"Those Who Forget History Are Doomed to Repeat It"?

Students with Polish camp survivor

In February, 39 History students accompanied staff on a residential stay in Berlin and Krakow. The aim of the visit was to bring to life events and places that are part of their A Level History studies.

Whilst in Berlin the group visited the Wannsee Conference House, where members of the Nazi elite met in 1942 to discuss the Final Solution to the Jewish Question, and the Stauffenberg memorial plaque which is placed on the wall of the ex Freikorps building, and present day home of the Resistance museum, and commemorates those killed for trying to assassinate Hitler in the July 1944 bomb plot. It is a symbol to all those who resisted the Nazi regime. They also visited the 1936 Berlin Olympic Stadium, the Reichstag building and Plotzensee prison where they saw evidence of Nazi atrocities and gained an understanding of what life in Nazi Germany might have been like.

The second part of the trip took place in the city of Krakow, where the group visited the site of a Jewish Ghetto which was liquidated by the Nazis. There they met a Polish camp survivor who, as a member of a perceived resistance movement, was sent to Auschwitz, transferred to Sachenhausen and then made to walk 480km on a Death March before being liberated at the end of the war. His story deeply moved the students who were able to listen to a first hand account of how life was for people perceived to be “enemies” of the Nazi State.

Finally, they visited Auschwitz - Birkenau. Whilst there, the group was guided through both camps, experiencing the grim reality that faced inmates. They saw evidence of atrocities throughout including 40,000 shoes, the hair of the victims, toys of lost children and the faces of the victims lining the walls. Students listened to a Jewish prayer for the dead and saw for themselves evidence of the gas chambers and crematoria. A short journey away the infamous gates of Birkenau came into sight. The size of the camp and the sight of the barracks reiterated how horrendously its inmates were treated, and the horrors of everyday life.

At the ruins of Gas Chamber 2, which had the ability to accommodate 2000 victims at a time, the students laid eight red roses at the memorial site to acknowledge the victims and the horrors that they had experienced. A short reading was given and a moment to reflect, before completing their journey.

This journey is momentous for all those students involved. The moment that History becomes reality, and the emotions that arise with its discovery, are beyond words but remain with them forever. One student, David Robinson, was inspired by the visit to write the poem you can read here: "There they stood" - David Robinson.