20,000 students have now participated in Lessons from Auschwitz
Tuesday 23rd April marked a milestone for the Holocaust Educational Trust - 20,000 students and teachers have now visited Auschwitz-Birkenau as part of our Lessons from Auschwitz Project.
The Project for post-16 students and teachers is now in its fourteenth year and as of the visit that took place on 23rd April has taken more than 20,000 students and teachers from across the UK to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Nazi death and concentration camp.
The four part course starts with an Orientation seminar focusing on pre-war Jewish life in Europe. Participants also hear the first-hand testimony of a Holocaust survivor.
Based on the premise that ‘hearing is not like seeing’, students travel to Poland and visit Oświęcim, the town where the Auschwitz concentration and death camp is located and where before the war, 58% of the population was Jewish. At the camps, participants visit former barracks and the crematoria, witnessing the piles of belongings that were seized by the Nazis.
Finally, students spend time at the main killing centre of Birkenau where the day concludes with candle lighting and a period of reflection to remember all who died during this dark chapter of history.
The 20,000 students have become Ambassadors for the Holocaust Educational Trust and are encouraged to share their experience with their schools and the wider community.