I was offered a great opportunity to partake in lessons from the Auschwitz Project by the Holocaust Educational Trust recently. This included a trip to the Auschwitz Birkenau memorial and museum at the concentration camps Auschwitz 1 and Auschwitz – Birkenau. We were taken through both sites by a guide and witnessed many pictures, artefacts and even personal possessions of those who had been held captive there. It was quite an emotional experience that can’t be done justice in one paragraph. We saw the living conditions, the ruins of buildings that had been blown up to try and cover the atrocities and read many personal accounts, poems and stories of survivors. At the end of the trip, we lit candles and laid them at the memorial site. Overall, despite how emotional and upsetting being at the camps is, the experience of it was invaluable to not only my own personal experience but also for my education, it was an incredible opportunity and I am thankful and glad that I was offered a place on the project.
By Seth p, Year 13.