Lessons from my visit to Auschwitz
On Tuesday 13 th November I was privileged to participate in the Holocaust Education Trust ‘Lessons from Auschwitz’ project. Approximately 160 students from the South East of England and the excellent Holocaust Education Trust educators met at Gatwick Airport at 5am for an educational visit to Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenhau. Peter Kyle MP and I were guests on the visit. I don’t have the words to convey the brutality of the Holocaust, or how being in a death camp where up to 1.5 million people – most of them Jewish - felt that day. The physicality of the camp – the electric fences, watch towers, sleeping spaces, latrines and the sheer size and scale - was chilling. Trying to comprehend the planning behind this darkest period of history – recent history - was overwhelming. Overwhelming that such hatred existed that could lead to this industrial scale murder. The murder of 6 million people – mostly Jewish, but also gay people, disabled people and Roma communities. Time and...