It is hard to find the right way to begin writing about a trip to study the holocaust. Originally, I came from a school and neighborhood with few if any people who were Jewish. Because of this, I felt everything I learned about the holocaust was almost foreign to me. While in grade school learning about the holocaust I got the feeling that I was being taught about an event that had no real connection to any of my grade school classmates. My history teacher would often describe the holocaust using phrases like “those Jews”, “those Nazis”, “those camps”. I felt then as I do now that the holocaust should have a deeper meaning than simply an event that involved “those” people and places. When presented with an opportunity to go on a trip to visit the places that I had only read about in books I jumped at it. I do not think it is possible to truly grasp the significance of the holocaust if one does not visit the camps and other historic sites first hand. There is only so much words in text books can teach you about the holocaust, the human element of the event you can only grasp when you are walking through the camps where millions of people met their end. Only then, I believe, can someone understand how horrific the holocaust truly was and not pass it off as just another event in another history book.
-Nick Bocanegra