On a Legacy tour, the proof was in the ashes

Under the grey skies of Poland, the Legacy group of 80 girls walked down the streets of history, revisiting the site where our ancestors fell, viewing buildings in famous photographs and seeing places that we have been learning about for years. Visiting Titkin, Warsaw, Krakow, Majdanek, Birkenau and Auschwitz, we felt the pain that was endured here and the loss of our ancestors who were murdered.

Treading along the train path of Treblinka, flashlights brightening the placement for our footsteps, we were underneath an abundance of stars. These were the stars that watched over the people, that heard the gunshots, that saw the blood. These were the tracks over which traveled cars that carried people to their death.

Approaching Majdanek, we saw the long brown building with the tall black chimney, the building seen in images and films. We walked past the barbed wire tied to cut, the watchtowers built so high, the train tracks old and rusty, their beds still standing. They were trapped in a world of death. Their only escape was ascending the brick chimney that towered over the camp. Then they were free. 

In the front of the camp, two identical buildings stood within a small distance of each other. Each held a sign that read “bathhouse.” Upon leaving their train, riders would enter one of them; unfortunately, only one building allowed their departure. We walked into the building where gas remnants trickled down the walls, one hole in the ceiling for the placement of their poison, a peephole in the door for the eyes of the Nazis as they gazed at their accomplishments of falling families. The grounds were cold as we sat together, singing, praying and shouting the “Shemah” for the people who were unable to do so. The nail marks spoke for the voices that couldn’t.  

“Arbeit Macht Frei” (“Work Makes You Free”) hung above our heads as we set foot into Auschwitz. The buildings in their deep red brick stood around us, holding history behind their doors. Empty gas cans ripped open on the top, skulls on their labels, “gift gas” written in small fine letters. Evil hands held these cans.