Holocaust Museum Reflections

On Thursday, July 3, four of our bunks traveled to Washington, D.C. for a special trip to the Holocaust Museum. Feedback from campers and staff who attended was both powerful and moving. We asked some campers to share their thoughts and feelings about the experience. Here are links to the blog posts with their thoughts:

LaQuashia Wider, Bunk N
Jazz Teich, Bunk N
Lindsay Goldstein, Bunk N
Alicia Garvey, Bunk O
Dani Schwartz, Bunk O
Aunt Sarah Rosenberg, Bunk N

Feel free to share your feedback!

Holocaust Museum Reflection - Aunt Sarah Rosenberg

Our trip to the Holocaust Museum was an emotional and unforgettable experience that I’m glad I could share with my campers. The trip to the museum gave a clear understanding of the Holocaust’s cruelty and damage and gave the campers an inside look on what happened. I enjoyed the trip a great deal as did the rest of the group. It is an important place, not only for the Jewish culture but for every child to visit. We appreciate the board sending us to the museum. Thank you!

Aunt Sarah Rosenberg
Council Girls, Bunk N

Holocaust Museum Reflection - camper Dani Schwartz

What the people went through during such hard times as the Holocaust is simply unimaginable. Innocent Jews, homosexuals, and gypsies were the victims targeted for the extreme suffering. Women’s hair was shaved off and used for mattresses and slippers, children had all their toys taken away, and men were forced as labor workers. Thousands of people were convinced to take showers while in reality the chambers expelled poisonous gas in very cramped conditions. Meanwhile, the Nazis would be watching the captured die in a matter of minutes through a peephole. Nazi control spread rapidly in Europe to parts of Africa. As a result of all the cruel actions by Adolf Hitler and his followers over 6 million people died. The Holocaust Museum has affected me so much, seeing all the struggles innocent people had to endure. Those who lost their lives will always be remembered. All that survived are extremely lucky. Whether they survived the Holocaust or not, each and every person was very brave and their battles through the Nazi invasion will never be forgotten.

Dani Schwartz
Council Girls, Bunk O

Holocaust Museum Reflection - camper Alicia Garvey

My experience at the Holocaust Museum was a memorable and enjoyable time. My person’s name was Simone Weil. She smuggled little kids from the Nazi War. She made a daycare center for them and got a degree to be a kindergarten teacher. Simone Weil was born in Ringford, France in 1920. I researched her and found out that she didn’t die. She came to America. Simone Weil was only one of many that helped people. The Holocaust Museum was a great experience and hopefully I can get another chance to go.

Alicia Garvey
Council Girls, Bunk O

Holocaust Museum Reflection - camper Lindsay Goldstein

My trip to the Holocaust Museum was moving. Even though I’ve been there once before, when you’re younger, you don’t get the same effect until you’re older and you can understand more. Personally, being there and just sitting in the presence of all that history made me cry.

Just listening to what they had to say, and looking at pictures of the torture they had to go through just really makes you think, “Why?” “Why would one man hate one race of people so badly that he would think of people as bugs that need to be exterminated?”

I’ll admit, at times, just looking at pictures just made me cry. It’s horrible. I think it was one of the best trips I’ve been on, and I really appreciate having the camp take us there.

Lindsay Goldstein
Council Girls, Bunk N

Holocaust Museum Reflection - camper Jazz Teich

The Holocaust Museum was a great experience. Though I hadn’t learned much more about the Holocaust, it reminded me of three very important lessons. They are tolerance, love, and forgiveness. Without those three things, we saw what the world turned to. I also see these three lessons here at camp. This camp daily practices tolerance, love, and forgiveness. We are a camp of many different cultures, races, and religions, but we all get along. So in a way, the Holocaust Museum and this camp teach us all that when we all come together and use love, tolerance, and forgiveness, anything is possible.

Jazz Teich
Council Girls, Bunk N

Holocaust Museum Reflection - camper LaQuashia Wider

The Holocaust Museum was very sad. I was expecting to experience the same thing I’ve always heard about the Holocaust. But I didn’t. It was actually interesting because I learned from a perspective of a little boy named Daniel. Daniel helped me understand how it was for a kid in the Holocaust. The Holocaust Museum taught me a lot and for that I’m grateful.

LaQuashia Wider
Council Girls Village, Bunk O