A Journey that Surpassed All Expectations

YIVO Study Tour to Lithuania and Poland, June 19-July 3, 2023

by GENIA NEUHAUS

I wasn’t looking for this trip – it found me. It literally landed on my lap(top) in the form of an email from YIVO announcing upcoming programs.

My mother was from Lithuania and my father from Poland. It was as if YIVO had designed a trip just for me!

It was very special to be guided in the POLIN Museum by Professor Samuel Kassow, not only because of his impressive scholarship but also because of his personal involvement in creating this museum – including having designed two of the exhibitions he showed us. Everywhere we went, Professor Kassow’s lectures engaged us in all aspects of Ashkenazi history and Yiddish culture.

At Treblinka and Auschwitz-Birkenau, and the fields where Jews were massacred in Ponar and the 9th Fort, I prayed and shed a tear for all the lost souls, and joined in singing the Partisan song with people who remembered all the words in Yiddish.

This trip was full of surprises that shook me to the core. I found my maternal grandmother’s grave and was able to say kaddish for her. I visited the town where my mother was born and stood in all the places featured in her stories. I saw where my father and his family lived before the War and found my paternal grandmother’s name in the Book of Names in Auschwitz.

And I learned that the family of our Lithuanian tour guide had sheltered members of my family in Kaunas (Kovno) during the War – something that was confirmed when we saw their pictures on the Wall of the Righteous at the 9th Fort.

We met journalists, writers, diplomats, and activists working toward greater awareness of their countries’ past and increased opportunities for learning about Jewish culture. And we had front-row seats to the Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow, the biggest in Europe!

I would not have had these transformative experiences had I gone on my own. The resources and relationships that YIVO brought to bear gave us unmatched access and a serious level of scholarship – and also made the trip fun. This journey surpassed all my expectations.