Auschwitz Visit For Historians
Two students from The Sixth Form College, Solihull have just returned from Poland, where they visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial. The trip was part of their prize after winning an essay writing competition to mark International Holocaust Memorial Day last year.
Amelia Ebdon and Joseph D’Urso were among many students at the College who entered the competition set by The Holocaust Educational Trust to mark Holocaust Memorial Day. Students were invited to write an essay entitled, "Man is inherently evil, as shown by the recurrence of genocide in our world. Discuss."
Amelia Ebdon (aged 18 from Hillfield) compared the Holocaust to William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies in her essay, while Joseph D’Urso (aged 18, from Kings Norton) based his entry on the conflict and genocide in Rwanda.
Before their trip to Poland Amelia and Joseph, together with other successful students from the West Midlands, attended a seminar in the UK at which the Holocaust was explored in depth. Another seminar after their visit is planned and both students will now complete a project to present to fellow History students at the College about what they have learned.
Amelia commented, "It was rather surreal and eerie visiting Auschwitz. It was really interesting, but rather depressing too. It made what we had studied about the Holocaust seem more real.
"We went to both Auschwitz sites. The first site has been made into a museum and includes artefacts like shoes, suitcases and hair left over from the Holocaust. The second site is Auschwitz-Birkenau and this includes the barracks and crematorium, much like it was during the Second World War."
Both students hope this experience will help them in their studies. Both are taking Modern History and Mathematics at A Level. Amelia is also studying English Literature and has an offer to continue her Literature studies at Exeter University. Joseph, meanwhile, is also studying Politics at A Level and he has an offer to study Economics at New College, Oxford.
