Since 1986, the Dutch Auschwitz Committee has been organizing trips to Poland. Initially, these trips took place every two years, but due to great interest, the Committee decided in 1998 to organise the trip on an annual basis, during the first week of November. The main focus of the trip to the various concentration and extermination camps is remembrance. In addition to the Nazi camps
Auschwitz, Birkenau, Majdanek, and Sobibor, the groups also pay visits to Jewish cemeteries and synagogues.
A few weeks before departure, participants meet to get to know each other and prepare the trip. Survivors of Nazi camps share their experiences with the participants during the trip. Interested parties, journalists, lecturers, and people who work in
education can also register for the trip.
Click on travel schedule for current information about the trip or read about it in the January issue of the Auschwitz Bulletin.
A book with a photographic report of one of the trips has been published. The book is called 'Reis naar Polen' (Trip to Poland). You can order the book via this website. It provides a good impression of the trip
Is there a point to visiting a place where more than fifty years ago the most horrible things have happened? Is there a purpose to stirring up all those things, to digging into the past? I say yes, there is a point to it. Let it serve as a warning for the present and for the future, let us learn from the past.
Marieke Brouwer, 16 years; quote from the booklet - ver weg en toch dichtbij (Far Away and Yet Nearby)