Oświęcim, PolandIn January, history major Caroline Hromy ’21 attended the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau at the actual site of what was a German Nazi concentration camp in occupied Poland. The trip was an extension of research she began last fall with Professor David Del Testa, history, on the portrayal of Holocaust victims in museums and memorials.
What She Did
Supported by a Mellon Confounding Problems research grant, Hromy joined Julia Carita ’20, Julia Stevens ’20 and Professor Keith Buffinton, mechanical engineering, on an impactful research trip led by Del Testa. Standing in a large crowd outside the camp in Oświęcim on Jan. 27, the group listened to survivors tell their stories and returned to the area the next day to walk through the grounds. Before leaving Europe, the researchers visited Berlin and had dinner with Bettina Jaeger M’91, a trip highlight for Hromy.
What She Plans Next
In Poland, Hromy noticed the contrast between how Holocaust survivors are portrayed in on-site memorials in Europe versus the treatment she noticed in Holocaust memorials she visited in New York and Philadelphia shortly before her trip.
“Being at the concentration camp was a very surreal experience and put everything I had learned into perspective,” Hromy says. “I realized that even though I knew facts about the Holocaust, I really did not know what the victims experienced.” She plans to further pursue her research this fall with Del Testa.
— Miyah Powe ’20