"I would enthusiastically recommend this program. I believe that nowhere else would a traveler get the experiences that you provided." - Traveler
Poland during the Holocaust and Today | A trip about connecting - connecting to history, connecting to people, and understanding that each one of us has the power to make a difference.
Trip includes: Warsaw, Warsaw Zoo, Treblinka, Tykocin, Bialystok (where the group will help to restore a Jewish cemetery), Krakow, Schindler's Factory, Auschwitz-Birkenau; meetings with a survivor, rescuer, and dinners and experiences that highlight the culture and history of Poland.
"The trip gave me a much needed moral clarity about what matters in the world, in politics, and in human relations." - Traveler
**Registration for this program is now closed. Stay tuned for future travel experiences! **
Itinerary July 1-10, 2022
Itinerary is subject to change. Meals provided are listed in ( )
Day 1, Fri, Jul 1 | Arrive in Warsaw, Welcome dinner (D)
Day 2, Sat, Jul 2 | Warsaw - Walking tour of Old Warsaw, POLIN Museum, Free evening (B)
Day 3, Sun, Jul 3 | Warsaw - Jewish heritage sites, Warsaw Ghetto, Warsaw Zoo (B, L)
Day 4, Mon, Jul 4 | Warsaw - Treblinka Death Camp Memorial Site, Visit with rescuers in Stoczek, Tykocin, Bialystok (B, L, D)
Day 5, Tue, Jul 5 | Bialystok - Day trip to Jedwabne and community service project at Jedwabne Cemetery (B, L)
Day 6, Wed, Jul 6 | Bialystok - Drive to Warsaw and continue on train to Krakow, Krakow walking tour (B)
Day 7, Thu, Jul 7 | Krakow - Tour Jewish heritage sites, Krakow Ghetto, Plaszow Camp Memorial Site (B, L)
Day 8, Fri, Jul 8 | Krakow - Auschwitz and Birkenau (B, L)
Day 9, Sat, Jul 9 | Krakow - Galicia Museum, Free afternoon (B, D)
Day 10, Sun, Jul 10 | Depart Krakow, (B)
- This trip is geared toward those who want an in-depth and meaningful experience with other open-minded travelers.
- Pre-reading materials will be suggested, and a pre-trip meeting will be held in late May.
- For those researching and exploring their own family histories, we are happy to help make suggestions or connections.
- Clock hours are provided for Washington State teachers.
- Custom extensions are available. Please note: Each day’s schedule is quite full. Please consider extending your trip if you want more personal exploratory time.
- This trip includes a significant amount of walking.
Costs
(airfare is not included in price)
$4150 (per person, double occupancy) | Single room supplement: $725
$3950 for teachers currently teaching in a classroom (per person, double occupancy) | Single room supplement: $725
$500 deposit is due upon registration. Deadline for registration and deposit - Feb. 15, 2022. The deposit will be applied to the payment balance. Payment due in full May 1, 2022. Deposit is fully refundable until May 1. Penalty for individual cancellation May 2 - May 25 is 50% of the cost of trip. After May 25th, penalty for cancellation is 100% of the cost of the trip.
Scholarships - Limited number of $1000 scholarships available for Washington State teachers of grades 5-12 who are teaching the Holocaust. Scholarship will be applied to the cost of the trip. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for application. Deadline for scholarship application is Feb. 15. Scholarship applicants will be notified by March 4.
CLICK HERE TO MAKE A PAYMENT
Tour Package Includes:
- Accommodation in four- and five-star hotels based on double occupancy per itinerary with breakfast daily, local service charge, and tax (standard hotel check-in/out times apply unless otherwise noted): Warsaw (3 nights); Bialystok (2 nights); Krakow (4 nights)
- Land transportation per itinerary by private minibus or coach with A/C
- Tickets for the express train from Warsaw to Krakow in 1st class
- All sightseeing and excursions, including entrance fees per itinerary
- Local English-speaking guides throughout itinerary, excluding Warsaw, where the MIR tour manager is the guide
- Special cultural features as stated in itinerary, including special tours and visits
- Services of a professional MIR tour manager throughout the program
- Meals as listed in itinerary: hotel breakfast daily, 5 lunches, 3 dinners
- Dinners are three-course meals with tea or coffee and mineral water
- Baggage handling at hotels and railway stations
- Radio guide listening devices for the duration of the program
Price Does Not Include:
Airfare; Pre- or post-tour services; Arrival and departure airport transfer; Gratuities to tour manager, local guides, and drivers; visa or passport fees; medical and trip cancellation/interruption insurance; emergency evacuation costs; food or beverages not included in group meals; items of a personal nature such as laundry, alcohol, telephone expense, excess baggage fees, photo/video expenses inside museums (where allowed); other items not expressly listed as included.
Questions? Email Paul Regelbrugge, Director of Education at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
From past travelers:
"From the bottom of my heart, thank you for this experience. I didn't know what to expect at the beginning but I know I could never have asked for a better experience."
"The experience was once in a lifetime and the information was so in depth!"
"I am blown away by the experience I had between the people I met, the tour guides we were lucky enough to have, as well as the opportunities for seeing what tourists don't get to see."
"I'm still processing all the information we received. It was truly a trip of a lifetime. Thank you!"
"The meaning and depth of emotion and learning with both head and heart seems to increase as time passes and I contemplate all I experienced."
"I never experienced a tour that was so well put together and carried out as this one."
"The trip was one of the best experiences of my life. I will never forget it."
King 5 News | April 27, 2022
EDMONDS, Wash. — A new exhibition at Cascadia Art Museum in Edmonds showcases the work of holocaust survivor and artist Maria Frank Abrams.
She had a celebrated career including an array of group and solo shows. But like all the artists featured at Cascadia, Abrams’ work eventually disappeared from the mainstream art world.
The museum focuses on neglected or forgotten artists whose work spans the years 1860-1970. Many of them are women and people of color.
"Maria Frank Abrams is a great example of what we do here,” said Sally Ralston, Executive Director of Cascadia. "We are honored to showcase these artists again and bring their art here, and give them the respect their art deserves."
The Reflector | April 18, 2022 | By Sebastian Rubino
Peter Metzelaar, a Holocaust survivor from Amsterdam, shared his story with students at Battle Ground High School during a presentation he gave on April 14.
Metzelaar, who is 86, was born in Amsterdam in 1935. In 1942, when he was 7 years old, the Nazis seized members of his family, who were Jewish. Metzelaar and his mother, Elli, found shelter on a small farm in Mekkinga in northern Holland with the help of Klaas and Roefina Post.
They later moved from place to place in hiding until the war ended in 1945.
“In Holland, it was a very small country, and at that particular time, there were only about 140,000 people of the Jewish faith,” said Metzelaar. “The Nazis took over in May of 1940. By the time it was over in May 1945, of the 140,000 (people), between 75 to 80% were murdered. I don’t even like to use the word killed. They were murdered intentionally.”
FM News 101 KXL | March 16, 2022
Battle Ground, Wash. – Battle Ground High School world history teacher Amanda Fulfer is headed to Poland this July as a part of a program put on by the Holocaust Center for Humanity.
Fulfer tells KXL News “It’s a once in a life time opportunity.”
Fulfer says her background is in East Asian studies, but at the beginning of the pandemic when schools switched to online and changed some of its curriculum, she was told she’d be the only one teaching a brand new European history class and had to figure out how to prepare for it on her own. While prepping she quickly became fascinated by the story of the Holocaust and felt a calling to share those stories from that period to future generations. In Poland she’ll visit Auschwitz Birkenau, the Warsaw Ghetto and Schindler’s factory, saying it will give her a powerful perspective into what she teaches