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From The Times

February 4, 2008

Day trip to Auschwitz for pupils from every school

School children walk in a blizzard past a watch tower at the Birkenau death camp

Alexandra Frean

Two sixth-formers from every school in England are to visit Auschwitz to learn about the Holocaust, under a government-funded initiative to help to ensure that the lessons of the Nazi genocide live on with a new generation.

Jim Knight, the Schools Minister, wants the teenagers who take part to educate their classmates and communities in turn by giving them their own accounts of the death camp in Poland where more than one million Jews, Roma, Sinti, gay, disabled and black people were put to death.

The Government will fund the greater majority of the cost of each student’s trip. While their school must find £100, the Education Department will find the remaining £200 per trip over the next three years.

Teenagers selected for the visit will meet an Auschwitz survivor, be shown around the camp’s barracks and crematoria and see the registration documents of inmates, piles of hair, shoes, clothes and other items seized by the Nazis. They will also hear first-hand accounts of life and death in the camp and end the visit at a memorial service.

“The Holocaust was one of the most significant events in world history,” Mr Knight said. “Six million people died, not for what they had done, but simply for who they were.

“What strikes me is the sheer scale of it and how industrialised and mechanised the process of killing people became at Auschwitz. It was not hot-blooded brutality, it happened in a very planned way, with some people designing the process of death and others carrying it out. Every young person should have an understanding of this.”

Students taking part will fly to Poland and back in a day, leaving at 5am and returning at 10pm.

The visit takes students first to Oswiecim, the small town next to Auschwitz death and concentration camp, where the local Jewish community lived prior to the start of the Second World War.

They will then see the remnants of the gas chambers at Birkenau, where the vast majority of victims were murdered.

The visits will be preceded by a seminar in the UK, where students, aged 16 to 18, will hear testimony from a survivor of the camp. Following their return, they will attend a second seminar to reflect on the experience.

Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Education Trust, which runs the visits, said that the project aimed to turn the educated into educators.

“We are very aware that there’s going to be a time where there aren’t any survivors left to go into schools,” she said. “The young people on these visits themselves become eye-witnesses.

“For a lot of them, it’s life changing. They suddenly realise what they value and they see it is important to challenge prejudice today. We don’t want young people wandering around the camp and sobbing. It’s not about making them cry, it’s about helping them to reflect on what it means.”

Ms Pollock said that some students who visited were inspired to distribute leaflets protesting against the British National Party candidates standing in their local council elections. More usually, students gave talks about their visit to their schools and other groups.

Critics have suggested that the visits might act as a smokescreen to disguise present-day atrocities. But Mr Knight is determined that this will not happen. “We want them to see it, not as an isolated period of history, but as something real and something that can happen again and again if we let it, like it has happened since then in the Balkans, in Cambodia and in Rwanda,” he said.

This is why today he will confirm that the scheme, which has been piloted since 2006, will now be on a permanent footing receiving £1.5 million of government funding a year until 2011, with a promise of further funding in the future.

In preparation for the time when there are no survivors left alive, the Holocaust Education Trust has produced a DVD containing the testimonies of survivors. The DVD, which took four years to develop and which schools can order, contains testimonies from 18 witnesses to the Holocaust and survivors of the eugenics programme, including Jewish, Roma and Sinti people, Jehovah’s Witness survivors and political prisoners.

Aristides Bernard-Grau, 19, from Graveney School in Wandsworth, South London, visited Auschwitz on an educational trip in November:

“ It felt a bit like going to Price’s candle factory. I felt very ordinary. It was when I saw the collection of human hair, literally tonnes of it, that I realised where I was standing and what I was witnessing.

It started to rain and we were freezing, even though we had our thermals on. And we thought how cold the inmates must have been as they hardly had anything to wear.

It isn’t like being in a history lesson where you are told that six million people were slaughtered. You witness it and you feel it. It was like getting into a cold bath and being incredibly shocked. I had expected to cry. But it only really caught up with me when I got home at 11pm and was talking to my mother. Then it hit me like a slap in the face.

At school you get caught up with exams and your friendship groups and you can forget about what is really important. In Auschwitz I learnt about humanity. The trip made me more respectful of others and understanding. It was life-changing. If I had my way, every single child would go.”

