On this Study Tour, we visit two great Polish cities, Warsaw and Krakow. We start off with two days in the capital, with one day used for an excursion to the site of the world’s first extermination camp, at Chelmno, some 60 km to the west. We also walk the city to see other important sites, including the former ghetto area, the memorials to the 1944 uprising, and of course the reconstructed inner city and the Culture Palace.
We will then travel by train to Krakow, one of Europe’s most well preserved and romantic medieval towns. We shall walk the former Jewish neighborhood at Kazimierz, see the remains of the former ghetto area at Podgorze, and do a full day visit to the former concentration- and extermination camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Tour Objectives
- Explore some of the challenges and dilemmas facing the custodians of the Nazi killing centers today
- Provide primary context for the readings and cinematic material introduced in the classroom
- Gain first-hand experiences by visiting some of the sites of Nazi oppression: ghettos, concentration and extermination camps
Possible Activities
- Visit Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps
- Get a guided walking tour of Krakow, including Kazimierz the revitalized Jewish Quarter
- Visit Schindler's Factory, which tells the wartime history of its owner Oskar Schindler, as well as the stories of Jewish prisoners of the Płaszów camp