Lessons from Auschwitz Project

In June 2011 we were informed that the opportunity had arisen for two Sixth Form students to participate in a visit to Auschwitz in the October with the Holocaust memorial Trust. There was a lot of interest in the visit but only two of us could go. We were all interviewed by the Head of History and the Director of Sixth Form stating why we wanted to go. The teachers made their choice but there was still keen interest and two students were added to a reserve list. In September they were allocated a place on the visit as our Sixth Form is so big the Trust increased our numbers. Beth Dixon, Beth Swinburn, Vanessa Hedley and myself went. The concept behind Sixth Formers visiting Auschwitz is so they can talk to peers about it and make sure the world never forgets.

The four of us all wanted to go for similar reasons, our shared passion for History. We  firmly believe that the Holocaust Educational Trust’s motto ‘Seeing is believing’ is categorically true and  we wanted to gain a deeper understanding of what it was like for those who experienced the holocaust.

We were required to attend a seminar before we went, where we found out more about pre Nazi life in Europe and we also met a Holocaust survivor named Lesley Kleinmann. He told us of his experience in Auschwitz Birkenau. This was a sorrowful account of the true realities of the evil of mankind. Lesley felt no anger towards the Nazis and he told us after his speech that he cannot hate them because it was hatred that caused the Holocaust. We met our group members for the day in Auschwitz and at the follow up seminar. The group spoke about what we thought Auschwitz would be like and we were prepared for what we should expect by our group leader.

On October 11th 2011 we flew from Newcastle airport to Krakow and then took a coach the Oswiecim, as the town was formerly known before the Nazis named it Auschwitz. Here we saw what time was like before the war and this town was an incredibly peaceful and harmonious place. Jews and Gentiles lived in peace along side each other, there was even a Temple right next to a Church and the local Rabbi was best friend with the Priest, before the Temple was burned down.

Then we went into Auschwitz I, which was formerly an army barracks, then a labour camp for the soldiers and later had a gas chamber installed, but it was not used as much as others as it was too close to the town and the Nazis did not want people to know what they were doing behind ‘closed doors’

In Auschwitz I we saw and read lots of facts and figures on the Holocaust. Just outside one of the blocks we found the ‘wall of death’ where prisoners were publically humiliated and made examples out of and were people were stripped naked and the shot. Furthermore, just outside Auschwitz I was the home of Rudolf Hess, where he lived with his wife and children. On hearing this we could not understand why someone would not only allow, but want to live next to such evil and suffering and even allow one’s children to witness this also.

Auschwitz II, Auschwitz-Birkenau was our next destination. This was considered by the majority on the visit to be the harder place to see, as we really could see the scale of what had taken place. Immediately on arrival we went, into  watch tower and from here all we could see in front of us were wooden huts. We then walked around the camp and entered some of the huts which were incredibly small for the amount of people who were living in them. The ‘beds’ in the huts were also falling apart and it was hard to imagine having to share one of those beds with so many others. We also saw that the doors did not close properly and this was so the prisoners would freeze. As we went in October we thought it freezing, but we had our coats, hats and gloves on. We honestly couldn’t begin to imagine how cold the prisoners must have found it in the colder months, in the snow and in the rain, in only their ‘striped pyjamas’.

We were taken to the gas chambers. Words cannot describe what we saw. After this we went to what the Nazis called Kanada. It was named Kanada, as this was where the Nazis kept all the riches of the prisoners, and Canada was a rich country. This was also where the Nazis ‘cleansed’ the prisoners and ‘disinfected’ them. The process was humiliating for them as they lost all their belongings, including their name and they were referred to by number, in order to de-humanise them and make killing easier for the Nazi officers. As we continued to walk we came into a room full of photographs of the Jewish people and others before they were imprisoned. This was also an emotional experienced as it really showed us that those at Auschwitz were people just like you and I and they had lives before the holocaust and memories of enjoyment, shown in photographs of family event, school days, young children playing and portraits of families.

At the end of the visit to Auschwitz II we held a small memorial service to remember all those who perished during the Holocaust. This was led by the Rabbi who was with us on the trip we prayed for the sake of humanity and that nothing like this should happen again, and we also remembered other genocides, like those in Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. As we walked back along the train tracks toward the watch tower we all lit a candle and placed it somewhere along the tracks and as we looked back we saw all the candles lighting the tracks, which was a very powerful and intense moment.

As we boarded the plane to Newcastle, we were handed personal accounts of the Holocaust and as we read them we were again reminded of the horrors  humanity can cause. Looking back we were completely surprised and awakened to the extend of the holocaust, as it was not only in one small camp, but spread out across a large town, and although we only saw two camps there were numerous others across Oswiecim and it was impossible to see them all in one day. What we must remember is that hatred leads to such things and we must encourage tolerance and acceptance in today’s society to ensure nothing like this happens again.