Grim toll

— Auschwitz started as a prison camp in June 1940.

— Mass murder began in 1941-42.

— About 1.1 million people died at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp

— In total, the Auschwitz-Birkenau camps covered 40 sq km

— Rudolf Höss, the commander of the camp, was hanged in front of the Birkenau crematorium

Sources: Times database www.auschwitz.org.pl

I was one of the students who went on the trip on 26th Feb 2008
It was a long and tiring day which made you think of how the prisoners felt day in and day out.
When we stood in the barracks and saw how 2 people would sleep in a bed not fit for one person and there were limits on how many times they could use the toilet eac day.
One of the most moving stories was when we heard about a group of jews playing football, the ball went of the pitch, one jew went to collect the ball, he saw millions of people standing on th platform, just getting of the trains, two throw-ins later in the football game - there was no-one left standing on that platform, they were being gassed to death.
So why was it that this story hit me more than all the ones' i have read in the text book in school, because i was there - looking at the same sights that jew saw and standing on the same soil. So no i don't think it is possible to teach children from textbooks.

Jade Connolly, Great dunmow, Essex

Education, Eric Hester, begins with truth. And the truth is the Soviets won the major European theatre of war. At massive personal cost millions of young Soviet men and women liberated the inmates of Auschwitz, not the British. But, let's not forget that for centuries those same liberating Slavic people, as well as the Polish, had themselves persecuted Jews mercilessly.

Realise also that those victors in turn incarcerated innocent civilian ethnic Germans caught in the Reich's retreat and forced them into the very camps they liberated only to starve, beat and murder them. In some instances these new death-camps were run by Jews whilst the majority of Allied forces turned a blind eye.

Nazism sprang from a idealistic political group in Germany. Inhumanity springs from us all.

Auschwitz is not the place to educate children to this truth. It can be done with unbiased and accurate historical documentaries made for schools and shown to all children, not a select few.

Neal, London,

I don't agree with Cameron about anything - except this

Brian Cosworth, Banbury, England

The Times fails to mention that in 'the camp in Poland' the secound largest ethnic group of victims after Jews were Poles. Not Roma, not Sinti. More, during the WW II Poland lost about 30% of its population. the number of Polish citizens was reduced by 11 to 12 MILIONS! Auschwitz however gruesome is only a part of those times. It was the Polish nation who suffered most during those days from hands of German and Russian totalitarian regimes. As a Pole I feel upset by this misrepresentation of historic facts.

pan kowalski, manchester,

Why donâ€™t they fly the school children over to Gaza and see ethnic cleaning and oppression of a people in their own lands for real.

steve, Auckland,

I see the Labour Government is wasting taxpayers money again.

Schools should be made to teach children about a much bigger Holocaust that happened, the Russian Holocaust where over 40 million Russians were killed by Stalin.

Ashley, London, UK

How dare they waste MY money like this?

David Catleugh, Newton Aycliffe, England - UK

Yes, Stalin and Mao were responsible for more deaths than Hitler,they also had more time for their atrocities.It is the efficient "industrial" nature of the Nazi's policies that makes death camps like Auschwitz (and many others) unique.
My hope is that among the young people who will be visiting the camp,there will be a few who will really understand what totalitarianism can do and will have the power in their future life to oppose it effectively.
It matters not if they go to Vorkuta,Cambodia or to the many other parts of the world mentioned by previous correspondents.Auschwitz is a good choice,it is relatively close and is situated slap in the middle of "cultured" Europe.

Roman Zoltowski, Poznan, Poland

What has the BNP got to do with the holocaust? Marxist brain-washing,communist take over of Britain

dan dare, swansea, wales

My sister has been chosen as a 6th former to take part in this trip, and I personally think it is a great opportunity. I think it is important for everyone to learn about the past, as it is what help shapes the future. I believe that there are many issues today which young people also need to be aware of, but this was one of the first issues! I am also happy for Mr Knight to spend the taxpayers money, my tax that I pay, to educate young people, rather than it be given to people who are too lazy to go out and get a job.

