

Pinchas, a survivor of Majdanek Extermination Camp, and Faigie, of Birkenau, continue to offer inspiration and love to all - especially those who take the time to carry on their stories; those eager to listen and learn, and return home to share, as we were, this weekend.

Three weeks prior to Pinchas' liberation from a camp in the Russian area of Germany near the Czech border, he was sent on a death march with approximately 1500 others. Only half survived and were liberated by the Russians.

On the 8 of May, 1945, Pinchas was 13 years old and "heard the fantastic noise" of tanks coming into the camp. He was liberated by the Red Army, and then sent to Britain where he was happy, blocking the horrors of his past. After liberation, there was no support - other than for physical ailments. Unlike many liberation stories, though, few died from overeating as the Russians were organized and rationed the food to build up strength, and increase weight.

Faigie, speaking to us at the retreat.

Pinchas has lived in every corner of the world: first in Poland, the England, Israel (where he met his wife, at 18), Brazil, South Africa, and now, Canada.

Faigie was liberated in 1944, at the age of 10 and a half, from Stutthof concentration camp, with her mother. Faigie remembers arriving at a large castle, and being allowed to sleep inside for the night. The following morning, the silence was frightening, until a man with a white horse rode up to the castle - a member of the Red Army - who was pulled from his horse and hugged and kissed by the women, as he was offering them freedom; they were liberated. Faigie remembers this moment - but was unclear and doubted her memory, almost. Was the horse white?

Faigie shared a special moment with us this weekend, when she read a journal entry by her mother for the first time. The horse was white. The women did kiss and hugg the soldier, pulling him off his horse. Faigie was thrilled, and we all recognized the special moment in which she relived her history: an important, beautiful moment of history - both then, and as we made it together.

Faigie's mother was only 33 years old at liberation, and wrote in her journal (about their liberation day) that "it seems as if the sun is shining today".

The group at this weekend's retreat, including Faigie and
Pinchas.

Faigie, weighing 50-60lbs at liberation, remembers most the feeling of clean clothes - especially since she had never changed her underwear in fear that someone may notice she was not an adult, but a child. I can't imagine...

Upon liberation, Faigie and her mother decided to not return to Lithuania, but had hope that if they had survived, someone else may have, too. Her father did not, but died in Dachau shortly before she was liberated.

Faigies will to live, even now, and her love for humanity continues to amaze me, as she told us these stories and said "you pull yourself up and say 'I shall go on'".

And with this, I return to the moment we arrived at the retreat on Friday, where we shared our original reason for attending / applying for MRH, and what we really understand to be our reason, looking back. I believe that originally, I had planned to go on MRH to really expand my knowledge of the Holocaust and to complete myself in that way, of understanding history. Looking back, I realize that I not only received so much more from this program, but I really wanted to participate to experience love, so I will never hate, and so I can end hate. And I received that from every other participant, from Faigie, and from Pinchas, and I truly love them back for having the courage to make this happen: for sharing their story and optimism. For inspiring. For educating. And for their hope.

I thank both Pinchas and Faigie for allowing us to share this personal connection with them, for allowing us in to their religion and lives to try and understand their past. Here, you can see a video from the trip (in Tykocin) of the two opening their hearts to us, and sharing all.

"You all have homework to do, for the rest of your lives, as you have become our ambassadors" - Faigie Libman.

Between Shades of Gray: Book Review

I just finished Ruta Sepetys' fictional novel Between Shades of Gray, and I recommend it to all of you. As the above link tells you, the novel is about Lina, and her family / friends who are deported from Lithuania and sent to Siberia in 1941.

This was different than the other Holocaust materials I have read, to date, as it didn't focus on Nazi Germany and the Holocaust / Death camps, but rather labour camps in Soviet Russia, at the time of Stalin.

With many parallels between what was happening in Nazi Germany and Stalin's Russia, it was hard to believe that Sepetys' novel was indeed fiction, opposed to a memoir, similar to those I have been reading since being accepted on this trip, and returning home.

A very well written piece; realistic, emotional, heartbreaking and educational, I leave with you an excerpt from the author's note:

"Some wars are about bombing. For the people of the Baltics, this war was about believing. In 1991, after fifty years of brutal occupation, the three Baltic countries regained their independence, peacefully and with dignity. They chose hope over hate and showed the world that even through the darkest night, there is light. Please research it. Tell someone. These three tiny nations have taught us that love is the most powerful army. Whether love of friend, love of country, love of God, or even love of enemy - love reveals to us the truly miraculous nature of the human spirit.'" - Ruta Sepetys

The calm before the storm...

MRH Participants 2011 who attended the reunion in
Orangeville, Ontario. 

