Nineteen medical students from OUWB spent the past week in Poland studying the Holocaust and medicine — with the “enormity and the intensity” of the experience leaving a profound impact on the future physicians.

The OUWB Study Trip to Auschwitz took place June 12-19. It was the fourth consecutive year of the study trip that is entirely donor-funded.

It’s designed to prompt students to delve into this distinctive and tragic era in the history of medicine and critically reflect on its implications for one’s own personal and professional development within the medical profession.

The study trip provides a deep dive into Jewish life in Krakow and Oswiecim along with tours of several concentration camps: Plaszow; Auschwitz; and Auschwitz-Birkenau. The students are all between their first and second years in medical school.

Program co-leaders said they witnessed a change in the students over the course of the week.

“While they did a lot of preparation before coming here, they’ve really come together as a group to grapple with how they can take this into their future professions,” said Katie Chaka Parks, Ph.D., director, Education, The Zekelman Holocaust Center, and study trip co-leader. 

“It genuinely gives me a lot of hope for the future…that these are people moving into important careers in our society and they’re taking (the study trip) so seriously,” she added.

The study trip begins with a tour of Krakow, where students learn about what daily life was like for the Jewish community — before, during, and after World War II.

After that, there are tours of Auschwitz I and Auschwitz-Birkenau. New this year was a tour of the former Plaszow Camp near Krakow.

Throughout the entire study trip, medical students learn about the role of medicine in the Holocaust — specifically, how physicians reacted on all sides.

The hope is to provide a deeper appreciation for human kindness while also helping the soon-to-be doctors gain deeper insight into the challenges between right and wrong that they may face professionally.

The structure of the trip does just that, according to Jason Wasserman, Ph.D., Dean’s Distinguished Professor, Department of Foundational Medical Studies, and program co-lead.

“I trust the content is going to deliver and that the framework we’ve set up in the (educational) underpinnings of that are going to help bring it through,” he said. “I trust what we’ve set up and what we have seen work in the past. And I trust the enormity and the intensity of the experience to do its work as well.”

One student described the impact of the trip this way:

“Being surrounded with this specific group…gives me hope,” said Jenna Silverman. “We’ve been able to be here and truly see the horrors of what happened but also discuss the physicians who resisted and really set that example for what the future of medicine could be.”

Two tools traditionally used as part of the study trip help students feel even more connected to the Holocaust.

One is the use of testimonials. Throughout the trip, students are assigned to read testimonials of key figures, usually in physical locations that are related.

“The testimonials are what allow us to begin to comprehend what is an incomprehensible situation,” said Silverman. “Otherwise, it can be very hard to visualize the horrors that occurred in these camps...it’s the closest thing to hearing from the survivors themselves.”

One testimonial featured Gisella Perl, a Hungarian Jewish gynecologist deported to Auschwitz, where she helped hundreds of women. The testimonial was read by Gabrielle Abdelmessih while at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

“It was something else entirely to actually read a quote from her while standing in a barrack where she actually lived and worked and did her best to help women,” said Abdelmessih.  

“I was choked up as a read it because it was a reminder that I was physically present in a place where she did her best to help women,” she added.

Rachel Israel said she had a similar emotional experience while reading a testimonial of a Jewish doctor who was killed for refusing to participate in Nazi sterilization experiments. The testimonial was read in Block 10, a part of Auschwitz 1 that requires special permission to enter — and the exact place where such experiments occurred.

“Just to be in that room, seeing the windows and how they were blocked by a wall of wood purposely put there to keep the light out…there was just nothing like it,” she said.

Among other things, Israel said it made her reflect on all the other victims of the Holocaust who didn’t get a chance to share their respective stories.

“We’re reading these testimonials and they’re just a few out of so many that didn’t make it out,” she said. “What would their testimonials have been?”

Another big part of the OUWB Study Trip to Auschwitz are the reflective writing sessions.

Program co-leaders direct the sessions held at the end of the day. There also was a session with an alumni and friends tour led by Oakland University President Ora Hirsch Pescovitz, M.D., and Christopher Carpenter, M.D., Stephan Sharf Dean, OUWB. 

In just one of the sessions led by Parks, students talked about physicians who resisted and how they might draw strength from those types of doctors. Parks said the students had “really deep conversations.”

Wasserman said such reflective writing sessions provide a kind of window into how students are processing everything.

“You can see students starting off by being pretty overwhelmed by the experience and then they start to sort it out,” he said. “But I think that’s work that carries forward in the days, weeks, months, and maybe even years after the trip.”

Matthew Tufts said he agreed and viewed the sessions as a “starting point” for the students to think about everything they experienced and to begin to put “our thoughts and feelings into words.”

Baker Wilkes said he considered the sessions extremely important.

“We’re learning so much history and at such a fast pace throughout the day that you don’t really have time to digest it all in the moment,” he said. “Taking some time at the end of the day as a group to reflect gives you a chance to organize your thoughts and feelings.”

Many of the students have already spent a lot of time thinking about how the study trip will make them better doctors.

“It inspires me to continually build courage in my day-to-day life so that if I’m ever faced with tough decisions like this, I’m ready to act according to what I think is right and uphold the dignity and life of those who are vulnerable,” said James Bird.

And they’re already thinking about how they plan to share their experience on the study trip with others.

“This isn’t just for ourselves,” said Silverman. “Ultimately, the medical field is all about teamwork and everyone being morally equipped to best help our patients and provide them with the highest quality of care.”

“In that sense, this trip is truly invaluable,” she added.  

For more information on supporting the trip philanthropically, please contact Claus Weimann, director, Philanthropy, OUWB, at [email protected]. 

To request an interview, visit the OUWB Communications & Marketing webpage.

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