Friday 25-01-2019 - 15:09

Written by Sally Patterson, Equality, Liberation and Access Officer

On a chilly day last November, Stanford, Nasra and I joined hundreds of other sabbatical officers and Vice Chancellors from across the UK, to learn the ‘Lessons from Auschwitz’. 

Like many British Jews, I’d visited concentration camps before. The Holocaust and its legacy is an integral part of my Jewish identity, and my heritage. My immediate family were fortunate enough to escape Eastern Europe in the late 1800s, fleeing the brutal pogroms that regularly wiped out whole Jewish communities. They arrived gratefully in London’s East End with virtually nothing, but alive. 

It is worrying that so many people today know little about the Holocaust. This mass and planned slaughter of 6 million European Jews by the Nazis shook the very fabric of society. 

The trip was therefore an opportunity to see first-hand the horrors of this genocide, within the memory of my own living grandparents, and to reflect. On the first day of the seminar, we heard about the Jewish communities of the early 20th century, people living normal lives so like ours.  Our educators were keen to remind us that these were not just numbers, but people with homes, families, schools, hopes and dreams. 

In the 1930s dark forces were on the rise. Germany’s defeat in the First World War, and the ensuing Great Depression provided a fertile environment for hatred. Antisemitism had existed for hundreds of years, and Jews provided an easy scapegoat for the Germany’s difficulties. So too did other groups that didn’t fit with Hitler’s ‘racial state’, including the Roma community, disabled and LGBT+ people. Through schoolbooks, posters and films, historic antisemitic tropes began to re-shape people’s perceptions of Jews. The Holocaust, like other genocides, didn’t start in the gas chambers. It began in people’s homes, in classrooms, and on the streets. 

Although we were prepared for the following day, I don’t think any history book can prepare you for arriving in Auschwitz. When we landed in Krakow, the temperature was around 0 degrees, and remained close to freezing all day. Our first stop was Oświęcim, just outside Auschwitz. Before the Holocaust, the town was 50% Jewish. Now, not a single Jewish person lives there. 

We then travelled to Auschwitz 1, and were guided around the compound. Walking past piles of shoes, suitcases, photographs, and human hair, the horror of the Nazi’s atrocities was overwhelming. Our final stop was Auschwitz 2, or Auschwitz- Birkenau, a short drive away. This huge, open compound had housed hundreds of thousands of prisoners. 

Jews are not the only people to have suffered persecution and nor are they the last.  Tragically, genocides continued after 1945 and today people continue to be violently targeted not because of what they do, but simply because of who they are. 

As we reassembled for the flight home, drinking hot coffee and eating a warm meal, we were united in our determination to challenge prejudice, hatred and intolerance. I felt lucky to have shared this ‘Lessons from Auschwitz” experience with so many thoughtful student activists and collectively, we committed to a safer future for us all. 

 

Holocaust Memorial Day is the national day of commemoration for the Holocaust and subsequent genocides. The official date this year is 27th January, and for the first time, Bristol SU will be hosting our own event on Tuesday 12th February. You can find out more and book your place online.

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More Information

Find out more about Bristol SU's Holocaust Memorial Day event in collaboration with JSoc and University of Bristol History Society.

Find out more about active policy on challenging hatred on campus.