Year 12 Students visit Auschwitz for the Holocaust Educational Trust Programme
Four Year 12 students are completing the Lessons from Auschwitz programme with the Holocaust Educational Trust. This included a seminar with a Holocaust survivor and a one day excursion to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
We caught up with Miss Hockin, who lead the trip, to give us insights into this thought-provoking and incredibly moving programme:
Pre-trip programme
Before the visit to Auschwitz, students attended a seminar where they heard from a 94-year-old Holocaust survivor called Mala Tribich, who managed to survive through ‘luck’.
During the Q&A session, Theo asked Mala if any Nazi official had ever shown her kindness. Mala replied that she’d never been asked that question and she couldn’t think of any example showing she had.
This saddened us, but her message of survival and bravery of the victims encouraged us all to want to seek out further findings during our trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Trip to Auschwitz
We started our tour at Auschwitz 1. This concentration camp is famous for having a sign saying ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ (Work Sets You Free) at the entrance.
We heard about individual stories and learnt about the reality of what life at Auschwitz 1 was really like. Sadly, the work did not set the 1.1million people free.
Putting faces to some names was very overwhelming, and we recommend looking at the Book of Names to get a small perspective of our experience.
We were also shown around the different blocks, utilising the information from pictures, belongings, videos, human remains and uniforms to help us understand the camp in detail.
The Auschwitz 1 tour ended with us seeing Commandment Hess’ house and walking through the gas chamber and crematorium. This was a powerful experience and a reminder of what human beings can do to each other in their actions of intolerance.
Throughout the day, the Holocaust Education Trust asked us to look out for signs of resistance. Small but decisive acts where the victims knew they most likely wouldn’t survive but wanted to try and make a stand against their oppressors.
When you look at the letter ‘b’ on the entrance sign (in Arbeit), you can see a very good example of this resistance.
The prisoners who were tasked with creating the "Arbeit Macht Frei" inscription on the main gate deliberately reversed the letter "B" as a subtle act of defiance and resistance against the Nazi regime. This was a sign of hope for future generations that could witness this sign’s imperfection and demonstrates the bravery of the prisoners in the face of evil.
Tour 2 was seeing the Birkenau site. This site is recognised by the train tracks and sorting platforms. The vastness of this site, the destroyed remains and the Holocaust Memorial, were some of the standout pieces of the afternoon.
Our guide shared information on the Red Cross, the camps holding Roma Sinti people, women and children, and the train travel. There was so much to take in here.
The day ended with a reflection led by a Rabbi with readings and prayers in remembrance. His final message for us was based on the signalman working at Auschwitz who said after the war that he ‘was only the signalman’, that despite anyone’s role in perpetration, everyone has a choice to make a small difference.
Whilst we know that he wouldn’t have been able to stop the Holocaust, one small change of a signal could have saved at least one train carriage of 7800 victims, and that could have made a significant difference for the victims and their loved ones - family, friends, and their religious community.
This is thought-provoking and has given us more to reflect on, including how we lead our lives and the small changes we can make not to commit or to be complicit in the by-standing of hateful actions of intolerance. The day left us with even more questions and answers to seek out.
We are so thankful to the Holocaust Education Trust for giving us the opportunity to delve deeper into learning about the Holocaust and as time goes on, we hope we will discover the answers to the additional questions we have come away with. I urge anyone to see the museums and sites to help learn more lessons from the Holocaust. It was incredibly powerful to walk through the sites and retrace the final steps of so many people.
From the students
The Year 12s will be completing a follow-up project with the Trust and we will share more with the Year 9s (who are studying the Holocaust at the moment) and in the newsletter in the near future.
To finish sharing this part of the programme, I will share the shortened reflections of the four students who were privileged to attend these sites of remembrance and reflection:
“A quote that stood out to me was, ‘Those that deny Auschwitz would be ready to remake it’ - Primo Levi.” - Theo
“I found the carelessness of the medical experiments showing the oppressive nature of the staff in another role in the camp, shocking and that I wasn’t aware of before going.” - Freddie
“I appreciated the comments when we were leaving Birkenau when the Rabbi told us that the Jews didn’t get the privilege to walk out of the gates, so we mustn’t take things for granted.” - Isla
“I found the final ceremony with the prayers really respectful and inclusive in summing up a busy and interesting day.” - Rachel
You can read more about Mala Tribich’s story here:
