The young people of Y6 visited Beth Shalom, near Ollerton in Nottinghamshire, on Thursday to support their understanding of the reasons behind the persecution of the Jews and other groups under the tyrannical Nazis regime in power in Germany from 1933-1945.
They also had an opportunity to reflect on the terrible impact on ordinary children like them, including Anne Frank and Robert Norton, a Holocaust survivor they had the honour of meeting on the day. It was fitting that their visit came in the same week as Holocaust Memorial Day, which always takes place on 27th January.
Mr Macinness Writes:
Ahead of National Holocaust Memorial Day this week, our Y6 class were fortunate enough to experience a fascinating tour of the National Holocaust Museum. This educational visit helped to build on numerous areas of our study, including the First and Second World Wars, the emergence of the Nazi party and the broader concepts of prejudice and discrimination.
Through exploring and investigating various replica settings of 1930s/40s Germany, the children learnt about key events which led to the persecution of the Jewish community, such as the effects of Nazi propaganda on German children’s education, the Kindertransport initiative and ‘Kristallnacht’ (Night of Broken Glass).
Following this, they were hugely privileged to meet Robert Norton, a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust. Our Y6 children listened intently as Robert told us the story of how he and his parents escaped their Czechoslovakian hometown close to the German border and travelled across Europe, much of which was under Nazi control, towards France and, ultimately, to safety in London.
The children were then able to ask Robert their own questions, about his life and the persecution he and his family suffered. He was gentle and open. Our time with Robert was both fascinating and inspirational and afterwards he commented on how well-behaved, respectful, well-mannered and engaged our children had been. We would like to thank everyone at Beth Shalom, especially Robert, for making us feel so welcome and for helping us learn about tolerance, discrimination and the history of the Holocaust in such an engaging way.
