Walton High School Visit To Auschwitz-Birkenau with the
Holocaust Educational Trust
Two Sixth Form students visited Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland on the Lessons from Auschwitz Course, organised by the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET) this Spring. Sophy Charlton and Kayleigh McConnachie joined more than 200 other students, and an array of dignitaries, on the Course which explores the universal lessons of the Holocaust and its relevance for today.
Now in its eighth year, the Course is based on the premise that “hearing is not like seeing”. Students were shown around the camp’s barracks and crematoria, and witnessed the registration documents of inmates, piles of hair, shoes, clothes and other items seized by the Nazis. They were then taken the short distance to Birkenau where a memorial and candle-lighting service was held to remember the 6 million Jews, and the Roma, Sinti, gay, disabled, black people, and other victims of the Nazis killed in the Holocaust.
The visit to Auschwitz was preceded by a seminar in the UK where participants were introduced to Jewish life in Europe before the War and heard testimony from Kitty Hart-Moxon, a survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau. A follow up seminar after the course explored how pupils could follow up the trip by sharing their experiences with others.
A.Caldwell (History Dept)
Auschwitz Trip - Sophy Charlton
Auschwitz Trip - Kayleigh McConnachie
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