By Josephine Chan
On the 30th October 2018 I went to Auschwitz-Birkenau as part of one of the Holocaust Educational Trust’s projects, known as ‘Lessons From Auschwitz’, which aims to educate every person from every background in the UK about the Holocaust and its contemporary relevance. In retrospect, before going on this trip I didn’t know what to expect because visiting a site of genocide wasn’t something I thought I’d get an opportunity to do. One of the key messages that was repeated to us was “We learn from history that we do not learn from history”, a quote from Georg Hegel, a German philosopher. To me, this is a simple but very powerful quote because it is open for personal interpretation of what it means and illustrates that we should never commit previous events such as the Holocaust because it will leave an everlasting impact.
At the seminar prior to the trip we had the opportunity to listen to the testimony of a Holocaust survivor, Eva Clarke, who was born in Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria on the 29th April 1945; Mauthausen was liberated on the 5th May. She told us that if the gas chambers hadn’t been blown up on April 28th and the Americans hadn’t liberated the camp days after she was born, both herself and her mother wouldn’t have survived. I think that we are very lucky to have an organisation such as the Holocaust Educational Trust, who bring in survivors who are willing to share their testimony because we are living in a time period where there are still survivors alive and the future generations won’t have that.
“We learn from history, that we do not learn from history”
When we arrived at Auschwitz, we had the opportunity to explore the blocks that used to house those imprisoned by the perpetrators and the most profound moment for me was when I saw the room where some of the hair that was shaven from the women were kept. As humans we identify so much with our hair and to have it stripped from us would be like robbing us of our identities. This shows that the perpetrators were metaphorically trying to remove those victimised from existence and this is harrowing because the victims were never given a choice. There was another room which housed the suitcases and items of clothing belonging to the victims, including shoe polish and sets of house keys and this was very upsetting because the victims genuinely thought that they would one day return home. One of the most impactful experiences for me was when we went to see the last remaining gas chamber in Auschwitz because although I knew it was real, it just felt really unfathomable because so many people had been murdered there thinking they were going to shower.
On reflection of this journey, I have learned so much more about the Holocaust and it really has been an eye-opening experience. A message that I took from the seminar after the trip was ‘never forget’, highlighting that although the reality of the Holocaust was horrifying, we should never forget what happened as it will act as a reminder of what should never happen again.
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If you would like to know more about Auscwitz-Birkenau or the work of the Holocaust Educational Trust please follow the link below.
Holocaust Educational Trust: Lessons From Auschwitz
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