Ghost Tracks, Stones of Remembrance, and a Reborn City Looking Westward The second and last day of this trip extension saw Paul and Mary Blair join me for a tour of Treblinka, the death camp about 2 hours outside of Warsaw – where more than 800,000 people (mostly Jews) were exterminated by the Nazi Operation Reinhardt. I shall say no more. Here are some pictures: Then, we made our way to Warsaw and enjoyed a little taste of what this rebuilt city has to offer – a brief glance left me with the firm impression that it (and Poland), though

A couple extra days of exploring in Poland I am able to spend a couple extra days in Poland with good friends Paul and Mary Blair. The first day was spent in Lublin, touring Majdanek, one of the death camps in Poland, and then exploring Lublin’s downtown. Here are some pics: Tomorrow we will make our way up to Warsaw. Treblinka will be toured.

Free Kraków Group 2’s last full day in Europe was a free day in Kraków. Here are some pics: Paul and Mary Blair and I will be spending two extra days to go to Lublin and see Majdanek and then Warsaw to visit Treblinka.

A Church, a Museum, a Camp, and a Concert Our penultimate full day of the trip included a stop by Corpus Christi Basilica in Kazimierz (the old Jewish district), a tour of the museum located at Schindler’s factory, a walk out to the grounds of Płaszów – the concentration camp for the Kraków Jews (and depicted in the movie Schindler’s List), and a concert at St. Peter and St. Paul’s church in Old Town, Kraków. Here are some pics: (BTW, the concert was amazing! Incredible musicians playing Back, Vivaldi, Chopin, Mozart, etc.) Tomorrow is Free Kraków.

Auschwitz On Monday we visited Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II (Birkenau). Only pictures today (with captions): Tomorrow we will go through the museum at Schindler’s Enamel Works Factory.

Ravensbrück The group spend several hours traveling north of Berlin by regional train to the idyllic German city of Fürstenberg-an-der-Havel. Sitting across a lake from this beautiful northern German city are the tortured grounds of Ravensbrück Concentration Camp – where we learned that the Holocaust is not merely a masculine phenomenon, it is a human one. Here are some pictures from the day: Here are some thoughts a put together related to this camp: https://paulnesselroade.com/blog/ravensbruck-and-the-nature-of-evil/ Tomorrow is “free Berlin.” On Sunday we will make our way to Kraków.

Sachsenhausen Short and sweet today – I am exhausted. Here are some pics from our visit to this very important camp sitting just 20 miles north of Berlin. Tomorrow we will take a regional train up to Furstenberg-an-der-Havel and visit Ravensbrück.

U.S. Embassy, the Jewish Museum of Berlin, and time to explore Wednesday’s agenda had us visiting the U.S. Embassy (thanks to Dan Hutchens and his connections), an exploration of the Jewish Museum of Berlin, and then some free time to explore the city. Here are some pictures from the day (we are still waiting for the folks at the U.S. Embassy to send us some pics – we weren’t allowed to take any): On Thursday we will go out to Oranienburg, a community just to the north of Berlin – the location of one of the most significant concentration camps

Brandenburg and East Side Gallery On Tuesday, the group was accompanied by Dr. Christian Marx out to Brandenburg-an-der-Havel, a beautiful historic city about 45 minutes by regional train to the east of Berlin. Here we explored the town and had an extensive presentation and educational experience at the memorial/museum situated on the grounds of the first euthanasia actions in Nazi Germany. Then, later in the evening, many of us made our way to the East Side Gallery and finally on to dinner in Alexanderplatz. A full and challenging day. Here are some pics: Tomorrow we will visit the U.S. Embassy

Walking Tour of Downtown Berlin On Monday, fourteen AU students arrived in Berlin, jet-lagged, but with enough vigor to push through a walking tour of downtown Berlin. Below are some pics from the day: Tomorrow we get up early and train it to Brandenburg-an-der-Havel.