Reflection
Pupils from Miss Deignan and Miss McCafferty’s Advanced Higher History class recently attended a virtual seminar organised by Vision Schools Scotland. The seminar centred on the testimony of Holocaust survivor Eva Clarke and was the first of many Holocaust education events planned for the 2021-22 session as we work towards the Vision Schools Scotland award.
Alice Martin, S6, has written a thoughtful and eloquent reflection on the seminar:
I was given the opportunity by Vision Schools Scotland in collaboration with Eva Clarke to attend the first in a series of webinars commemorating and educating on the Holocaust. This was a profound experience for me as I was shown a different perspective of the Holocaust to what I had previously researched and been taught, as Eva herself was born in Auschwitz concentration camp, after her family were imprisoned at the hands of the Nazis. Eva’s story was both moving and highly insightful, and I left feeling better informed about the true nature of the atrocities committed against the Jewish community in Germany and across the world at the time, as well as inspired by Eva’s dedication to educating others and working to confront such brutality in the future. Hearing a first-hand account of someone who experienced such profound loss at such an early age provoked me to reflect upon the current issues surrounding religious persecution around the world. I was reminded of our moral duty to stand up for and give a voice to those who are themselves being silenced, and how we are encouraged in our faith to help those in need in our everyday lives.
