British Government To Fund Compulsory Trips To Auschwitz
Government to fund compulsory trips to Auschwitz
Monday February 4, 2008
Anthea Lipsett
Two sixth-form pupils from every school in England are to visit Auschwitz to learn about the Holocaust under a government-funded scheme to make future generations aware of the Nazi genocide.
Schools minister Jim Knight announced today that the scheme, which has been piloted since 2006, will now be made permanent with £1.5m of government money a year until 2011, and the possibility of more funding after that. It will be up to schools how they choose which students will make the trip.
The teenagers involved will fly to Poland and back in a day, visiting Oswiecim, the small town next to the Auschwitz camp, which was annexed by the Third Reich.
They will see the remains of the Birkenau gas chambers, where most victims were murdered.
The sixth-formers will tour the camp's barracks and crematoria, meet an Auschwitz survivor and see inmates' registration documents and the 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 idea behind the visit is for pupils to educate their classmates and communities on their return by giving their own accounts of the Nazi death camps.
The government will fund most of the cost of the trip for each student - schools will pay £100 and the Department for Children, Schools and Families the remaining £200 per trip.
"Sometimes getting out of the classroom and actually visiting the places where historic events happened can be the best way to truly grasp the enormity of what occurred," said Knight.
"It is vital that future generations understand the lessons of Auschwitz both for its own importance, but also to understand other genocides and hate crimes."
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 the project aimed to turn the educated into educators.
"Students from all over the country have taken part in the project and as a result become ambassadors in their own communities, raising awareness of the past and challenging prejudice and racism today.
"With survivors of the Holocaust becoming fewer and frailer, this is an essential added dimension to Holocaust education and we are grateful for the government's ongoing support."
Pollock said that some students who have visited the camp were inspired to distribute leaflets protesting against right wing candidates standing in their local council elections. More usually students gave talks about their visit to their schools and other groups.
Teaching of the Holocaust is compulsory in secondary schools between the ages of 11 and 14.
http://tinyurl.com/2af655
Monday February 4, 2008
Anthea Lipsett
Two sixth-form pupils from every school in England are to visit Auschwitz to learn about the Holocaust under a government-funded scheme to make future generations aware of the Nazi genocide.
Schools minister Jim Knight announced today that the scheme, which has been piloted since 2006, will now be made permanent with £1.5m of government money a year until 2011, and the possibility of more funding after that. It will be up to schools how they choose which students will make the trip.
The teenagers involved will fly to Poland and back in a day, visiting Oswiecim, the small town next to the Auschwitz camp, which was annexed by the Third Reich.
They will see the remains of the Birkenau gas chambers, where most victims were murdered.
The sixth-formers will tour the camp's barracks and crematoria, meet an Auschwitz survivor and see inmates' registration documents and the 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 idea behind the visit is for pupils to educate their classmates and communities on their return by giving their own accounts of the Nazi death camps.
The government will fund most of the cost of the trip for each student - schools will pay £100 and the Department for Children, Schools and Families the remaining £200 per trip.
"Sometimes getting out of the classroom and actually visiting the places where historic events happened can be the best way to truly grasp the enormity of what occurred," said Knight.
"It is vital that future generations understand the lessons of Auschwitz both for its own importance, but also to understand other genocides and hate crimes."
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 the project aimed to turn the educated into educators.
"Students from all over the country have taken part in the project and as a result become ambassadors in their own communities, raising awareness of the past and challenging prejudice and racism today.
"With survivors of the Holocaust becoming fewer and frailer, this is an essential added dimension to Holocaust education and we are grateful for the government's ongoing support."
Pollock said that some students who have visited the camp were inspired to distribute leaflets protesting against right wing candidates standing in their local council elections. More usually students gave talks about their visit to their schools and other groups.
Teaching of the Holocaust is compulsory in secondary schools between the ages of 11 and 14.
http://tinyurl.com/2af655
bin66 - 6. Feb, 00:29
