A pastor asked me once, a few weeks before his group was due to fly, “How do I get my people ready for this?” He did not mean the logistics. He meant the souls in his care. He knew that what he was about to lead them into was unlike anything they had done together, and he was right to be concerned. Preparing a faith group to bear witness at Auschwitz-Birkenau is one of the most important tasks a group leader will ever undertake, and it begins long before the trip.
This is a guide to that preparation. Not the booking, not the schedule, but the harder and more sacred work of readying a community to stand on the ground where more than a million people were murdered, and to do it with dignity. Auschwitz-Birkenau is a memorial and a grave, not a place to see, and the way a group is prepared shapes whether their witness honors the dead. I have walked many communities through this, and what follows is what I have learned.
Why Preparation Matters So Much
A person who arrives at Auschwitz-Birkenau unprepared is not protected from it. They are simply overwhelmed by it. I have seen the difference clearly over the years. Groups that have been prepared, who understand what they are coming to and have been given the spiritual and emotional tools to meet it, are able to bear witness with steadiness and reverence. Groups that have not been prepared can shut down, or grow numb, or react in ways that do not serve them or honor the place.
Preparation is not about softening the encounter. It should not be softened. Preparation is about giving people the strength and the understanding to face it fully, without turning away and without being broken by it. That is the leader’s gift to a community, and it is given in the weeks before departure.
Building Context Before the Encounter
Understand the World That Was Destroyed
The most important preparation I know is to give a group an understanding of Jewish life before the catastrophe. When people grasp the depth and richness of the civilization that was destroyed, the thousand years of Jewish life in Poland, the communities, the learning, the faith, then Auschwitz is no longer an abstraction. It becomes the murder of a specific, beloved, irreplaceable world.
This is why I sequence a journey the way I do, and why I never place this visit at the beginning. Walking first through Kazimierz, Krakow’s Jewish quarter, standing in the Remuh Synagogue where Jews still pray, learning at the Old Synagogue museum what filled a Jewish life, all of this prepares a group to understand what was lost. Our Jewish heritage in Poland guide lays out the full arc, and I would have every leader read it.
Learn the History Honestly
Before the trip, give your group the factual history. What Auschwitz-Birkenau was. Who was murdered there and how. The scale of it. People should not arrive learning these facts for the first time on the ground, where the emotional weight is already enormous. Knowing the history in advance frees a person, once they are there, to feel rather than to scramble to comprehend. I encourage leaders to hold sessions before departure, to share readings, and to invite questions in the safety of home.
Preparing the Heart and the Spirit
Speak Honestly About What May Arise
I ask leaders to have open conversations with their group before the trip about the emotions this place can bring. People respond in many ways. Some weep. Some fall silent. Some feel anger. Some feel numb and are troubled that they do not feel more. All of these responses are normal, and naming them in advance gives people permission to feel whatever they feel without shame. A group that has been told “you may react in ways you do not expect, and that is alright” is a group that can stand together rather than feeling alone in their reactions.
Prepare Acts of Remembrance
Bearing witness is strengthened when a community has a way to honor the murdered. I encourage leaders to prepare these acts in advance rather than improvising on the day. For Jewish groups, this often means designating who will recite Kaddish and El Malei Rachamim, and preparing memorial candles. For Christian groups, it may mean selecting Scripture to read, prayers to offer, or a hymn to share quietly. Many groups bring stones to leave in the Jewish custom of remembrance. Deciding these things beforehand means that, in the moment, a group can simply mourn and honor, without logistics intruding on a sacred act.
Hold the Group in Prayer
For a faith community, the spiritual frame is everything. I encourage leaders to ground the visit in prayer before, during, and after. Some groups gather to pray the morning of the visit. Some carry a shared intention onto the ground. This is not decoration. It is what allows a community to meet the place as people of faith rather than as visitors, and it gives them somewhere to bring the grief that the day will raise.
On the Day and After
Pace, Silence, and Conduct
On the day itself, slow everything down. This is not a place to move through efficiently. The memorial has its own rules of conduct, appropriate dress, silence where silence is required, the bearing due to a grave, and I prepare groups to honor them fully and willingly. We work with educators authorized by the memorial who understand how to pace a group, when to speak, and when to let the ground speak for itself. A leader does not need to fill the silence. The silence is part of the witness.
Build In Time to Process
What happens after the visit matters as much as the visit. I never schedule a heavy activity immediately afterward. A group needs room to be quiet, to talk if they wish, to begin to absorb what they have seen. I build reflection time into the itinerary, an evening to gather, to share, to pray, to simply sit together. People often need to speak about what they witnessed, sometimes that night, sometimes days later. A leader who has left space for that gives the experience somewhere to go.
Carry the Witness Home
The final piece of preparation is helping a group understand that bearing witness does not end when they leave the ground. They return home as people who have stood there and seen, and that carries a responsibility to remember and to tell. I encourage leaders to talk with their group, before and after, about what they will do with what they have witnessed, how they will keep the memory alive in their congregation and their own lives. That is how a single visit becomes a lasting act of remembrance.
You can see how we structure a complete Poland journey on our Poland destination page, and how we walk alongside group leaders through every part of this preparation on our group heritage tours page.
FAQ: Preparing a Group for Auschwitz-Birkenau
How do I prepare my group emotionally for Auschwitz-Birkenau?
Begin well before departure. Give the group honest historical context, speak openly about the range of emotions that may arise and normalize all of them, and ground the visit in prayer and shared intention. Build context earlier in the trip about the Jewish world that was destroyed, so the group bears witness to the loss of a whole civilization rather than encountering only the place of destruction.
Should Auschwitz be early or late in the trip?
Late, never first. A group needs to understand the richness of Jewish life before the war before it stands at the place of its destruction. Visiting sites of living and historical Jewish heritage first gives the witness depth and keeps it from becoming an abstraction. We sequence every itinerary with this in mind.
What acts of remembrance can a group prepare?
Decide in advance. Jewish groups often arrange who will recite Kaddish and El Malei Rachamim and bring memorial candles. Christian groups may select Scripture, prayers, or a quiet hymn. Many groups bring stones to leave in the Jewish custom. Preparing these beforehand lets the group simply mourn and honor on the day, without logistics intruding.
How should a group conduct itself at the memorial?
With the reverence due to a grave. Follow the memorial’s rules on dress and silence, move slowly, and let the ground speak. We work with educators authorized by the memorial who know how to pace a group and when not to speak. The silence is part of bearing witness.
What should happen after the visit?
Leave room to process. Do not schedule anything heavy immediately afterward. Build in quiet time and a chance for the group to gather, share, and pray that evening. Help the group understand that bearing witness continues at home, as a responsibility to remember and to tell what they have seen.
Preparing a community for this is sacred work, and I do not say that lightly. A group that has been readied with care arrives able to honor the murdered with reverence and steadiness, and that is the truest gift a leader can give. If you are carrying this responsibility for your congregation, you do not have to carry it alone. I have walked many leaders through it, and I would be honored to walk through it with you.
Contact us when you are ready to begin.