Poland Trip Report
Anonym
/ Categories: News
History students had a fabulous time on their trip to Poland during the Easter holidays. Follow their journey on this trip...
We arrived at the airport at 5am very excited for our trip. Some people had not flown before so there were a few nervous faces but once we had taken off everyone enjoyed the flight.
We arrived in Krakow and checked in before visiting a local market. The weather was glorious! After lunch we met our tour guide and started to explore Krakow. We went to the Jewish quarter and visited an old synagogue and Jewish cemetery. We then continued our walk into the area of Krakow that was a ghetto during World War Two. We were able to see where the ghetto walls had been and the tour guide described the horrendous conditions that the Polish Jewish population were forced to live in. We ended our tour with a visit to Oskar Schindler’s museum where we were able to learn about the Nazi invasion of Poland and the persecution of the Jewish population there. We had a stroll back to the hotel, dinner then an early night ready for our trip to Auschwitz the following day.
After breakfast we set off on an hour long drive to Auschwitz. We visited Auschwitz one first where prisoners were held and used as slave labour. The students were able to go inside each building and look at the displays. We were able to see the tonnes of hair removed from female prisoners which was used to make material and the shoes that had been ripped apart to look for valuables. We also saw hundreds of suitcases and belongings of the people who were either sent to the gas chambers or to work as slave labour. We also visited the prison, the gas chamber and Rudolph Hoess’s house, the Nazi commander of the camp. We then travelled to Auschwitz 2. Students were able to see the wooden huts prisoners were housed in, visited the gas chambers that were blown up by the Nazi’s and they were able to stand in the watch tower and look out over the whole camp.
We then travelled back into Krakow and had an hour in the main square buying souvenirs. We heard the trumpeter playing from the tower and saw the horse drawn carriages. We then had a stroll back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. After a traditional Polish meal we had an early night as it was an early morning call and drive to the airport for our flight home. It was another great Humanities trip that moved all of our students.
Article by Miss Jones
Curriculum Area Leader for Humanities