I managed to make it home from Orangeville, Ontario this evening despite Hurricane Irene who is paying us a visit. It seems I made it just in time as the wind has now picked up and I imagine flights are delayed / cancelled coming into New Brunswick. That being said, I also feel as if this weekend is the calm before the storm...

Our weekend was spent in intense planning sessions, mapping our events, organizing and hearing more stories from survivors Pinchas and Faigie and from second generation survivors. A busy, emotional and inspirational weekend; just the start to our chaotic lives and welcoming MRH / Holocaust educational teachings into our schedules. This is only the beginning; the calm before the storm.

Please stay tuned over the next few days as I took many notes this weekend, did a lot of planning, and have lots to share with you.

Leadership Retreat Weekend

Really looking forward to seeing these boys! L-R: Riley (
from Vancouver), Dan (Calgary), myself, Kevin (Ottawa).

I'm just about ready to head to Orangeville, Ontario for the MRH leadership retreat weekend.

This weekend, not only will I be reunited with many that took the trip overseas with me, but I will have the opportunity to spend time putting projects in place, and working on how to be a leader / how to teach Holocaust education. I'm really looking forward to this.

As a treat, both Faigie and Pinchas will be joining us and we will be able to learn more of their own stories.

I'm unsure of the Internet availability while I'm away, so if I can't blog over the weekend, I will upon my return to Fredericton.

"A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well, and to help those who are doing well to do even better" - Jim Rohn

Day 7 Journal: Tykocin and Treblinka

22 May 2011: Warsaw, town of Tykocin, Treblinka and Closing Ceremonies

The Tykocin Synagogue
is now a museum, depicting
Jewish life in Europe
pre-war. A beautiful exhibit.

This post has been a long time coming, I know. My apologies. However, with just a day until I will be reunited with the 2011 MRH participants and leaders, I decided to sit down, review my notes and my journal entries, my thoughts, my emotions, and the vast knowledge I received several months ago, in Europe.

I'm struggling to grasp what these places looked like before, during and directly after the war, as we visit these areas so rich in history. The black and white photos I've seen don't seem real in a way; the cities are bigger than I imagined, they're so built up and modern, economical...it's hard to picture things as they were, especially since I only know whats what and the orientation of WWII Krakow, for example, from Michael's knowledge.

The exception to this is the small village of Tykocin, in North-East Poland. It's a gorgeous and traditional looking old farming town: many houses are still made of wood, surrounded by large fields, and nearby barns. The synagogue, built in the mid 1600s (and now a museum) was the centre of the town - right next to the market square. A sad story of deporting and executing these Jews, I found this village a solemn place. The cars didn't drive as wild as elsewhere, families were out in the yard and there was still life at the synagogue, as hundreds of swallows had made nests under the eaves.

With this, after seeing the exhibit of Jewish life in Poland pre-war, came the eerie feeling that no one survived from this town.

The Tykocin Synagogue

Respectfully and solemnly, we drove the route those Jews marched to the forest - where 3 grave sites now stand - where they were executed: watching each group before them. The bus was silent, and traditional hasidic music played softly in the background, through the bus speakers. The area was gorgeous - the walk would have been long. We didn't need to speak, we all had the same shivers running down our spine, the same horrid images in our mind.

Israeli flags, and numerous Star of David
symbols were located around the three
grave sites: attached to fences and trees.

It was almost peaceful in the forest - a beautiful spot, out of the hot summer sun. New sounds of life - birds were singing and the trees were whistling in the breeze, and Pinchas' prayer in Hebrew echoed throughout the woods. I could not see him, but his voice, his beautiful song, found me. I stopped walking, I stood in silence, goosebumps took over my body. The whole path into the woods was lined with students, heads down, listening. A beautiful, breath-taking commemoration; a special moment we shared at this site - one of many.

These spot raised so many questions for me - did these Jews die proud of their faith? Was it a beautiful spot they were marched to; did the birds sing?

I saw the same beauty in the Okapowa Street Cemetery, another site we visited today. This cemetery is located on the border of the Warsaw ghetto: part of the cemetery is within the ghetto walls, the other on the Aryan side. Here, we heard stories of the Warsaw ghetto - sadly, I was on information overload and cannot retell them here for lack of memory, but I spent some time at the back of the group, admiring the beautiful tombstones, and amazed at the stories of escape Michael told us. This cemetery was freedom, for many. Michael told us a story about a school group or a tour of some sort several years ago visiting this cemetery, where the teacher/guide lifted a sewer cover, asking the students to smell. And what did they smell? It was the smell of freedom for many Jews in the Warsaw ghetto, as food was smuggled in this way, and many Jews escaped through this area.

