Twenty sixth form students from Allerton Grange School in Moortown left the snow in Leeds and headed off to Poland for a four day visit recently. The trip was part of a Human Rights and Social Justice Programme run by the Prism Youth Project (Via Media). It was the culmination of the 12 week course and involved finding out about the events leading up to the Holocaust, what happened, how it happened and the social side of the events surrounding it.

“We were very excited to have been selected to take part in this programme,” said Nick Dutton-Taylor, Social Science teacher at Allerton Grange. “It has proved to be a life-changing experience for our students”.

Whilst in Poland the students stayed in Krakow and visited the Ghettos, Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps.  Birkenau, the larger of the two, is more or less in the same state it was found in when it was liberated in 1945. Mr Dutton-Taylor said: “Even though it was uncomfortable viewing at times, this particular visit will linger in the memory longer than any other part of the trip”.