The Holocaust is one of the darkest moments in human history and no region was harder hit than Poland. While many refer to the Nazis' concentration camps, those camps took different forms; in many cases they were designed for labor. Certainly, the conditions were deplorable and many died, but death was not the sole intent. However, six extermination camps were established with that purpose in mind - and all of them were located in Poland.

Roughly four million people died in these six camps alone, including nearly 1.5 million in the infamous Auschwitz.

Of course, the end of Nazi rule did not bring peace for Poland; instead, it brought the Soviet Union. Stability and sovereignty are still recent phenomena in this country unfortunately situated between two traditional powers. However, Poland has become one of the fastest rising countries in Europe and with that economic development has come a resurgence of traditional culture, heavily influenced by its Catholic history. In certain places, too, Jews are slowly returning to Poland.

On the Legacy Project's trip to Poland, we visited three traditional centers of Polish Jewry - Warsaw, Krakow, and Lublin - each of which was located near a major extermination camp. We had three primary goals. First, we wanted to understand what happened, visiting the camps and speaking with survivors. Second, we wanted to learn how people who lived through or grew up near these tragedies were able to overcome those dark experiences to achieve fulfilling, happy lives. Finally, we wanted to explore the state of anti-Semitism in Poland today. Have the demons of the past been exorcised, or do they still haunt the country? We accomplished all of these goals and far more.

Below, you will find a collection that provide more information about the Legacy Project's 2007 trip to Poland, including a detailed trip report. Please contact us if you would like to learn more.

Trip Report: Summaries from our meetings, interviews, and extermination camp visits, including partial interview transcripts

Video Highlights: Produced by Transcendental Media, this short video will give you a feel for what happened on the road

Poland Resources: Online links and published books relevant to the trip

Poland Acknowledgments: Thanks to our Polish friends who made this whole thing possible

Poland 2007 Press Release: Learn more about the Flight from Death screenings in Poland - In English and In Polish