Future Officers Explore the Lessons of the Holocaust During ASAP

Fifteen cadets and midshipmen from the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA), the United States Naval Academy (USNA), and Princeton University’s Army ROTC program participated in this year’s American Service Academies Program (ASAP).

For more than 20 years, the Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation program has used the history of the Holocaust as a starting point for examining ethical leadership, responsibility, moral courage, and the duties of future military officers.

In Warsaw, participants explored the history of the city’s Jewish community and visited the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, the Treblinka Museum, and the Warsaw Rising Museum. They also met with Professor Michał Bilewicz of the University of Warsaw’s Center for Research on Prejudice.

In Oświęcim, the group visited the Oshpitzin Jewish Museum and the Chevra Lomdei Mishnayot Synagogue, completed study visits at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial, and helped maintain the local Jewish cemetery. In Kraków, participants explored the city’s Jewish history and former ghetto, met with a Holocaust survivor, and visited the U.S. Consulate General.

The second part of the program took place in New York City. It included a meeting with Holocaust survivors, visits to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum and the Museum of Jewish Heritage, and workshops examining obedience to orders, postwar justice, Holocaust distortion, and responses to disinformation.

Regular reflection sessions encouraged participants to connect the history they encountered with their future military service and responsibilities as leaders. The program concluded with their participation in the AJCF Annual Gala in New York City.

The program was made possible through the generous support of the David Berg Foundation and Taube Philanthropies.