Lessons from Auschwitz 2023

07 March 2023

By Mr Bourne

In February, four Year 12 students had the unique opportunity to visit the Auschwitz death camp near Krakow in Poland. It is an experience organised in conjunction with the Holocaust Educational Trust – participants attend a number of seminars as well as the visit itself, and they share their experiences with the school community on their return. Read on to hear the very thoughtful reflection of one of the participants, Safi Hossain:

“Most of us often think that there’s no difference between knowledge and experience. The biggest reason for my signing up to visit Auschwitz was to gain more understanding of the topic; I wasn’t planning on going for the experience. Well, the experience - the feeling - became the most impactful aspect of our visit. Being there at the camps, entering a gas chamber, seeing the real human hair and possessions from over 50 years ago will always be much different to reading on the topic. One of the reasons why is because it sparks empathy within you. The physical presence of everything makes you think actively about the fact that the victims were real, not just flesh and bone, but minds, thoughts, and feelings like you. That was, in fact, the focus of the Trust. Throughout our time there, they made sure we heard individual stories of men, women, and children. Not just of their time in concentration camps but their wider lives outside of it. Because the point of remembering the holocaust is to ensure that it never happens again, and humanizing the victims is pivotal to that end.”