S Pritchard, Leeds, UK

If Mr Knight wishes to be profligate with taxpayers money in this manner, perhaps he should ask the Treasury for a little bit more .Then he could fly the children onto Isreal to show them a modern day concentration camp run by a modern day Nazi army namely the Israeli army guarding the perimiter wire round the Gaza Strip.

Mr Normansel;, Warrington, England

I wonder what the children will think when they see the hot dog and bagel stands selling their wares outside Poland's Disneyland? And the same fast foods on offer outside of the holocaust museum in Washington, DC.

Donald Lebeau, Bradford, UK

why are we celebrating something that happened decades ago when worse things are happening today in Congo, kenya etc. Is it because these victims are black that it doesn't matter?

Mofoluso Adetokunbo Sodeke, Bromley,

I cannot agree with the idea of sending two British kids from every school to Auschwitz. Firstly itâ€™s something those kids had nothing to do with and why should they feel the gilt that many of this generation feel because of the holocaust? Could this education not be achieved by visiting the holocaust museum in London (take the whole class)? Why not invest taxpayers money on a modern day problem this generation can relate to. Maybe famine in Africa? What about sending kids to some third world countries and looking at the lives of the people there. Something that their generation can do something about and try to improve. What about Gaza and looking at some of the confinement the people are suffering there, basic human rights. Why not educate them on the history and politics and learn about human rights. Addressing a more modern day problem such as famine/human rights would be more rewarding as itâ€™s something they can relate to and hopefully their generation can help improve.

Brendan, Sussex, UK

I think it's an excellent concept. I have myself visited Auschwitz death camp and found it to be a rather moving experience. It really made me think about the psychology of the Nazis, the concept of war and why we have war, how it affects people especially women and children even babies. It's important that such atrocities never happen again. And perhaps there could also be recommended reading material for other pupils.

Marie-Claire Oliver, Bath, United Kingdom

they would be far better off spending their time investigating who financed and pushed the Nazi party into power.

Alan Heaton, Frankfurt,

How about a trip to Deir Yassin and Gaza to understand a contemporary problem?

T Hill, Johannesburg, S Africa

Why send British schoolchildren to Auschwitz? Have we forgotten that British colonists started the importation of African slaves to North America? So why not send these chidren to visit any one of the Slavery Museums in the United States? Oh, there aren't any, you say. But there are at least 23 Holocaust Museums in the U.S. Why such an anomaly? Could it be that Americans wish to hide their own inhumanity to man by flooding the country with museums that are designed to imply that only the Nazis were capable of such inhumanity.

Fred Kirchner, Knoxville, U.S.A./TN

http://holocaustvideos.blogspot.com/

Peter, London,

What a waste of money. Two pupils - probably those who are thoughtful anyway - will go on a day trip, spend a few hours, go home .. and then what?

Why don't you send people to museums to see the crimes committed by the British against other races (slavery) or against each other (museums showing instruments of torture etc.)

And what about telling people about the crimes against humanity happening today? It seems that people are to go there and look at these horrific sites so that things like that won't happen again. But they ARE happening now. Let's focus on the living and help these people NOW. Not commemorate them in 50 years' time.

I think the best memorial to the people who died in the past is to look after the people alive today.

Martina, Dusseldorf, Germany

Bravo to John Marsh for pointing out an uncomfortable truth. Using state money to send these handpicked young people to Auschwitz is a sentimental and politically correct gesture which achieves little beyond making the great and the good feel virtuous. It is also yet another turning away from all the million upon million other individuals institutionally slaughtered in the name of yet another ideology in the last century alone.
It is time to put what happened in Germany into context and condemn all wholesale humanitarian atrocity past, present and future. Confining such acknowledgement to a token visit to Auchswitz reduces it to a sanitised Disneyland experience and insults not only those whose suffering is denied and unknown but the Jewssh people whose iconic status in this theatre has done untold harm.

Erika Salzeck, London,

amazing how the anti-Israel views of some people are so strong that they use a constructive and intelligent initiative such as this, to have yet another dig at the only democracy in the middle east.

