As this post goes up, I will be finished with my trip in two days. Currently, I am in the mountains near the Dunajec River where we are learning and enjoying ourselves in nature.   There are a ton of new posts pertaining to my trip coming up, however, so don't think you've seen the last of it. We still have a lot more to cover, so buckle your seat belt.   Today, I am sharing with you our visit to Lodz (pronounced Woodge). Lodz was a center for Jewish life in Poland before WWII, and unsurprisingly, this made for one of the bigger ghettos (the second largest in Poland). You can read a little bit about Lodz here.
Our visit to Lodz was extra special because one of the fellows of our program had a grandparent who lived in the Ghetto (and survived the war, although many members of his family did not). We were able to go to the apartment building to see where his family lived, which was very special for her and for us to get to share it with her.
When seeing a lot of these sights, I find that words are often too small and too insignificant. Pictures of what remains are just the same. However, I am going to leave you with some photos of what we saw in Lodz.

Dog in the Jewish Cemetery in Lodz

Graves buried under the leaves at the Jewish cemetery in Lodz

Jewish cemetery in Lodz

Ghetto field. During the Occupation, Jews were not allowed regular headstones and had to only use small markers. Israeli troops have gone back and redone all of these so each person now has a proper marker.

Ghetto field and wild flowers

Trains used to deport people from Lodz to various concentration and death camps and transport people into Lodz from other cities. These cars are reproductions.

Trains parked at the station

Inside one of the cars (this is a reproduction)

Train station....Radegast is the German name of the original train station's name.

Graffiti near the apartment of one of the fellow's grandfather

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