This blog was written on Power of Place: 2025 European Summer Institute for Holocaust Educators – an experiential professional development for teachers where learning unfolds as they tour historical sites across Europe in order to transform their understanding of the Holocaust, WWII, antisemitism, and Jewish life today. Power of Place is planned and co-led by Humanus Network on behalf of JCRC and generously supported by the Minnesota Vikings, the Tankenoff Families Foundation, and Allianz of America Corporation.

by Brooke Rich, Social studies teacher, Lafayette High School (St. Joseph, MO) | June 15, 2025

None of us arrived to this trip empty handed. We came with both literal and figurative baggage. Some have learned about the Holocaust their entire lives because the story of the Holocaust is a part of their family’s story. Some have gone on many trips to historical Holocaust sites but still yearn to learn more. Some are new to Holocaust and Jewish studies and are finding their brains already overloaded with information.

While many of us are still recovering from the lack of sleep, the energy in our group is a mixture of anxiety and excitement. It is always an awkward discussion for me to tell people I am excited for my trips to study the Holocaust because it the Holocaust is one of the worst tragedies in history. The pain that I know is coming once we start visiting sites also makes this trip difficult to describe.

When I attended the first Power of Place trip two years ago, my life changed forever. When I stood next to Laura at Auschwitz and heard her share her story, I made a pledge to myself and my family that I would put in the work to find out everything I could about my husband’s family during WWII and the Holocaust. My husband is the great great grandson of two Russian Jewish families: the Rich family (originally spelled Zhitz) and the Feldman family. The Feldmans were the family I decided to research first.

What I came to discover is a story that I have now presented to students and adults in my community. I discovered that 6 of his family members were murdered in the Holocaust by bullets in Belarus in 1942. One 8 year old boy, Yankel, was the only survivor. He now is 90 and lives in Israel. My husband, daughter, and I flew to Canada in March to spend a few days with his oldest daughter, Anat. I do not think this history would have been unveiled if I had not gone on that first trip. Now I am back for a second time to see new places with new people and I am both excited and anxious to see what more I will discover.

We ended our day visiting the Hartheim Castle where the T-4 program took place. On the bus I was reminded that today was Father’s Day and it made me wonder how many fathers were killed in the castle and how many young people never got the chance to become fathers. This trip changes the way I view the world, including holidays, because millions were denied the chance to celebrate ever again; while others celebrated holidays, like Yom Kippur, as a form of resistance.

For millions of people, life ended at the hands of the Nazis and their accomplices but all of us are here to remember them. Keeping their stories alive proves the Nazis were truly defeated. When we remember the groups of people who the Nazis wanted exterminated, we win the ultimate victory; a victory for peace, love and humanity. Each teacher carries the burden and honor of sharing victim and survivor stories and this trip enables us to do it with more confidence.

Thank you to everyone who made this trip possible, you are changing lives and you have definitely already changed mine.