Auschwitz trip for Fraserburgh students

In November of 2022 two students from the academy journeyed to Poland to visit the site of Auschwitz. Both students completed this journey as part of the Lessons from Auschwitz project that the Holocaust Educational Trust runs.

Sixth year students Joshua Ritchie and Fidelia Ileladewa were chosen to represent the school.

As part of the project the students has to share their learning and experiences with their school and local community in order to raise awareness of the Holocaust and to fulfil their role as Holocaust Ambassadors for the trust.

With Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27, Joshua and Fidelia wanted to share their journey on the project.

Auschwitz – Birkenau II camp, rows of destroyed and damaged blocks.

Fidelia said: “In the beginning of the testimony, we saw a picture of the survivor’s whole family and at the end she mentioned how few were still alive as most had been killed during the Holocaust.

"This really shed light on how the holocaust stole so much life away from people but also joy from those who were left alive signifying how the holocaust didn’t destroy just the lives of those who passed but those who survived giving a long-standing impact on anyone who had family that were in the holocaust.

"The visit to Auschwitz threw a wave of melancholy over me however, the visit was informative, nevertheless.

"One thing that has been engraved in my memory is seeing the room full of hair. The realisation that it was once on a living woman's head made me dismal partnered by the proceeding sight of little children's clothes and shoes as well as their faces of distress.

A memorial to victims of Auschwitz in the Sauna Building in Auschwitz – Birkenau II.

"The added knowledge of mothers sometimes no longer being able to recognise their children brought me to tears as this wasn't the result of any mental illness but handcrafted by the torture of the Nazis.

"Being in the gas chambers made me feel a sense of guilt knowing that anyone that was in here never got to walk out alive, not like me. It wasn't a feeling of sadness I felt rather uneasiness and sickiness.

"The narration through each step given by our tour guide deepened and made my understanding of the Holocaust and families less cloudy. The trip magnified my acknowledgment of how the holocaust is still as significant today as it was then.

"Remembering the Holocaust and the victims those that we know their names and those that we don't, all in all allows one to acknowledge their humanity and the lives they had to live. Humanity that the Nazis wanted to strip from them. By commemorating the holocaust we're not letting the Nazis fulfil their desire.”

The train tracks that lead into the Auschwitz – Birkenau II camp.

On his experience, Joshua said: "I found the Holocaust survivors testimony to be very interesting and informative even though the information she was giving and story she was telling was extremely upsetting certain parts of her incredible story piqued my interest and intrigued me to do further research and learn more about the events that took place during the Holocaust.

“During my visit to Auschwitz many things stood out to me on the day and have also stuck with me throughout my journey as a Holocaust ambassador.

"One thing in particular that stood out to me being the sheer size of the Auschwitz-Birkenau, before my visit to the camp I had no knowledge of the true size of this horrific concentration camp only seeing its infamous entrance in pictures but never knowing the devastating scale of horrors that occurred behind the entrance.

"When I arrived, I was in disbelief. I could see guard towers and barbed wire fences as far as the eye could see and wooden huts stretching across the entire length of the camp. I believe after seeing the camp in person and realising that millions innocent people were forced to live in these cramped huts in horrible conditions brought to light the horrors that took place during the Holocaust in particular at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

"After visiting Auschwitz and listening to the survivor's testimony I realised that remembering the millions of people who were killed not only as victims of the Holocaust but as individual people who had families, jobs and fascinating lives before the events if the Holocaust took place.

"I think this was reinforced when I visited Auschwitz, and our tour guide was able to point out certain people out of hundreds of thousands and tell their story making them sick with me thinking about their lives and what they could have done if they were not victims of mass genocide.

"I believe that all people should experience what I have to be able to bring to light all the innocent people who died during the Holocaust in order to truly show each individual person's story and not just a number of victims but as innocent people who were killed with no reason just because of the extremely antisemitic views of the Nazi Party.”