When people think of World War II, the countries that usually come to mind are Germany, the United States, Great Britain, and possibly Japan. Though I’ve read countless novels depicting the lives of those who experienced the war and its difficulties in numerous ways, I had never encountered such a story featuring someone from Poland. Thus, though I knew of the British work in codebreaking, the immense amount of Soviet blood shed, the frequent bomb warnings that plagued European civilians, and stories of Jews who had escaped the clutches of the Nazis against all odds, I knew little about Poland’s involvement- and much less, its suffering. I only knew the minimal amount that was mentioned in history textbooks, and even that knowledge was spotty and lacking. When I got the chance to go on this mission trip to Poland, I was excited for the opportunity to help people and witness the effects of war firsthand, and the scheduled museum visits only heightened my expectations. Through the various occasions that I was able to learn more about the history of Polish Jews and the role of Poland as a whole in the war, I was enlightened on the suffering that these people had endured. Subsequently, I had a deeper understanding of the pain that the Ukrainian refugees that I was currently serving went through. Though I have only seen war through the lens of photographs, textbooks, and news articles, the Ukrainian people in Poland had lost fathers, brothers, uncles, sons, and beloved friends to the war with Russia. They had lost all their belongings and livelihoods, and had to uproot themselves from their dwellings and flee to a different country with different people, a different language, and different culture, not to mention the trauma of the violence that would be seared into their memories for the rest of their lives. Even though I’ve never known this pain myself, I could empathize with them because I learned about the atrocities of war.

During this mission trip, the Peacemakers team visited 4 different museums: the Warsaw Uprising Museum, the POLIN museum of the History of Polish Jews, the Warsaw National Museum, and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. Each museum told different stories, and they all provided a unique and valuable perspective to the history of Poland. Through historical artifacts, dynamic exhibits, artworks, and the weight of being in the same physical spot where so much suffering and death had taken place, I gained so much, both emotionally and mentally. It wasn’t solely the museums that revealed the history of Pooland; even the streets of downtown Warsaw had seen war, and I learned that the magnificent buildings that stood as far as the eye could see had nearly all been damaged or destroyed in the war, and rebuilt after. However, the museums’ curations were particularly educational and eye-opening to the horrors of war.

I found that the Warsaw Uprising Museum told the tale of human resilience in the face of adversity. The Warsaw Uprising was an insurrection in World War II in 1944 that lasted two months, where the Polish fighters and civilians alike united in the face of German occupation in an unsuccessful effort to regain control of their city. More than 150,000 people were killed, and the city was left in ruins. The loss of so many human lives is tragic. However, the act of defiance in the face of injustice and people rallying for a common cause is something that inspired, and continues to inspire, both generations of Polish people and those all around the world. Among this museum’s exhibitions was a glass case displaying dozens of Polish flags that people had secretly made, with scraps of white and red cloth they had at home. This was inspiring to see because it encapsulated the spirit of resistance. Even though the Nazis had destroyed the official flags and forbade it in public, the hearts of the citizens of Warsaw could not be subdued; with supplies scarce but hearts overflowing with passion, they created flags to represent their love for their country. Another exhibit that particularly struck my heart was one that showcased letters and postcards that had been found, some from the pockets of dead civilians. War is so often reduced to numbers, and it makes us numb to the magnitude of human suffering and sorrow that takes place. Hence, whether it’s 1,000 people killed or 1,000,000 killed, we regard it in the same way: a death toll. An exhibit like this one, that showed the personalization of various pieces of paper with different handwritings, different pen colors, and different styles, served as a reminder that every single one of those 1,000 or 1,000,000 or, in the case of the Warsaw Uprising, 150,000 that were killed, was their own unique person.

After visiting the Warsaw Uprising Museum, we made a visit to the POLIN museum of the History of Polish Jews that same day, and its breathtaking architecture housed an educational and emotional journey. This museum experience was structured so that it took the visitor throughout the entire history of Polish Jews from the start, almost a millennium ago. I was shocked when I learned the extent of the discrimination that the Jewish community faced. Throughout history, they have always been viewed as inferior and people have held prejudice against them, and used that prejudice to continue fostering fear and hostility for generations to come, thus preventing the Jewish people from ever being fully accepted where they lived. Learning of the extensive dedication that Jewish people have to their religion and how their reverence of God is instilled into every aspect of their lives was humbling. In the face of scorn from peers and neighbors, nothing changed them from devoting their lives to God. There was a quote by Grigorii Bogrov displayed on a wall of one of the museum’s rooms that portrayed the essence of the discrimination that Jewish people faced. It read, “Jews say: Give us full equality. One answers them, Deserve equality”. Jews were often seen as less than human, more akin to vermin and pests, and this anti-semitism that festered for so long erupted in WWll in horrific acts in efforts to exterminate the Jewish people. Among the 6 million Jews that were killed in the Holocaust, 3 million were from Poland.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau tour, which took place on the last day of our mission to Poland, was solemn and heavy. The Auschwitz concentration camp was a place that I had read about in history books and seen through the eyes of characters in novels, but visiting it in-person was a surreal experience. I couldn’t quite fathom that I was walking on the very road that hundreds of thousands had walked to their deaths on. There were exhibitions with humongous piles of personal belongings that had been collected- pots and pans, shoes, suitcases- along with a collection of real human hair that had been piled up for use in making cloth. The scale of these collections was huge, yet even these were just a tiny fraction of all that had been taken from the victims of the Holocaust. Seeing the human hair was morbid, and I couldn’t fathom how the Nazis running the camp could be so cruel to their fellow human beings. However, I realized that the Nazis were conditioned into thinking of the Jewish people as beings who were lower than animals, and that their struggles did not evoke any empathy. I realized the importance of valuing human life, and that experience reminded me that every human, no matter how differently they may act, or even how cruel they seem, is still a human. Because we are all made in God’s image, it is not my place to view anyone as inferior to myself; rather, I should view them as equals, because just as I am a child of God, they are, too.

In the week that I was in Poland, I learned the history of Polish Jews, visited places of historical significance, and empathized with the afflictions of those who experience war. I also served Ukrainian refugees from Poland by becoming friends with them, sharing my culture with them, distributing food, and singing songs to ease their sorrow, if only for a moment. Though the purpose of the mission was to serve the people of Ukraine, I have gained as much from those I met as I have given. I learned so much about finding joy in God despite difficult circumstances, and their optimistic natures and bright smiles will inspire me during my own seasons of hardships: to fix my eyes on God, have faith that he will guide my path, and to be joyful throughout it.