The Holocaust

The Holocaust

Poland and the Nazi Death Camps

Experience ToursGeneral History ToursHolocaust Tours

3rd - 10th April 2024
(8 Days)

Expert Historian : Dr Isabel Wollaston

Tour price: £2,895

click here to book

MORE DATES AVAILABLE BELOW

The Holocaust

Poland and the Nazi Death Camps

Experience ToursGeneral History ToursHolocaust Tours

Your Holiday Essentials

3rd - 10th April 2024
(8 Days)

4-star hotels, meals as indicated,

drinks with dinner, all entrance

fees, tour manager and expert

historian throughout, all internal

travel, optional travel from UK.

Activity Level: 2

Expert Historian: Dr Isabel Wollaston

Prices:

Standard price: £2,695

Incl. travel from UK: £2,895
Room sole occupancy supplement: £315
Non-refundable deposit: £275

Last few places

click here to book

Interested in this tour but not ready to book? Register your interest using the link below and we will keep you updated on the progress of the tour.

click here to register your interest

26th June - 3rd July 2024
(8 Days)

4-star hotels, meals as indicated,

drinks with dinner, all entrance

fees, tour manager and expert

historian throughout, all internal

travel, optional travel from UK.

Activity Level: 2

Expert Historian: Professor Alexander Korb

Prices:

Standard price: £2,550

Incl. travel from UK: £2,800
Room sole occupancy supplement: £315
Non-refundable deposit: £275

Booking open

click here to book

Interested in this tour but not ready to book? Register your interest using the link below and we will keep you updated on the progress of the tour.

click here to register your interest

28th August - 4th September 2024
(8 Days)

4-star hotels, meals as indicated,

drinks with dinner, all entrance

fees, tour manager and expert

historian throughout, all internal

travel, optional travel from UK.

Activity Level: 2

Expert Historian: Dr Isabel Wollaston

Prices:

Standard price: £2,550

Incl. travel from UK: £2,800
Room sole occupancy supplement: £315
Non-refundable deposit: £275

Sold out

Use the button below to be put on the waiting list

click here to register your interest

Interested in this tour but not ready to book? Register your interest using the link below and we will keep you updated on the progress of the tour.

click here to register your interest

2nd - 9th October 2024
(8 Days)

4-star hotels, meals as indicated,

drinks with dinner, all entrance

fees, tour manager and expert

historian throughout, all internal

travel, optional travel from UK.

Activity Level: 2

Expert Historian: Martin Winstone

Prices:

Standard price: £2,550

Incl. travel from UK: £2,800
Room sole occupancy supplement: £315
Non-refundable deposit: £275

Booking open

click here to book

Interested in this tour but not ready to book? Register your interest using the link below and we will keep you updated on the progress of the tour.

click here to register your interest

Tour Introduction

In this 8-day tour to Poland, we visit the sites of the former ghettos in Warsaw, Lublin and Krakow alongside four of the concentration and death camps - Treblinka, Majdanek, Belzec and Auschwitz-Birkenau - that played such a significant role in this genocide. We look at the struggle of both the Jews and the Poles against their oppressors,visiting the scenes of Ghetto Uprising in 1943 and the memorial to the Warsaw Rising in 1944. You will see the shift from complete physical destruction of ghetto and camp to the actual remnants due to the rapid advance of the Soviets. However, the tour is not limited to the serious and emotive history of the Holocaust, with its clear message for future generations. We also enjoy expert guided tours of the historic cities of Warsaw and Krakow. We sample much of the local culture and visit the world famous salt mine at Wieliczka. Each evening we will dine in a different local restaurant to enjoy a wealth of diverse local cuisine. The topography of the sites we visit involves a fair amount of walking: at Auschwitz/Birkenau you will cover almost 8 miles over the course of the day, but that is necessary to achieve a full appreciation of the subject.

Read reviews of this tour by past travellers

Background

Under Communism, in Poland it was traditional to refer to ‘six million Poles murdered during World War II, a figure that referred to 3 million ethnic Poles and 3 million Polish Jews. Those Polish Jews were murdered in ghettos, forests in the east of the country, or purpose-built death camps set up after the German occupation of Poland. By far the largest of these was Auschwitz-Birkenau, which was the site of over one million deaths, mainly Jews brought here from all over Europe. The smaller, purpose built 'killing' camp of Treblinka, where Warsaw's Jews were taken, was said by its commandant SS-Obersturmfuhrer Franz Stangl to be able to murder over 1000 people per hour at its peak. With the positioning of the Majdanek camp on the outskirts of Lublin, the Germans made no effort to disguise the killings, its gas chambers and crematorium being plainly visible to passers-by. The overarching narrative of the tour is about the shift from Polish Jews to European Jews and the evolution of policy from concentration camps to death camps.

