Going into the trip, I knew it would be a sobering experience but I was unaware as how each place would affect me. Walking throughout Auschwitz-Birkenau was an experience I never thought I’d have. After studying the Holocaust for more than half my life it was grounding to see the actual sites of the places I’d been studying for years. It was particularly interesting to see how each country decided to commemorate and remember the lives lost in the Holocaust. For example, the camp Terezin, in the Czech Republic, was left as it was and it seems like they have not really changed or altered much of how the camp originally was. In fact, if it was not for the tour guide I probably would have no idea of the specifics of each room and what they were used for as there were not really any plaques or signs to tell visitors what the purpose and significance of each room and place was.

Auschwitz, in Poland, was entirely different in the way that they commemorated the camp as Auschwitz 1 was set up like more of a museum. Each room that we entered had display cases with sign in multiple languages in order to tell visitors who may not have had a tour guide what was displayed. Auschwitz-Birkenau, however, is more similar to Terezin in the way that it is set up as there are not many signs directing visitors and our tour guide gave us a majority of the information needed about the ruins we were seeing and how they ended up that way. Auschwitz-Birkenau and Terezin seemed more authentic than Auschwitz 1 because we were able to walk through where people actually were and see things as they were during the Holocaust while Auschwitz 1 was more like a museum.

Surprisingly, one of the most eerie and surreal places we visited was the Wansee Villa where the Wansee Conference occurred where a group of officials decided the specifics of the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question”. Actually being in the place where this decision was made was a surreal feeling as it was weird to think that a place so beautiful once housed so much evil inside. I believe that watching the film “Conspiracy” in class definitely helped contribute to the experience because the dramatization of events showed how casually those present discussed the proposed annihilation of millions of people. Knowing this information from the film and knowing that at one point people actually had a conversation resulting in the decision to kill millions made the experience that much more emotional and eerie.