HISTORY classes at Shebbear College learned more about Holocaust Memorial Day on Friday, January 27, which marks the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The students learned through presentations of photographs of concentration camps as they are now, largely unchanged since their liberation. Much of the information and photographs came from the college’s enrichment trip to Kraków and Auschwitz last year.

Pupils now have the opportunity to join the next trip to Kraków in February 2018.

The trip will include excursions to Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps, Oskar Schindler’s factory, Kraków’s Old Town, Jewish quarter, the ghetto and a meeting with a Holocaust survivor. This includes many locations where Schindler’s List was filmed.

To provide a lighter balance, pupils will enjoy visits to the Wawel Royal Palace, Wieliczka Salt Mines and the historic Jagiellonian University of Science and Medicine, where they can stand in the study rooms of mathematician and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus and Pope John Paul II.

Very popular on the last trip were the shopping excursions, restaurants, live music and dancing.

A college spokesperson said: ‘This is a wonderful enrichment trip which encompasses history, religion, ethics, psychology, science, music, art and culture, and Shebbear College is delighted to be able to offer this experience to their pupils.’