Students make pilgrimage to experience true atrocities of the holocaust

History students from Teesside University were reduced to tears when they saw first-hand the horrors of the holocaust.

The group of second and third year students recently returned from a three day trip to Poland to visit holocaust sites including Auschwitz and Schindler’s Museum.

And their experiences, thoughts and emotions were captured on camera for a series of short films to be shown as part of Holocaust Memorial Day at Teesside University.

Final year student Ami Becker, 21, from Middlesbrough, said: 'It was a real mixture of emotions. Obviously you are horrified, but part of you feels privileged for the life you have been able to have.

'To read about all the statistics is one thing, but seeing the human side really got to me. I cried when I saw the fingernail marks on the wall of the gas chamber. It made me realise how desperate people were that they were trying to claw their way through a wall to survive.'

Teesside University is commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day on Monday 27 January with the largest regional event in the UK. As part of this, three short films about the students’ trip will be shown documenting their expectations before they set off, their experiences and their reflections after.

The students are also acting as tour guides at the acclaimed Anne Frank Trust's History for Today exhibition which is on display and open to the public until 31 January in the University’s Constantine Gallery in Middlesbrough Tower.

Ami added: 'To learn about the holocaust is incredibly important, the more people know, the less likely it is to ever happen again. I feel a responsibility to pass the message on.' Second year student Daniel Worton, 19, from Marske-by-the-Sea, said that the visit brought to life what he was studying.

'The whole experience was incredibly moving, I have read about Auschwitz so much that it almost took on this mythological persona - it is something you have to see to truly believe.

'One of the things which gripped me was the piles of human hair on display which they shaved off the heads of inmates and were shipping it back to Germany. Also the outfits confiscated from children of 5 years and possibly younger certainly highlighted the depravity of the Nazis and shocked me to my core.

'What the Nazis did was sickening and should never happen again, but also should never be forgotten.'

One of the most memorable parts of the trip was meeting a holocaust survivor, who, through an interpreter, gave a detailed and harrowing account of her time at Auschwitz.

Emma Whitaker, 20, a final year student from Hartlepool, said: 'Her story made the visit all the more personal – what she went through and how she explained it was heart breaking.'

Joe Speight, 19, a second year student from Middlesbrough, added: 'I found the visit quite difficult, but now I have been I feel it will benefit me both as a student and as a person.'

Martin Pout, Assistant Dean (Recruitment and Widening Participation) in the School of Arts & Media at Teesside University, accompanied the students on the trip.

He said: 'It is important across all of our courses to give students a wide breadth of experiences to help them fully understand what they are studying.

'The trip to Auschwitz was incredibly emotional and inspiring and the students are extremely passionate about being able to pass on their thoughts and reflections during Holocaust Memorial Day.'

Holocaust Memorial Day will be attended by college pupils who are studying the Holocaust but the events are also open to the public. Although all events are free, booking is essential.

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Find out more about Holocaust Memorial Day and book online