Sixth Form Students Visit Auschwitz
Sue Garlick
/ Categories: General
Last term, two sixth form students, Maddison Court and Maja Brozek were selected to take up places on the ‘Lessons from Auschwitz’ project funded by the Holocaust Educational Trust. In order to be chosen, students had to write a detailed letter of application and be interviewed by senior teacher Mr Osborne and Diane Wilson, the school’s chair of governors. Both Maddie and Maja were successful and by accompanied Ms Bartley (Head of Performing Arts and Sixth form tutor) they set off to Poland to learn about and visit the sites of these WW2 concentration camps. The project also involved attending an orientation session and de-brief session, both in London.
Both students and the teacher who accompanied them have discussed at length how they found the experience of seeing the site of such awful persecution and treatment of Jews and other groups. All agreed that there was only really one word which could begin to sum up how it had been in terms of what they had learnt and what they had seen; that word being, harrowing.
Both students have returned to school feeling very reflective and are keen to educate others about what they have seen and their experience of the trip. Ms Bartley is looking forward to working with both students to support them in this endeavour and would like to end this article with some final words about the trip from Maja...
What has stayed with me the most after visiting Auschwitz is a sense of hardly being able to fathom how such unreasonable hatred towards innocent humans could have ever taken place and could ever have led to the most dehumanizing and undeserved torture. Being able to listen to a Holocaust survivor and see Auschwitz is an experience I will always hold onto as it made me realize the impact that hatred can have on society, and the heart-breaking damage it can cause.
After having been to Auschwitz, I feel compelled to impact upon the people around me. Many take for granted what we might think is simplicity. Having the privilege of waking up in a clean, private environment is a simple expectation and routine to us that for many would've seemed like luxury. I would like to help people understand that the life we have is precious, and we should be thankful for what we have.
The trip taught me many lessons and facts. The overwhelming experience has really helped to shape me and helped me understand the person I want to be. After hearing Ziggi Shipper speak about starvation, I have understood the power words have, and that meanings of words are important when explaining a feeling. Ziggi said: 'I hope you never feel the true meaning of starvation.' Ziggi also made me feel thankful for the family, friends and environment I have around me as this was taken away from millions of people. After leaving Auschwitz, although I felt devasted with learning about what reality once was for people, I left with a feeling of hope. If humanity managed to move forward from the most horrendous events like this, we can build a world we want to live in where people are accepted for who they are. We were fortunate to walk into Auschwitz and then be able to walk back out again to our everyday lives, however, millions weren't.
I feel extremely thankful for being chosen to go on this trip. This has been the most perspective-changing trip I have been experienced. Maddie and I, are both thankful for Lessons from Auschwitz that Mr Osborne, Mrs Willson, Ms Bartley and LFA organised.