Auschwitz

HOLOCAUST-Auschwitz and Krakow Poland

Berlin, Germany
Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Poland

After the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, the SS opened the Concentration Camp Auschwitz to imprison and destroy the Polish resistance and the Polish elite. In early 1942, the SS opened an extermination camp nearby, close to the village of Birkenau. The Auschwitz-Birkenau camp became the center of the Holocaust in which up to 5000 Jewish deportees a day (close to two million victims altogether) were killed with poisonous gas.

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The Commitment

Volunteers will be working on the grounds of the Auschwitz Museum and participating in historical preservation activities of the camps. Volunteers will participate in a hands-on service experience that supports existing efforts to maintain the camp. Participants will work on preservation, documentation and archive projects. Volunteers will also be meeting with Holocaust survivors, taking tours of the Museums of Auschwitz, Birkenau and Stamleger, visiting the picturesque towns of Krakow and Oswiecim (Jewish center, cemetery, market square) and Czestochowa (the most famous Polish monastery), taking a sightseeing trip to Wieliczka Salt Mines, and possibly taking an afternoon to visit an art-exhibition in the monastery of Harmeze, which was installed by a survivor.

The Impact

Former concentration camps in Germany and Poland have been turned into centers of historical learning, mourning and remembrance. Since the last generation of Holocaust survivors is going to die within the next two decades, future generations will have no opportunity for a dialogue about the first hand account of a Holocaust victim. Therefore, the importance of historical representation in memorial sites like concentration camps and Holocaust Museums is more important now than ever. The opportunity to honor and serve the last remaining Holocaust survivors before they too pass into history is rare and incomparable. Survivors, their descendents and the surrounding community wish for the preservation of Nazi Death Camps and they wish for an increasing awareness of the atrocities. We need to ensure that the World War II mantra, "Never Again," does not pass into history with the generation that first articulated it.

Program Details

Sample Itinerary >>

Amizade Schedule - for Auschwitz program dates and costs.

Handbook (pdf) - Logistical information and more is available in our Auschwitz Handbook.

Applications >

Auschwitz Program References

Lara Judson judson11@wilkes.edu
Morgan Kuhns kuhnsma@wilkes.edu
Allyson Bazaraky bazarsab@wilkes.edu
Kevin Gaughenbaugh gaughenb@wilkes.edu 570-408-5904
Cory Chevalier jackgates1@yahoo.com