In the year 2000,  I was a senior in high school. I was the odd one out at school but I was accepted at religious school and temple youth group. There was a presentation about a special trip called the March of the Living. The March of the Living was for high school students to visit the sites of the Holocaust and Israel. It was to experience oppression and liberation at a young age. Reading about the atrocities of the Holocaust is much different than visiting the sites where all the horrific events took place.

One part of the trip stands out to me. I was looking around Midonik, a death camp in Poland. I saw the barracks where people were kept. There was one full of shoes. These shoes were stolen from the people who were rounded up like cattle. They were chained to the beds unless the guards unlocked the chains.

Photo was taken by my 17-year-old self