March of the Living Part 1: The Flight and Setup

This narrative is exactly as written in 1999. No corrections have been made to any grammatical mistakes I may have made in 1999. Any items in italics are editor’s notes, circa 2016. The journal includes a film log and the pictures are captioned as per my notes in the log.

Saturday, April 10, 1999 – JFK Airport

Shot of people around me on airplane

I arrived at the airport bearing a giant bag on wheels and a bookbag the size of a duffel. We went through El Al procedure and was eventually ushered into a waiting room where I ran into Ilana Shreck. Eventually, Solomon showed up. We were all talking and continued to do so until we went to the gate and sat with the blue people of which I’d formerly been. Plane departed 11PM.

A Paper Ticket…ah the nostalgia

Sunday, April 11, 1999 – Montreal, Canada

We stopped here to pick up more people and didn’t take off again until 2:30AM EST.

They fed us several times on the flight. A snack, a dinner, a breakfast…

Editor’s note: I have the clear recollection of them refusing to give us drinks on the flight, and a few of us conspiring to distract the flight attendants so I could grab a bunch of drinks from the galley and distribute them to the individuals around me.

We should be arriving soon in Crakow. I am unsure of what to expect, this being my first trip to Europe and the disturbing nature of this trip.

The setup for this trip actually started months earlier. I began the journal in question with entries at Queensborough Community College where we had classes to prepare for what we were going to see.At the time of this trip, I was a student at the Bronx High School of Science. The only other student from my school was Solomon Schatten. I still hear from him once in a while to this day. He would be the only person from the trip I have contact with. The other people I became friendly with on the trip, for example, Ilana Schreck, I have lost track of. According to Facebook though, she has a family now and still lives in New York. We still have mutual friends.

I found this scribbled on one of the pages. It still seems like good advice.

Laver’s Travel Laws for March of the Living

Prepare.

When you see a bathroom, use it

Be there for others, reach out

Be flexible and patient

You pack it, you schlep it