From the History Department

FROM THE HISTORY DEPT

Year 12 Lessons from Auschwitz Project

This year the Lessons from Auschwitz project was slightly different - with it all taking place online the students didn't get the opportunity to visit Auschwitz but the Holocaust Education Trust still managed to put together an incredible series of sessions.

Naomi Dias reports:

During this course, we were fortunate enough to have Jewish survivor Kitty from the Auschwitz Birkenau camp share her experience under the Nazi dictatorship. During this emotive testimony, not only did Kitty talk about the inhuman treatment she suffered and the countless sleepless nights she endured - fearful for her exposure in hiding, but she also explained pre-war Jewish life in Poland. This talk was insightful as it really humanised these atrocious events that so many of us have simply read about in textbooks. Hearing Kitty’s retelling of how she was split from her mother, father and siblings - soon becoming a self-reliant young orphan - really made the statistics of the deaths that derived from anti-semitism more tangible for me. Personally, the greatest lesson I learnt from Kitty was the power in unity and equality - throughout the testimony she repeatedly emphasised the importance of support and sense of communal belonging. Kitty is a doubtless inspiration who continues to fight against discrimination in today’s world so that nobody has to experience what she has undergone and that through the education of others, together we will avoid the repetition of history.

Aemilia Baumann writes:

Throughout the month of June, I attended the live ‘Lessons from Auschwitz’ sessions. The 3 sessions walked me through the destruction and hurt imposed by the Holocaust. It served as a key reminder to me that the families of the once marginalised Jews are still healing and will continue to heal from their losses.

I am thankful to the organisers for arranging the first-hand testimony, from Kitty Hart - Moxon, giving me insight on how regular her life had been in the run up to her time in Auschwitz - Birkenau. Lessons from Auschwitz returned individuality to every Holocaust story they shared by including personal accounts, names of victims/ survivors, family members affected, careers pursued, schools attended etc. It is so important to remember the details of the lives lost and remember who they were by recalling personal information, even when it seems trivial, such as a favourite colour.

I participated in these sessions with the fundamental goal of gaining a deeper understanding of not only the widespread damage caused but also the sheer depth of this havoc. The project definitely fulfilled my goal as I truly began to comprehend how unique every experience was even though the final destination was unfortunately the same for so many.

The messages were portrayed clearly and respectfully which formed my strong view on the matter now. Unexpectedly, I was inspired to memorialise the past in order to prevent it from happening again. Many forms of discrimination manifest themselves by failure to acknowledge varied prerequisites and experiences. Having followed these sessions, I will be sure to further shed light on the terrible consequences of the Holocaust as well as what can be learnt from it.

Emily Embery reports:

During the course, we were highly fortunate to experience an online, virtual tour of the Auschwitz extermination camp. This was a really insightful and rather overwhelming event. Additionally, we overlooked the definition of the term “Holocaust” - seeing the people as individuals rather than a statistic of deaths. I would highly recommend anyone in the future to take on the same opportunity as it’s highly important and something that is critical to educate on as the number of remaining survivors of the Holocaust are greatly reducing today and their stories are reliant on us passing it on. Additionally, a book I was inspired to read from the course was the Tattooist of Auschwitz, which I really recommend.