16th March 2015
On Thursday 12th March eleven students went to the Beth Shalom Holocaust Centre near Mansfield. We were given an introduction where we watched a short video on what happened during the Holocaust.
We discussed key events, such as “the night of broken glass” that took place during the descent towards the segregation and the eventual attempted elimination of the Jewish population.
Holocaust Lessons
Next we walked through an exhibition. This took us on a journey, starting from what life was like for the Jewish people before and eventually ending up at the Final Solution. We were then given a presentation by a survivor, John Fieldsend, who as a 7 year old boy was sent away by his parents and spared from the dangers of the persecution; he never saw his family again.
I was moved. He was able to stand there and talk so candidly about his experiences and answer questions. He left us with this: “Our generation has messed things up, this is a beautiful world and you have the ability to make it better again, start simple” - that will be something I will carry with me. We ended the day by having a debate about the German officers and their families - what did they know? We left with plenty to think about. (Article by student Bethany Holland)
