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During the Lent leave weekend, 25
sixth formers visited the Medieval city of Krakow
with the intention of visiting the Auschwitz-Birkenau
camp; the notorious scene of Nazi genocide during
the Second World War.
In thick snow and sub-zero temperatures, the pupils
were given an insight into something of the conditions
which the inmates felt and experienced.
Walking through the Auschwitz labour camp was a
chilling experience as pupils saw the clothes of Jewish
children, the hair of Jewish women and seemingly endless
piles of shoes. They visited the only remaining gas
chamber, the cell where zyklon B gas was first used and
the wall of execution.
In Birkenau death camp, the scale of the complex was
the hardest hitting element along with standing in the
notorious junction where the trains rolled in and the
decisions regarding life and death were made.
On the Saturday evening pupils visited Kazimierz,
which was the Jewish quarter of Krakow and ate in a
traditional Jewish restaurant. On Sunday they visited
Wawel cathedral, the spiritual home of John Paul II
before he became Pope.
The trip was thought-provoking, challenging and
powerful and yet informative, elucidating and
enlightening.
Though few lessons are ever learnt from history, may
the awful reminder of Auschwitz-Birkenau ever be a
warning to the world that those who forget the past are
often doomed to repeat it.
Michael Gray
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