Jonathan, Cape Town,

Those who compare what is happening in Israel or Iraq with what happened in the Holocaust, should be provided with tickets and join the school kids. Of course what is happening to the Palestinian people is barbaric, and the dispossession of their lands, and we can find something like it in nearly every one of the 200 nations on this planet - but not genocide. I do not think the people of the Polish Ghettoes got one millioneth of the money that has been pumped into Palestine. Where did all that money go? How much of EU tax payers money has been siphoned off and used to buy weapons? I do not for one moment condone the Israeli government's behaviour, nor for
that matter the US policy in Iraq, however I think it is absolutely unpardonable to compare their despicable actions with what happened under Hitler, Stalin and Mao.

Stephen Pain, Odense, Denmark

Clive, London, this policy could also be seen as "[minimising] the experiences of those who suffered" under other regimes, by underlining our government's apparent ignorance of other more recent and equally horrific genocides.
I thought we were taught and reminded about the horrors of the Holocaust so future generations would never allow anything like it to happen again. It seems the governments of the West over the 60 years following the Holocaust have failed to learn this lesson time and time again.
This is an ill-considered policy, offensive to the collective sufferers of genocide since 1945, and possibly offensive to the memories of that particular holocaust's Jews, Roma, Sinti, gay, disabled and black peoples who can see once again what we have failed to learn from their suffering. No doubt this policy was quickly snapped out without much thought to win a few votes.

Luke, London,

in a decade where a shortage of resources is blamed for the vulnerable and children being negletted and the streets policed inadequately, what is the relevance of this idea today. why not go back to the uk slave trade.. or steeling land from natives in old colonial britain. a little more relevant to today with the sweat shops , sex trade and oil steeling still rife..

gill, hengoed, wales

"Ms Pollock said that some students who visited were inspired to distribute leaflets protesting against the British National Party candidates standing in their local council elections." In the 48 page Holocaust Memorial day education pack (2000), specifically designed to be sent free of charge to all schools, the then Home Secretary, David Blunkett, wrote in the foreword: "A key focus of the Day will be to heighten awareness and understanding of the relevance of the Holocaust [note the capital H - just one holocaust in mind]. It is important that children learn about how the Holocaust happened and about the victims of Nazi persecution. We must be vigilant and learn the lessons of the Holocaust if we are to prevent future tragedies. Even in a democracy such as ours, racism and bigotry can claim victims. We must ensure that our children understand the value of diversity and tolerance to help achieve a society free from prejudice and racism in which all members have a sense of belonging"

proud to be British, Manchester,

"About 1.1 million people died at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp" reports The Times - so where's the other 4.9 million? Is this "denial" - sorry - "Denial"? We should be told.

Dr Stuart Russell, Grantham,

Can this government think of nothing else to waste taxpayers money on, rather than dredge up historical hatred for the Germans, who they probably have been brought up to hate anyway by their parents or grandparents, especially those that pinch all the deckchairs at the resort!

Derek Clifton, Andover, Hampshire, England

A side trip to Dresden might also be a good idea. Then there is the death camp near Gleiwitz (Gliwice) set up and managed by Communist Jews in 1945 for the remainder of the German population that had not yet been ethnically cleansed.

Mannstein, Cambridge, USA

Good. I also think they should do school trips there every year as part of the national curriculum.

Kim, London,

Perhaps a visit to Srebrenica would be more useful, to show teenagers how even in a moden so-called, civilised, European society we still turn a blind eye to the massacre of innocent men, women and children.

Natasha, Manchester,

As the architects of tomorrows British Police State (BPS), the governemnt would do better force schools to focus on the machinations leading up to a society where the holocaust was inevitable.

Cause number one is indifference shown by the people to the manueverings and self-interest of the politicians.

Mike Poulsen, Reading, Berkshire

No one has specifically mentioned Vorkuta, Kolyma or Solovesk by name. These were among the most famous of the Soviet labour camps where millions of people were shot on a whim of the guards or worked to death for believing in democracy rather totalitarianism.

Ronald, Cambridge,

The Holocaust is being used as a very blunt instrument to force children and young people to accept multiracialism and multiculturalism in Britain. Using our taxes to pay for this exercise is a scandal.

Fred Jones, London,

This sort of compulsion - it is compulsion, for which schools would dare oppose it? - comes precariously close to state propaganda.

MarkS, Leeds,

A recent UKTV poll revealed that 25% of people polled didn't know who Churchill was.

