February Half Term Parent Newsletter

AUSCHWITZ ARTICLE CONT...
During the trip, we understood that it is important
to remember that the Holocaust 'is about what you
can't see'. Because we can view the remains of the
victims' hair, their shoes, their pots and pans, their
hairbrushes - but these are the very material items
that the Nazis reduced Jewish people to, the only
worth they saw in millions of human lives. So,
should we be remembering them like this? Their
true remembrance lies in their stories, lives, histories,
and personalities - the aspects that the Nazis
tried to destroy.
although they have us squirming, encourage confidence
in originality and give a voice to our selfworth.
But also questions about freedom, which
were met with awareness of privilege and reflection
on the not-so-perfect present state of the
world. We then asked each student to read out
Salmen Gradowski’s diary entry, before revealing
his story and capturing some final, insightful
thoughts. You can watch the final short film on
Woodbridge High School’s YouTube page: https://
But, at the same time, these items provide shock
and realisation of what really happened 70 years
ago, and are maintained as proof so that us, and
the generations to come, never forget. And the
very word 'victims' can sit uncomfortably, because
wouldn't it be frustrating and unjust to have your
entire life boiled down to your death: that for years
to come you were always remembered by your last,
horrific moments? But, at the same time, those
last, horrific moments are important for us to face
up to today – because they were executed by humans,
and if we do not learn from our fatal mistakes,
we will make them again. And that is the
most important - never forgetting, and from there,
never repeating.
These methods of memorialisation were all created
with the right intentions, but some sat more comfortably
than others. The reading of a diary entry
written by Salmen Gradowski (one of the
Sonderkommando: Nazi death camp prisoners
forced to aid with the disposal of gas chamber
victims during the Holocaust), the room displaying
archive footage of life before the Holocaust for
those murdered and the Rabbi singing in the middle
of Auschwitz-Birkenau as night fell. These all
felt like powerful acts of defiance against the murderers
and oppressors of the Holocaust – sparks of
light splitting the darkness they had created and
shining on the individuals whose stories deserved
to be heard.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNjjCZNV_ZQ
Really, there is no right way to remember the Holocaust.
There are no ready-made answers for
memorialising the people subject to mass murder.
But there cannot be any accurate, succinct, undisputed
method of remembering; because for as long
as we are in touch with the prevalent compassion
of humanity, we are never going to find any form
of memorialisation comfortable or satisfactory, as
we should never have had to face such devastation,
and we should never have to again.
Yet, the overlooking of prejudiced behaviour, the
withstanding of discrimination and the bypassing
of racist comments: a careless, increasing acceptance
of injustice. It sounds all too familiar.
Perhaps Holocaust Memorial Day is more than
necessary this year: it is a critical reminder of the
mistakes we have made in the past, and a warning
of the disastrous consequences if we continue to
act as bystanders to bigotry.
Thus, celebrating human stories and individuality
felt like the best route for memorialisation. To
display the relevance to our modern world, we
chose to ask a selection of our peers, ranging
across the entire school, questions about themselves;
questions that are foundational to our being,
but are barely addressed amid the chaos of our
private and reserved lives. Probing, pleasantly
bashful questions such as ‘What do you love about
yourself?’ that celebrate our individualism, and
By Elliana Hamer, on behalf of Vanessa Wilson,
Henry Moore and Sinead Jones.