Highlights

  • With Dr Isabel Wollaston, Prof Alexander Korb or Martin Winstone
  • See parts of ghetto walls in Warsaw
  • The POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews
  • Treblinka memorial and museum
  • The multi-purpose prisoner of war camp, concentration camp and death camp at Majdanek, on the outskirts of Lublin
  • Belzec camp and museum
  • Guided tour of the architectural wealth of Krakow's Old Town, and former Jewish quarter in Kazimierz, now a major cultural and heritage site (and which featured heavily in Steven Spielberg’s film Schindler’s List.
  • Full day at Auschwitz and Birkenau
  • Visit the awesome 700 year old salt mine at Wieliczka
  • Stay in Zamosc, the historical centre of which was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1992

What's Included

  • Return flights from London (optional)
  • 4 Star Hotels
  • Buffet breakfast each morning
  • A three-course dinner party on 6 evenings hosted by your expert historian and tour manager
  • Two drinks i,e wine or beer at each dinner and a welcome drink on first evening
  • Dedicated Tour Manager
  • Entrance fees for sites included in itinerary
  • Modern, comfortable, air-conditioned coach
  • Tour information booklet
  • Access to the Cultural Experience app
  • Helpful and friendly travel advice
  • The company of like-minded travelers

"All in all an incredibly enriching and moving experience, I am so glad I went with The Cultural Experience. With the guides vast expertise brought everything to life. Examining events in chronological order was an amazing way to learn".

"One doesn’t need to be an expert hiker for this tour, but you need a lot of stamina – there is a lot of walking and standing, often for hours, with nowhere to sit down and rest...this was an amazing once in a lifetime experience...I thought I understood the Holocaust, but I had only superficial knowledge. I have learned so much."

Itinerary

Day 1 - Depart

We fly from London to Warsaw before checking-in to our central hotel for two nights. (D)

Day 2 - Warsaw

A busy day exploring the Polish capital on foot to explore the key sites associated with the former ghetto and its subsequent uprising: the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, the Umschlagplatz (a holding area set up by Nazi Germany) and the Warsaw Jewish cemetery, one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in the world.(B,D)

Day 3 - Treblinka & Lublin

This morning we drive to the extermination camps at Treblinka, where between 700,000 to 900,000 Jews lost their lives. Operational between July 1943 and October 1943, more Jews lost their lives at Treblinka II than at any other death camp, other than Auschwitz. Spend time in the small but informative museum before visiting the memorials to those who lost their lives. We spend the night in Lublin, a city which had a large pre-war Jewish population and which served as the administration centre for Action Reinhardt. (B,D)

Day 4 - Belzec & Majdanek

Our day will begin at the concentration camp of Majdanek, just on the outskirts of Lublin, where approximately 80,000 people from 28 different countries lost their lives. Today it is a well-preserved Nazi concentration and death camp where we find barracks, guard towers, gas chambers, crematoria, museum, “Gates of Hell” memorial and the mausoleum memorial, a gigantic structure which contains the ashes of victims beneath it.
Continue to Belzec, the small but lethal death camp, where between 430,000 & 500,000 Jews lost their lives in six-months with as a few as 7 people surviving. Our hotel for the evening is based in Rzeszów. (B,D)

Day 5 - Krakow

This morning we drive to Krakow where we take a change of pace and emphasis with an afternoon orientation tour of Krakow's Old Town and its busy street life. Check-in to our hotel for three nights.(B,D)

Day 6 - Auschwitz and Birkenau

An early start as we are immersed in a comprehensive tour on foot of the concentration and death camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau. To enter the camp of Auschwitz, one passes under the infamous inscription 'Arbeit Macht Frei' mounted upon its main gate, before visiting the exhibitions in the surviving prison blocks.
In the afternoon we visit Birkenau, also known as Auschwitz II, the purpose-built camp that had hundreds of barracks and 4 massive gas chambers and functioned as the epicentre of the Holocaust during 1943 and 1944. The day at Auschwitz and Birkenau explores two large camps and will involve a good amount of walking.
This evening you are free to find your own restaurant for dinner and perhaps explore Krakow. (B)