Mightn't it be better to run school courses in history rather than excursions to Auschwitz?

Interesting that Churchill never mentyioned any holocaust in his books on WW II.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080204/od_afp/britainpeoplehistoryoffbeat%0D%0D

Henry Barth, Dublin, Ireland

Perhaps it would be more relevent if the children weny to the Amercan aircrew cemetary near Cambridge.

The acres of crosses disappear into the distance, and these are youg men who died helping us defend our country so that future generations would be free to only understand one aspect of a war now long gone.

I lived through that war and was in the house that was hit by a V1, and so were thousands of others, but our memories are personel and we do not ask children to share this, in fact I do not children to ever know what the blitz was like.

I am NOT anti semetic, I just do not want to hear of a totally one sided view if the past.

Ken Jacobs, Pagham,

Will they also be sent to some of the memorials of the 20 million Soviet citizens that were murdered by the Nazis or does that not count as genocide? The Soviet people suffered more than anyone else at the hands of the Nazis yet whenever anyone talks of the holocaust it is inextricably linked with the Jewish people. Why is that? The holocaust was a disaster shared by many people and many races across the whole of Europe, we should remember them all.....

J Roberts, Manchester, UK

Janda from Brazil - find out about the death camps in WW2 before pontificating about "genocide"...and if you want people to see examples of man's inhumanity to man, why obey the usual reflex to criticize the United States? Why leave Brazil, the country that imported more slaves from Africa than any other and didn't abolish slavery until 1888? Why not take a look at what's happened to indigenous people there? Or the slavery that's still rife in the norther Amazon areas?

Chris Thompson, Rotherham, UK

It's funny - I read, quite recently, of the marked increase in anti-Nazi propaganda that had suddenly come to the fore as part of the communist driven EU's agenda - and here we go again!

Whilst it is good that the Holocaust should never be forgotten, it seems unusual that it should suddenly appear on the their agenda after 65 years!

Perhaps schoolchildren will be taken to camps in Siberia to see the horrors of Joe Stalin's purges - but somehow I doubt it.

John Salkeld, Sheffield, England

I think those who are saying that if children should go to Armenia or Russia instead could do with a visit to Auschwitz themselves. It's not about the nationality of the people who were killed - although perhaps Auschwitz will appeal to British pupils more as many Britons were killed there - it's about the fact that such well-planned, structured genocide happens in this world. The young generation (that I'm a part of, being 18 years old) needs to learn about its horrors so that it will make every effort to avoid getting in the same situation in the future. I think this is one of the best ideas the government has had so far.

Dominique, Amsterdam, Netherlands

A perfectly good film was made on the liberation of Belsen by the late Richard Dimbleby, then a war correspondent. It was reshown in the late 60s on TV. Re-edited and properly packaged it could reach all pupils with much greater and better impact than the inevitable, â€œMy mate went Auschwitz â€¦ and he came back,â€ with which all too many children will respond to this initiative.
David R Watson

David R Watson, Tagaytay City, Philippines

We must remember our brave forces who liberated europe .A discussion must be had as to if the leadership Churchill excepted could have done more to obstruct the nazi,s genocidal efforts.Planes could be found to bomb industrial complex next to Auschwitz and to fly supplies to Warsaw uprising.None could be found to bomb the concentration camp or the railway lines.As a eldely Conservative once told me knowing i was jewish "your responsible for my brothers death in that jewish war". Not everyone was concerned about the death camp inmates.This is relevant to today and our attitude towards murder in Darfur,etc.

Dave morpurgo, lewisham, london

It shows the left haven't changed much since their Nazi days when they compare the holocaust with today's Gaza Strip.

Nick, London, UK

Once again the message will be narrow, bias and selective. Little will be said of how, the origins, purposes, the structures, the financiers, the companies benefiting the non German political components, the International eugenics movements . Only the resulting horror of slave labor, and death in selected camps on a narrow time window.
As in the teaching of Mathematics, it is not the result but the understanding, methodology, and way that is the objective. to view in isolation only breeds greater ignorance or in aptitude.
The result will be another generation of young people with a narrow slanted understanding of a period of history, with only the human cost as a bench mark, in a complexed multi-faceted era. Is the Minister selling his own ignorance or a mono directional political position

Alexander, Victoria, Seychelles

To Janda in Rio,
Education starts with the A,B,C..... Auschwitz , Birkenau.......
At least the only redeeming matter that comes out from the Iraki massacre is the fact that we were made aware of it,and allowed to justly express our abomination towards such acts .Those that died in the camps did not have anyone to turn to ,not even, God.

james hazan, huuddersfield, U.K

And then onward to the Gaza strip to see more of mans inhumanity to man?

