Poland Trip 2007

By Matt Baciak, Albion student and Polish translator

There is so much I would like to say in this blog, but every time I try words seem to escape me. This trip is significant on many levels for me. I have been to Poland many times, but until this trip I never realized there were Jews in Poland. This is because Poland is still very anti-Semitic and many Jews are either ashamed or afraid of their ancestry or afraid of their neighbor’s resentment as the chief rabbi of Wroclaw told us. That is why many Jews in Poland hide their lineage.

Because many Jews hide their ancestry, not only from people outside their family, but in some cases also from their children, many family histories and individuals are lost from the pages of history. Our work in the cemetery allows people to find their deceased family members, but also uncovering new graves allows for the resurrection of the memory of people who before our work never existed in any history book or in any family tree. We are bringing the memory of people back to life which for me is astonishing because now someone’s name can at least live on through time to prove they existed.

Yesterday we discovered a grave stone of a 2-year-old boy who was not listed in the cemetery registry. I am not sure why, but it saddened me that before yesterday no one knew this boy even lived at all. Someone’s son, maybe someone’s brother, gone. And no one even knew about it until now.

While there are obvious religious undertones to this trip and the work we do, this trip transcends religion, nationality, and history and all that is left—the one thing that binds us to the Jewish community and the Polish people and each other—is the fact that we are all human and as humans we take care of one another. And part of the way we do that is by making sure each life is sacred. And to forget a life, to forget someone’s son or brother, is reprehensible.

Obviously over time most people’s individual stories or accomplishments fade, but at least their name can exist. And if that name exists only on a grave stone, then so be it, but at least we know that—that person once existed.

Before going on this trip I did not think I would be affected on such an emotional level, but now that we are leaving the cemetery I find myself wishing I could do more and hoping that more people realize the significance of what we are trying to do.