Students Visit Auschwitz Concentration Camp

During the Spring Term, two Year 12 history students took part in the Lessons from Auschwitz (LFA) project, a unique opportunity run by the Holocaust Educational Trust. It gave students the chance to visit Nazi concentration and death camp Auschwitz in November.

Tommy Doherty and Jaydon Mak made their own way to and from Gatwick Airport and then toured authentic sites and museum exhibits with a local guide as well as a trained LFA educator. Students found the experience to be both eye-opening and, at times, difficult. You can read Jaydon's short reflection below. Please note that it contains graphic imagery describing concentration camps and the Holocaust.

Auschwitz Reflection: Jaydon

My experience at Auschwitz was extremely insightful as I learned and got to see in person the horrible things that Jewish people had to experience in camps designed to systematically take them out. Before going there, I expected a dark and dingy camp that had little to no structures and was purely made to hold the Jewish people, but what I really saw was a planned and built-up camp that was created to kill and torture people who were blamed for nothing.

When I was there, it felt extremely eerie and cold, very cold - it was really spine-chilling knowing that the halls and paths I walked held people who just wanted to go back to their family and homes but couldn’t, with many never leaving the camp like I did at the end of the day.

As for how it changed me, it helped me better understand what evil people can do if they get power and it makes me want to ensure nothing like that ever happens again. I can do this by helping to try and spread awareness as well as the truth about what happens when one person’s lies get spread across a majority. I would urge people to think harder about the truth behind people’s words and also understand deeper about the struggles some people go through due to race and religion - not just the people of our generation but the ones of the past too.