Anastasia Reports On A Visit To Beth Shalom

Anastasia Jeffcoat kindly sent us her report on the recent Third Year visit to Beth Shalom (the National Holocaust Memorial Centre), an annual trip for our pupils arranged by our Religious Education department. Anastasia writes:

'On 15th October, the Third year went to Beth Shalom in Nottinghamshire, England. Beth Shalom translates as 'house of peace' and is dedicated to remembering the horrors of the Holocaust.

After a two hour journey to the museum, my group started off walking around the garden and paying respect to those who died in the Holocaust. We found out that white roses were planted as memorials because the white rose was seen as a logo opposing the German Second World War campaign.

My group was asked to write down questions for a survivor we were going to listen to in the afternoon, and before lunch we also walked around the exhibition of the Holocaust. We saw a model of a death camp, many quotations and pictures from prisoners, and videos of war propaganda.

After lunch we met a Holocaust survivor called Jenine. She recounted the story of how her family died and how she ‘lived’ in a ghetto. Her story was upsetting and hard-hitting. We asked her many questions and some of us bought her book.

Overall, I think the Beth Shalom trip was very meaningful and inspiring. We all learnt a lot as did our teachers who accompanied us.'