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Personal Reflection/Anecdote

Entering Auschwitz-Birkenau From the

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By Mindy Walker

Point of view and perspective are passions of mine
when teaching any historical topic or subject. Being
able to see an event through multiple lenses is part
of an essential set of skills students need to analyze
and think about historical events. The current
approach that I take when teaching the Holocaust
is having students observe key photographs from
The Auschwitz Album, first known as the Lili
Jacob album. Lili was a survivor of a sub-camp
from Auschwitz-Birkenau called Dora-Mittlebau
(United States Holocaust Memorial and Museum
[USHMM], 2023). While trying to find extra
clothing for warmth in the abandoned SS barracks,
she found an album that contained photographs
Back enterance to Auschwitz-Birkenau, near the taken of a deportation at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Sauna and Kanada
She immediately recognized family members and
friends who had been led to the gas chambers upon their arrival (USHMM, 2023). My own personal skill
set was pushed recently when I visited Auschwitz-Birkenau so that I could bring current relevance to the
pictures in this album. My goal was to take present-day pictures in some of the same locations so I could
help my students develop historical empathy and relevance to this complex historical topic.
In summer 2023, I was fortunate to attend a European Study Tour planned by The Jewish Foundation
for the Righteous. This trip was possible because I received multiple grants and awards, including the
Cornetet Award from Delta Kappa Gamma International Educators Foundation (DKGIEF). Our group
included 12 people who are currently teachers or museum staff members from across the nation. Professor
Robert Jan van Pelt was the Holocaust scholar who accompanied us on the trip, and he is a leading
Holocaust historian on Auschwitz-Birkenau. My last visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau had been in 2010 with
a standard, quick, school-group tour, not with a Holocaust scholar familiar with the site. This second visit
would not be a quick tour but an educational experience involving a 10-hour day and 15,000 steps with
our scholar and a 16-year veteran tour guide and expert on the Auschwitz-Birkenau exhibit and memorial.

On the Tour

Our day of study at Birkenau did not begin at the large
gate. We passed the gate, took a side road, and began at
the location of the spur line so that our group could see
the direction and precise location of the connection to the
rail line before the train cars approached the infamous
gate. This location was also where the first transports
disembarked and then walked through the camp for the
selection process. The charter bus then took us along
narrow roads, and we approached what seemed to be Auschwitz-Birkenau from the back of the rail
beautiful fields. The first field had a gate, chained and line, looking toward the front gate.

Collegial Exchange · 29