On Thursday 5 December 2013, Noel Bamgbose and Finn McQueen (Year 12) visited the concentration camp at Auschwitz as a means of enhancing their A-Level History studies on the Holocaust. The boys had to write a short statement outlining why they wanted to go and what they would get from the experience.

Organised by the Holocaust Educational Trust, the trip included a guided tour that provided the students with a lot of additional information about the atrocities committed there. Accompanied by Mr Shirley, the boys’ exploration of the camp was split into two parts: the Labour Camp, where Jewish prisoners were put to work, and Auschwitz-Birkenau, the death camp. Mr Shirley described the experience as “very sobering and powerful”, as the boys witnessed first-hand the lack of humanity demonstrated there.

Particularly powerful images were those of shoes and hair left behind by fleeing victims, and the boys came away from their experience with a lot of extra knowledge to help them with their upcoming examinations.

 

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