Michael showing us the
sewer used to escape the Warsaw
ghetto, on to the Aryan side.

Not only do I find it hard to imagine sneaking through the sewers to freedom, but the image of a student learning the smell of a sewer - no doubt awful in the heat of the summer - learning that this was freedom, really touched me. There were so many beautiful aspects of the trip that made everything make sense; made it real, and made me understand more than a textbook can educate.

Finally, today we travelled several hours to visit Treblinka extermination camp, in North-Eastern / central Poland. The bus ride was long, we were hot and tired, and I'll admit, I didn't see the point in a 3 hour bus ride for an hour at a site without a museum. I regret ever having those feelings, as Treblinka was so powerful. The ride was long, the weather was warm, and my eyes were heavy, but Treblinka is a place everyone should visit when doing a Holocaust trip through Poland.

Solely an extermination camp, we followed the old cement planks on the ground leading up to the platform people were let out at. Large stones of country names - where these people were deported from - were located here. The sheer size of the stones affected me; I felt tiny and insignificant, and the stones had such power to them.

The main memorial at Treblinka

Treblinka had 13 gas chambers, meaning 2000 people could be killed at a time. The time between arriving at Treblinka and emptying the crematorium of bodies was only 2 hours - the perfect extermination camp, the Nazis thought.

The memorial at Treblinka is all in stone - including almost 2000 small stones of community names; representing a cemetery for the 900,000 people killed at Treblinka. Only one stone commemorates an individual - I believe his name was Janusz Korcaz. Korcaz worked at an orphanage, and refused to leave the children - accompanying them to Treblinka, where they all perished.

I repeat, Treblinka was powerful - its empty area, its stones and mock cemeterys, and it was here that Pinchas sung a song of the Warsaw Ghetto that he wrote, in memory of his sister. Pinchas' twin sister perished during the Holocaust, and he only remembers her long braid down her neck. Click here to hear / see him sing the song.

Our fearless leaders / the MRH staff

This evening was our closing ceremonies; a nice restaurant, a beautiful commemoration to all that perished, and all who have the strength to stand up and make an effort to change the world.

"Whoever is happy will make others happy, too" - Anne Frank

An Evening of Education and Inspiration ... and success!

Victoria Clowater (MRH 2011), Erin Legare (MRH 06), myself,
Mayor Brad Woodside, Holocaust survivor Dr. Israel Unger,
and UNB professor on German history Dr. Lisa Todd.

Thank you everyone who was able to attend my event, held at the Legion, this past Thursday: "An Evening of Education and Inspiration".

While I was a bit disappointed in the numbers, I was thrilled with the way things went. I know that it being summer had a role in the numbers. I tried my best to advertise but was away from home the week prior and I didn't get as many posters around Fredericton as I had hoped. Alas, ~32 is better than none.

We did, however, raise a decent amount of money to be donated to the Canadian Centre for Diversity for future MRH trips. This was really important to me as there were so many donors this year that made it possible for all 59 of us to travel together and form such a special bond, I felt like I had to do a part in this, too.

The presentations went really well - we split up the evening with poems and testimonies for an emotional aspect, and shared the song of the Warsaw Ghetto that Pinchas wrote / sang for us at Treblinka. Victoria spoke about her reactions to the trip, as well as the major points that she shall always remember - including the memorial for the gay victims of the Holocaust. Erin spoke about the emotional response to the March; she hasn't done any presentations like this in the 5 years since her trip, so it was really exciting to have her with us, sharing her knowledge and experiences. I spoke about Philip Riteman, the role of those we marched for, and the importance of "passing the torch", as Faigie told us she does each year on the March, and something we did on Thursday, to our audience.

Our guest speakers were also fantastic - Dr. Lisa Todd provided a wonderful background of the Holocaust and the atrocities we learned about while overseas, while Mayor Woodside spoke of the importance of Holocaust education, how moving it is to see these places, and made special note how proud he is of myself, Victoria, and Erin for hosting and holding this evening, and for devoting the remainder of our lives to standing up against prejudice and discrimination. Finally, Israel Unger, a Holocaust survivor, spoke about his experiences. He was 7, if my memory serves me, when the war ended.

I am pleased with how things went, and the responses have been wonderful. A friend of my mom's described it best: "we have lived such sheltered and uncomplicated lives in comparison.."

For my mom's post on this event, click here.

And thank you to everyone who came out on Thursday, and to everyone who continues to follow my blog. You have allowed me to pass the torch.

On the 25 of August, I'll be leaving for Toronto for several days for the March reunion - getting together with the majority of this year's participants and leaders to discuss things since the trip, and put plans into action for further education. Stay tuned for more on that ...