JohnP, Newcastle, UK

What another complete waste of taxpayers money.

Kate, Portsmouth, UK

Good. I hope they also take children to see the West Bank as it is now.

ally, glasgow,

While this is a very noble thing to do is it really necessary to send them all the way to Auschwitz when there are enough books about the situation? As for perpetuating the memory of what the Nazis did are we intending to continue this forever or let the new generations live in peace and harmony. What happened was terrible but just because it was carried out mainly against the Jewish people does not make it any more important than the genocide in Biafra, Armenia, Rwanda or Bosnia because the numbers are fewer in those places. Or is it a government ploy as mentioned by Mr. Knight to try and discredit the BNP?

George, Glasgow, UK

for a modern equivalent I would recommend a visit to Bethlehem and Gaza.

Mike Ryan, Christchurch, U.K.

What about those secondary schools that don't have 6th forms? Are they to miss out on this opportunity to tackle holocaust deniers?

Peter, Leeds, UK

I think it is good to have people realize what the Holocaust was about.
It is a sad thing, though, if it helps to nurture the latent hate and the ill-judgement towards the German people that is still present in many European and certainly in many British minds. Suffise to point at the various remarks of EU-delegates, the outrageous behaviour of sports/footballfans and the many "not so meant" comments by presenters of various TV-shows...
Furthermore, I agree with those who point at present situations, or almost forgotten events.
Has Britain been so nobel during its ruling of the waves and presence in various colonies...?

Capricorn, Brussels, Belgium

The 22 million murdered by Stalin in the gulags and the 12 million murdered in the collectivisation are to be forgotten. They don't suit the agenda of our liberal elite. Yet Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot were just as bad as the National Socialists but it doesn't suit their propaganda to say so.

John Marsh, Rickmansworth, herts

This government-funded initiative is meaningful. It creates young ambassadors who will divulge the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis. Yet, this programme should be coupled with a thorough learning of the other side of the coin represented by the saviours of the Holocaust. Brave women and men who risked their own lives to help those persecuted by the Nazis.
Prime Minister Brown - a long standing member of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation - never misses the opportunity to remind us of their feats. In his book - "Courage: Eight Portraits", he devoted a chapter to Raoul Wallenberg. In his recent article in The Times ("We must not forget the Holocaust"), PM Brown has underscored this issue by mentioning the heroic feats of two British saviours (Jane Heining and Charles Coward).
The lessons of the Holocaust should always be learned by showing the dark and the light.

Prof. Jaime Krejner

The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation

www.raoulwallenberg.net

Prof. Jaime Krejner, Jerusalem, Israel

I hope that all pupils in Britain will be taught how the horrors of Auschwitz and the other camps were ended - not by a resolution of the United Nations but by brave British, American and Polish lads fighting their way across Europe. On the way back from Auschwitz, these sixth formers would do well to stop at the War Cemetries in Normandy and see how brave and noble were their ancestors. They should also study Churchill's writings to learn that if Britain and the other countries had been strong in the 1930s, there would have been no Second World War.

Eric Hester, Bolton, England

That's a despicable thing to say, Janda. What is going on in Iraq it is not industrialised genocide, and you minimise the experiences of those who suffered under the Nazis by making such facile comparisons.

Clive, London,

can we also have 2 pupils from each school go to armenia to study that little known holocaust?
i hope the german government is financing the auschwitz trip since we in britain just finished paying our WW2 debt alone to the usa in 2007 (without even a whip round from benefactors such as france belgium holland greece ......)

colin thomas, uk, uk

Would it not be more relevant to send them to Iraq to see a modern holocaust and experience the joys of depleted uranium contamination for life?

Janda, Rio, Brasil