What to expect from the Bridge to poland Experience:

Are you curious about the Jewish Poland of the past, present and future?
Are you drawn to stories of reconciliation and hope?
Do you want to learn how Poland’s Jews are being remembered by non-Jewish Poles today?
Do you want to get a glimpse into the Jewish community in Poland today?

If yes, contact Leora Tec to find out more about Bridge To Poland small group study tours.

Bridge To Poland Trips Feature:

• Intimate Settings
• Intellectually Stimulating Environments
• Top guides, scholars, artists and people engaged in “memory work”
• Individually crafted itinerary and reading and viewing list

Sample Itinerary:

Day 1

Arrival. (Participants are responsible for arriving in Kraków. There are flights from the United States to Balice airport in Kraków). Introductory dinner. Early to bed.

Day 2

We explore Kraków’s rich history, as we walk through Wawel Castle, the Market Square and Kazimierz, the former Jewish district, with one of the foremost guides in Poland. In the afternoon, you have free time to explore the city on your own. In the evening, we tour the Galicia Jewish Museum’s (http://www.galiciajewishmuseum.org/en) collection of photographs, have a special program featuring a Holocaust scholar and eat dinner in the museum. The museum has a wonderful bookstore to explore.

Day 3

We spend the day in the labor and death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau that is about an hour and a half outside of Kraków. On the way, we stop at the site of the camp Płaszów, the camp featured in Schindler’s List.

Day 4

In the morning we visit the JCC (Jewish Community Center) in Kraków before departing for Lublin. On the way to Lublin, we stop in the small town of Chmielnik where there is a restored synagogue that has been turned into a museum of pre-war Jewish life. We arrive in Lublin where will meet our Lublin host, my friend and colleague, Witek Dabrowski who joins us for dinner.

Day 5

We spend the morning at Brama Grodzka/Teatr NN, with our hosts while in Lublin. First we have a tour of the Brama Grodzka exhibition exhibition dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews of Lublin. Then, after a short bBreak, we see a presentation about the online activities of Brama Grodzka. After lunch, we visit the death camp Majdanek with a historian from Majdanek who is in charge of exhibitions, his interests include topics such as the politics of memory and the methodology of exhibitions. Upon our return to Lublin, Witek performs his one-man interpretation of an Isaac Bashevis Singer story, plunging us back to the world of Jewish Poland a 100 years ago.

Day 6

In the morning, we experience a workshop in Brama Grodzka and then tour Jewish Lublin with photographs from pre-war Lublin for us to understand how the Lublin of today differs from that of yesterday. After lunch, we meet with a world-renowned scholar in comparative literature, Yiddish language and culture and Polish-Jewish relations. Then you have the option to tour a renovated printing house with a fascinating history or have free time to explore the city on your own. In the evening, in honor of Shabbat, we attend a concert at a Jewish-themed restaurant, Mandragora.

Day 7

We take a field trip with a historian to Zamość, a town of a fascinating history, including a Sephardic Jewish population. After Zamość we will see the site of the death camp Bełżec, very different from Auschwitz and Majdanek because everything was destroyed.

Day 8 (Sunday, June 11)

We leave early for Warsaw where we meet our guide, who is a former journalist. We have a general tour of Warsaw, including the University area and or in the renovated Old Town. We discuss Warsaw’s eclectic architecture and the legacy of communism in Poland. 

Day 9

We visit the award-winning POLIN Museum (http://www.polin.pl/en) and you’ll have a chance to explore on your own after lunch if you wish.

Day 10

We explore Jewish Warsaw on foot and by bus with our guide. We see the few pieces of the ghetto that remain and discuss that fact that many living on top of what was once the Warsaw Ghetto are totally unaware of where they are living. We spend some time touring the incredible Warsaw Jewish cemetery.

**Stay tuned for more programming to be added to the schedule.

Day 11

After breakfast we say goodbye!

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Bridge To Poland was founded by Leora Tec, daughter of Holocaust survivor and Holocaust scholar, Nechama Tec. Leora is passionate about introducing people to the richness of the past, present and future of Jewish Poland and especially how it is being celebrated by non-Jewish Poles today.

If you are eager to engage in conversations about complex issues of forgiveness, reconciliation and memorialization and perhaps be surprised by what you find, consider a Bridge to Poland trip for yourself, your school, your family or your religious institution.

Leora would love to have a conversation with you to see if a Bridge To Poland small group study tour is right for you and your group.

Click here to contact her.