Day 7 - Kazimierz and Wieliczka

Before WW2, some 70,000 Jews lived in Krakow, mostly in the suburb of Kazimierz. We explore this tiny area including the Old Synagogue Museum and there will be an opportunity for an optional unaccompanied visit to the museum situated in the former Oscar Schindler's Factory. We visit the awesome 700-year-old salt mine at Wieliczka, its labyrinth of 300km of tunnels revealing chapels, underground lakes and a museum. (B,D)

Day 8 - Home

Transfer to Warsaw airport for your return flight to London. (B)

Recommended Reading List

Dr Isabel Wollaston, BA, PhD

Dr Isabel Wollaston, BA, PhD

Isabel Wollaston is Associate Professor in Jewish and Holocaust Studies at the University of Birmingham. She is an expert on the history, representation and memorialization of the Holocaust, with particular reference to Auschwitz. In 2015 Isabel served as President of the British & Irish Association for Holocaust Studies (BAIHS). She is currently a member of the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation Academic Advisory Board for the planned new national memorial and learning centre in London. In November 2017 she was part of a panel representing BIAHS at a European Association for Jewish Studies conference in Krakow marking the 70th anniversary of the creation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.

Read more

Photo Gallery

  • SS Canteen, Auschwitz I
  • Isabel guiding the group at Majdanek
  • Majdanek
  • Belzec
  • Warsaw Uprising Monument
  • Group picture inside Wieliczka Salt Mine
  • Auschwitz Train
  • Auschwitz
  • Anne & Margot Frank Memorial

Your Holiday Essentials

3rd - 10th April 2024
(8 Days)

4-star hotels, meals as indicated,

drinks with dinner, all entrance

fees, tour manager and expert

historian throughout, all internal

travel, optional travel from UK.

Activity Level: 2

Expert Historian: Dr Isabel Wollaston

Prices:

Standard price: £2,695

Incl. travel from UK: £2,895
Room sole occupancy supplement: £315
Non-refundable deposit: £275

Last few places

click here to book

Interested in this tour but not ready to book? Register your interest using the link below and we will keep you updated on the progress of the tour.

click here to register your interest

26th June - 3rd July 2024
(8 Days)

4-star hotels, meals as indicated,

drinks with dinner, all entrance

fees, tour manager and expert

historian throughout, all internal

travel, optional travel from UK.

Activity Level: 2

Expert Historian: Professor Alexander Korb

Prices:

Standard price: £2,550

Incl. travel from UK: £2,800
Room sole occupancy supplement: £315
Non-refundable deposit: £275

Booking open

click here to book

Interested in this tour but not ready to book? Register your interest using the link below and we will keep you updated on the progress of the tour.

click here to register your interest

28th August - 4th September 2024
(8 Days)

4-star hotels, meals as indicated,

drinks with dinner, all entrance

fees, tour manager and expert

historian throughout, all internal

travel, optional travel from UK.

Activity Level: 2

Expert Historian: Dr Isabel Wollaston

Prices:

Standard price: £2,550

Incl. travel from UK: £2,800
Room sole occupancy supplement: £315
Non-refundable deposit: £275

Sold out

Use the button below to be put on the waiting list

click here to register your interest

Interested in this tour but not ready to book? Register your interest using the link below and we will keep you updated on the progress of the tour.

click here to register your interest

2nd - 9th October 2024
(8 Days)

4-star hotels, meals as indicated,

drinks with dinner, all entrance

fees, tour manager and expert

historian throughout, all internal

travel, optional travel from UK.

Activity Level: 2

Expert Historian: Martin Winstone

Prices:

Standard price: £2,550

Incl. travel from UK: £2,800
Room sole occupancy supplement: £315
Non-refundable deposit: £275

Booking open

click here to book

Interested in this tour but not ready to book? Register your interest using the link below and we will keep you updated on the progress of the tour.

click here to register your interest

Tour Reviews

Take a look at some independent reviews of this tour by previous participants here

Take a look at some of the images taken on our most recent tour

View a diary of our Holocaust tour here

Photo Gallery

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