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This year three year 12 students successfully applied for the Holocaust Educational Trusts programme- Lessons From Auschwitz. The programme consists of two seminars and a visit to Auschwitz. Last Thursday we attended the first seminar to discuss pre-war life for Jews in Europe, what the Holocaust was and listened to a survivor, John Dobai, share his moving story of growing up in Hungary during the 1930s. This was then followed up this week with a visit to Poland. A 4.30am meet meant it was a very early start for myself, Lottie, Aoife and Grace but this meant we could get the most from our short time in Poland. Our day consisted of a visit to Auschwitz, Auschwitz-Birkenau and a reflective ceremony. Here we saw first-hand the horrors experienced by so many. 

This was followed up this week with a visit to Poland. A 4.30am meet meant it was a very early start for myself, Lottie, Aoife and Grace but this meant we could get the most from our short time in Poland. Our day consisted of a visit to Auschwitz, Auschwitz-Birkenau and a reflective ceremony. Here we saw first-hand the horrors experienced by so many. In Auschwitz, we were immediately confronted with the “Arbeit Macht Frei” (Work sets you free) sign, something we have seen lots of photographs of, but was even more powerful in real life. Once inside we saw items taken from those detained such as clothing, glasses and shoes. This was an important reminder of the individuals that were affected by this atrocity with names you could clearly make out on the suitcases they had brought with them to the camp. We also visited block 27 and the book of names, a book that includes the names of 4.2 million Jewish people killed during the Holocaust.

Our second stop was to Auschwitz-Birkenau where we were confronted with the well-known image of the railway into the camp, we saw the bunks for ourselves as well as the registration room where new arrivals would have been processed and their belongings removed. Here there was a room of family photographs that had been confiscated; a reminder of the pre-war life the victims had lived. The scale of Auschwitz-Birkenau was what struck us most and was hard to truly comprehend. We completed our visit with a memorial ceremony and the reading of poems written by both survivors and victims. Lottie was one student chosen to read a poem, something she was honoured to do.

It was an incredibly moving experience and one we will not forget. They students have one more seminar to attend and then a project to complete to ensure future generations are educated on the Holocaust, they will then become ambassadors themselves of the Holocaust Education Trust.