HOLOCAUST Memorial Day was on Friday, January 27, marking the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, and during the week pupils in Forms 4 and 5 history classes at Shebbear College learned more about this tragic time in human history through presentations of photographs of concentration camps as they are now, largely unchanged since their liberation. Much of the information and photographs have come from the enrichment trip to Kraków and Auschwitz last year.

Pupils now have the opportunity to join the next trip to Kraków in February 2018. Once again the trip will include excursions to Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps, Oskar Schindler’s Factory, Kraków Old Town, Jewish Quarter, the Ghetto and a meeting with a Holocaust survivor. This includes many locations where Schindler’s List was filmed.

To provide a lighter balance, pupils will enjoy visits to the Wawel Royal Palace, Wieliczka Salt Mines, the historic Jagiellonian University of Science and Medicine — where they can stand in the study rooms of mathematician and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus and Pope John Paul II — and Stalin’s communist suburb of Nowa Huta. Very popular on the last trip were the shopping excursions, restaurants, live music and dancing.

This is a wonderful enrichment trip, which encompasses history, religion, ethics, psychology, science, music, art and culture, and Shebbear College said it is delighted to be able to offer this experience to its pupils.