In July, we had the privilege of a lifetime: to travel with 89 high school students and their chaperones and companions from the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra as part of their tour to Poland and the Czech Republic.
Representing MYSO’s cream of the crop, these highly skilled musicians from across southeastern Wisconsin practiced for months to prepare for the concerts they would perform in Krakow, Wroclaw and Prague. This itself is not unique; MYSO goes on tour every two years. What made this trip different was the destination, intentionally chosen to coincide with MYSO’s upcoming Violins of Hope residency. As a collection of dozens of instruments from the Holocaust, the Violins of Hope tell stories of Jewish identity, resiliency, and the enduring survival of our people. Indeed, HERC looks forward to exploring and curating these themes in the upcoming Jewish Museum Milwaukee exhibition “From Silence to Symphony: Strings of Jewish Resistance and Resilience,” opening in November.
In 2025 – one of the peak moments of global antisemitism since the Holocaust – we knew that this trip presented a rare opportunity, to engage with young people over several days and make a long-term impact outside of a traditional classroom environment. While learning about the Holocaust was not to be the only objective of a trip anchored in music and culture, the students needed a broad understanding not only of the genocide itself, but background on the vibrant Jewish culture that once thrived in the cities they would visit.
Our journey with the students began right here in Milwaukee. Their rehearsals ran parallel to educational workshops and lessons on the history of the Holocaust, an introduction to Jewish identity and recognizing antisemitic tropes. Students visited the Harry and Rose Samson Jewish Community Center, heard from Arleen Peltz of HERC’s Speakers Bureau, and learned about the thousand-year-old-history of Jewish life in Poland. One of the greatest challenges of this trip was that one of the most meaningful and solemn days of the trip would come right away. We prepared the students and their chaperones for the emotions they would experience.
Visiting Auschwitz
We approached the infamous gates of Auschwitz on the first full day of our 10-day trip, walking through the site where over one million people — most of them Jewish — lost their lives. Split among multiple tour groups, we walked silently through the former Nazi death camp. Questions started right away: How were people separated? Did people know what was happening to their loved ones? Did people coming off the cattle cars see the crematorium?
As Holocaust educators, we anticipate these questions, but standing on the grounds of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the answers came out emotionally. “It was chaos,” was how Sam first responded, almost envisioning the scene in front of her as she stood in front of the train tracks staring at the cattle car that remains as part of the memorial site.
While this was not the first Auschwitz tour for either of us, traveling with MYSO prompted us to focus on aspects of the camp complex that had not resonated the same way previously. For example, our group lingered at the performance site of the first of several orchestras at Auschwitz, where prisoners were forced by SS officers to play. From students who love music so deeply and see it as an expression of their own identity, we heard how difficult this stop was for some.
At the end of the Auschwitz-Birkenau tour, we gathered for a short memorial service and moment of silence, teaching the mostly non-Jewish group the Jewish practice of Yizkor, memorial prayer.
Jewish Communities Lost and Rebuilt
Knowing that we could not let Auschwitz have the final word, we intentionally set the stage for the rest of the trip and brought some Jewish joy to the students. Of course, this meant a visit to the JCC Krakow and the Shofar created by Milwaukee sculptor Richard Edelman and dedicated by our own Milwaukee Jewish Federation. The JCC’s chief operating officer, Sebastian Rudol, taught us how Jewish communities had once thrived throughout Poland, both in rural and urban centers, and how the remaining Jews in Poland rebuilt their lives after the Holocaust — despite the ever-present antisemitism they faced.
Small Reminders Everywhere
The Holocaust and the complex Jewish history in the cities we visited lingered at every corner. Even on days when we explored small towns like Olomouc, visited Cesky Krumlov Castle, or performed at the great concert halls of Europe, evidence of both Jewish culture and antisemitism was constant. The group spotted their first stumbling stone, or Stolperstein, when one of the students tripped over it during a lunch break. The stones, we explained, are Europe’s smallest memorials to the victims of the Holocaust. Each one is individualized, with the victim’s name placed in front of their last known residence, an effort to re-humanize the individual that had been dehumanized during the Nazi regime. Throughout the rest of our trip, the students made a conscious effort to look for the stones and gather as much information as they could from the small gold plaques.
In each town we visited, the story was almost always the same; Jewish communities had once thrived here. Jewish merchants were often invited by the monarchs or rulers to live in these cities, because of their knowledge of languages and trade. But those same monarchs and communities during the medieval ages and beyond could also expel Jews and weaponize antisemitic tropes to harm and murder them. The Nazis built on, but did not invent, antisemitism.
Prague
At our final destination of the trip, we utilized the rich history of Jewish life in Prague to tie several themes together. Unlike most of the major cities we saw in Poland, Prague was spared most of the bombing and destruction of World War II. In fact, the historic Jewish quarter with several synagogues and a medieval Jewish cemetery was still intact. Hitler and the Nazis planned to build a museum of “the extinct race” once they murdered Europe’s Jews, which may explain why these synagogues were left standing when the Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia.
As part of our visit to the Old New Synagogue, the oldest active synagogue in Europe (c. 1270), we shared the story of the Golem of Prague. Influenced by the practice of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) and a local legend, in the 16th century Rabbi Judah Loew “The Maharat” created a golem, a non-living being made from clay, to protect Prague’s Jewish community from antisemitic attacks. The students loved the Golem, and many bought tiny figurines to bring home – we cleared out the gift shop with 27 ourselves.
The synagogue visit and Golem story enabled us to weave together three truths at once.
1) Jewish tradition and identity have been shaped by where Jews live. That includes the development of modern superheroes, since the golem can be seen as an archetype for early comics like Superman, who was created by Jewish artists.
2) Jews needed and wished for a golem because antisemitism was so rampant.
3) The Old New Synagogue Survived, but many Czech Jews did not. At the nearby Pinkas synagogue, walls listed the names of the 80,000 Jews deported and sent to ghettos like nearby Terezin and murdered in Auschwitz, Majdanek, and other camps. Some members of our group unexpectedly found their own family names etched in the stone.
Ten days in Poland and the Czech Republic offered these students a glimpse into a dark history and opened their eyes to the resilience of the Jewish people to remain present, despite attempts to erase us.
Our favorite part? We’re still hearing from students and their adult companions, and we look forward to continuing the conversation.
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Samantha Abramson is the executive director, and Sam Goldberg is the education director, for both the Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center and J-Hub: An Institute for K-12 Jewish Resources.
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Violins of Hope events
Starting this month, Milwaukee has the chance to experience historic instruments played by Jewish musicians and others who were targeted by the Nazis before and during the Holocaust. The events include:
- Jewish Museum Milwaukee is hosting “Violins of Hope: Strings of Jewish Resistance and Resilience,” an exhibit featuring 24 restored violins, on display from Nov. 5, 2025, to Jan. 25, 2026. More info: JewishMuseumMilwaukee.org
- Multiple events have been organized by the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra, some in partnership with Milwaukee-area Jewish organizations, including a residency, concerts, and a performance of “Fiddler on the Roof.” More info: Violinsofhopewisconsin.org/events
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