By Kayla Cicero

Since it was my first time traveling to Europe, I did not know what cultural differences to except compared to the United States. I learned quickly that there was a lot. For example, cigarette smoking is normal and accepted in Europe, causally starting to drink at eleven in the morning, not having street names, but rather numbers, and Europe’s crazy driving habits and lack of turning signals, just to name a few differences. However, differences did not just stop between the United States and Europe. I noticed there were differences between how Poland, Czech Republic, and Germany present the Holocaust history in museums and memorials.

           

Our first stop was Poland, and here was where we visited the long anticipated “Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum”. Auschwitz was the largest of Hitler’s killing sites along with Birkenau’s gas chamber that killed about two million people. Not only was Auschwitz-Birkenau the largest death camp, but it is the most well-known camp around the world. I was, for lack of a better word, “excited” to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau because maybe people told me that the experience is once in a life time and since we took the class, I was going to be already be highly educated in the information. I wanted to feel the emotion of being there and I wanted to live in the knowledge instead of just listen to it. Unfortunately, this did not happen for me. I believe that Auschwitz-Birkenau was too touristy. Our tour guide was just spewing out information and facts for the whole hour and a half tour, and did not let us take a chance to let the information and our environment sink in. I was very disappointed with the tour and even the condition they kept the camp. Rooms were set up with props and articles of clothing that we could only see through a glass or peep in through the door. The museum was mostly set up to show the loss of the Jews, by including all their hair that was cut off, their pots and pans, and their crutches and medical equipment. I felt like Auschwitz-Birkenau was on display to be a tourist attraction and not to honor those killed at that very place.

           

Our second stop was Czech Republic where we visited the labor camp of Terezin. The group’s expectations were not high after visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau, but we were willing to give it a try. Terezin was a prison, before a camp/ghetto, that held political leaders, before Hitler took it over. The camp was established by Reinhard Heydrich in 1941 to resemble a ghetto. It was full of elderly Jews, Jew war veterans, scholars, and Jews married to Aryans. The strange part about Terezin was that a video was filmed there to promote the living styles of Terezin to gain more Jews. The film included smiling citizens and soccer tournaments to show others that living in Terezin was a great way of living. We toured the camp with our tour guide and after the first few minutes, I knew it was already better than the Auschwitz-Birkenau tour. Our tour guide gave us enough information but also enough time to let the information sink in while walking around the rooms and cells we were actually allowed into. Terezin was bare bones; no props set up, just the creepy environment and vibes of being in a camp where people were held, beaten, and killed in. We were given descriptive details about the lives of the prisoners and how drunk Nazis would beat people for fun in the room we were actually standing in. We also toured around the Nazi quarters, which the Jews all built, and got to see the luxurious side with the large buildings and swimming pool. Seeing both sides of how Jews and the Nazis lived gave me chills down my spine. I really “enjoyed” going to Terezin because I felt like it was not just a tourist attraction but rather a place to snap people into reality that terrible things happened during the holocaust and we were standing in the same exact room.

           

Finally, we arrived in Germany, and not going to lie, I was very nervous to go to memorial and museums in Germany. I felt weird and uncomfortable about entering a museum in the country that was responsible for all the deaths. One museum we visited that stood out to me was the Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds. The Documentation Center was the museum that gave a whole timeline from the beginning of the Holocaust and how it became to the very end and the Nuremberg Trials. The museum was just copied pictures and paragraphs of German works so an ear piece was needed to translate in English. The museum was very dull and boring, but we learned quickly that each museum in Germany was just the same: same pictures, with almost the same text, no artifacts. This makes sense however because Germany does not want artifacts on display to treasure or promote, but instead wants visitors to learn the story of the Holocaust over and over again to have instilled into your brain. Also, at the Rally Grounds, I was a little disappointed on how poor it looked and how there was about to be a music festival on the grounds the next weekend, but I quickly came to terms on why on one cared. Just liked the museums lacking artifacts, Germany is not paying to keep the Nazi Rally Grounds clean to remember what happened there. What is there to remember and cherish there? Nothing.

           

Each country had their own way of presenting the information about the Holocaust and related events. I did not realize that each country would be different until we visited each museum and landmark. Coming from the United States, with the knowledge we learned from overseas, I believe people expect different information or even different museum set ups. I think people forget that the Holocaust was a moment in time that actually happened and was a time that millions of innocent people died. Trying to create museums and memorials, whether in a country that is responsible or in a country that was victimized is very hard to do.

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