The villagers can hear the noise of the train making stops on the other side of the large hill that borders the small village. Almost daily, the low rumble stops as the train unloads then leaves. Very few know what is happening over the hill, and no one dares to find out.
Mr. Cwodzinski standing in front of Oskar Schindler's factory.
Social studies teacher Steve Cwodzinski strolls the grounds of what remains of the Belzec extermination camp located in Poland. On the horizon is the hill that once separated villagers from the horror that occurred at this camp. Half a million Jews perished here at the hands of 60 Nazis.
This summer, Cwodzinski was accepted into the Holocaust and Jewish Resistance Teachers Program, which annually takes 20 teachers from across the country to Poland and Israel to specifically study the Holocaust. Raised by his grandmother and grandfather, who both lost many friends and family in the Holocaust, Cwodzinski has always yearned to learn more about the event.
When he was 21 years old, Cwodzinski made his first trip to Europe eager to fulfill his knowledge, but due to the Cold War, he was not allowed to visit Poland, and because of financial limitations, he could not enter Israeli. For a decade longer, his wish to visit both countries stayed with him, and finally, one year, Cwodzinski was presented with the opportunity. Unfortunately, he was not accepted. Not letting anything is his path, he reapplied for the 2002 trip and was accepted, but because of the events on 9/11, the program canceled the trip that year. Still not giving up, Cwodzinski applied again and was accepted again; however this time, the program was not going to Israel, and he opted out of the trip. Last year, the program planned to travel to Israel again and Cwodzinski applied and was accepted.
On the four-week trip during this summer, Cwodzinski and the other 19 teachers were given tours of almost all the concentration camps located in Poland. Not only that, they also heard from survivors and liberators from the Holocaust. “Every day it felt like I was constantly being kicked in the stomach,” said Cwodzinski of the trip. One of the speakers who stood out to Cwodzinski was a woman who described in graphic detail how she had tried to abort her fetus so she wouldn’t have to bring a baby into the world after the Holocaust, but was not successful. “People were crying left and right,” he said.
Another moment that Cwodzinski remembers well was shortly after a survivor had given his lecture, one of the teachers had went up to the speaker and told him he should be an inspirational speaker. The man responded, “No, the real motivational speakers were the ones in the camps with me that kept saying ‘just hang on one more day because the next day the Nazis will let us free. Just hang on one more day.’
“As you are sitting there, you begin to wonder ‘what am I doing with my life?’” said Cwodzinski. “I mean, what do we worry about everyday? These people survived day to day on 180 calories.”
While in Israel, Cwodzinski visited the West Bank among many other places. Late one night, when Cwodzinski “probably shouldn’t have been out,” a group of Pakistani youth threw rocks at him. Besides that, Cwodzinski felt extremely safe in Israel. “On every corner there was a solider with an M-16. The security is extremely tight there. It took three hours at the airport for security screens including checks on my bags,” said Cwodzinski. “They checked everyone’s bags.”
In addition, Cwodzinski was impressed by the way the citizens of Israel live their lives. “Those Israelis live life to the fullest. They have parties every day,” said Cwodzinski. “You would see them at 11 o’clock at night playing soccer, from 8-year-olds to 30 year olds, and this is only three miles away from Hezbollah.”
In the future, Cwodzinski would like the school to have a class devoted towards teaching the Holocaust. “Minnesota schools don’t do enough about the Holocaust,” said Cwodzinski. According to Cwodzinski, schools in Louisville, Kentucky, already devote a course that specifically teaches about the Holocaust. “It would be a history class, except it would focus specifically on the time period,” added Cwodzinski.
For Cwodzinski this was more than just a summer trip. This was both a dream come true and a life-changing experience. “I went over there thinking I would come back being a better teacher. But when I did come back, I ended up becoming more. I became a better husband, a better father, a better son,” said Cwodzinski. “It was all life changing, and I am now a better person than before.
“I thought this trip would be a capstone for me. I was finally going to be able to travel to Israel and Poland. But instead it was a cornerstone. It laid a whole new foundation for what was going to happen for me.”
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