
Lessons from Auschwitz
Sophie and I had the opportunity to be a part of the Lessons from Auschwitz project which is aimed at young people in order to increase their knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust and reflect on the contemporary relevance of it. As a part of the project we went to an orientation seminar before the main trip and heard from a Holocaust survivor called Hannah Lewis. Her story was heartbreaking and made us reflect on the experiences of all those affected by the holocaust, not just those sent to concentration camps. On Wednesday 13 February we travelled to a very cold Poland. Our first visit was to the town of Oświęcim which, before the war, had a large Jewish community which accounted to 58% of the population. By going here we started to understand the ordinary lives in which the Jewish community had before the war. Our second visit was the Auschwitz I where we learnt about the lives of the prisoners in the camp and the conditions in which they lived. One of the most challenging things to see here was the massive amount of personal items which were left behind after the camp was liberated. The items included…