TO commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day this week, two sixth-form students from the Manchester Grammar School (MGS) have recently taken part in the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Lessons from Auschwitz Project, which involved the boys visiting the concentration camp.
Charlie Harris, 18, from Hale and Jake Manton, 16, from Oldham, along with their teacher, Mark Hesketh, undertook two afternoon seminars before visiting both Auschwitz 1 and Auschwitz-Birkenau. There, they listened to Holocaust survivor Zigi Shipper and took part in a commemoration service, where candles were placed along the railway tracks at Birkenau.
On their return to school the boys created an exhibition about their visit, and are also giving assemblies and talks.
Charlie said: “I was nervous as to how I might feel. Auschwitz did evoke emotions, but what resounded with me was the feeling of knowing that I was alive when standing in a gas chamber and knowing, not needing to hope, that I would still be alive tomorrow.”
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