“Being at Auschwitz-Birkenau was a harrowing experience that was needed to truly understand the scope of the atrocities that occurred. Before entering under the gate at Auschwitz, I believed that watching films such as Schindler’s List and La Vita è Bella and readings from textbooks and memoirs prepared me for what I was about to see; that they would give me a proper understanding of what these innocent people went through. I soon found that I could not have been more wrong. No matter how well-written or historically accurate, no print, movie, or documentary prepared me for the rollercoaster of emotions that I experienced on the grounds of Auschwitz.
Learning about Auschwitz from books and film cannot truly encapsulate the destruction of families, ideals, dignity and freedom that is so apparent as you are there, walking through the living quarters and seeing it with your own eyes. I never thought I would ever have the chance to come to Auschwitz, but now that I have experienced it, I believe that everyone needs to take the time to go. It is unlike anything else I have ever seen, and it is so important to learn about the Holocaust and past on our knowledge from generation to generation to ensure nothing like it will ever happen to humanity again.”
Edward Cascella
Pilgrim High School, Class of 2017
Current Freshman at American University