Winchester school visited by Holocaust survivor
7:40am Tuesday 29th March 2011
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a WINCHESTER school marked one of history’s most significant events this week with a visit from a Holocaust survivor.
The Westgate School invited Austrian Walter Kammerling to talk to students as part of their Holocaust memorial day.
mr Kammerling, who escaped to England in 1938, lost his parents and sister to the holocaust when they were killed in Auschwitz in 1944, just a few months before the camps liberation.
he talked to the students about his experiences of Kristallnacht and the need to learn about the horrors so it can never happen again.
mr Kammerling, 87, said: “It’s very important that schools learn about this. It’s not just about the holocaust but about all forms of prejudice. Everybody has prejudices; the question is how you deal with them.
“Bullying is that, giving into peer pressure is that. Not doing what you think is right and for that reason it’s as topical as it can be.
“We cannot talk about it enough. The best written history books cannot give you what first-hand eye-witness experience can. Once this generation is gone I do not think the history will compare. There are not many left if you think about it so we are all pushing on. I find I can never say no to anyone who says “Can you talk about this?””
Paul Nicholson, headteacher of the school, said: “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to hear first-hand about some of the most significant happenings of the second World War. It’s really important for you to stop and reflect on other people than yourselves.”
before listening to mr Kammerling, who now lives in Bournemouth, Year 9 students performed a series of dramatisations of Holocaust suffering.
Thirteen-year-old pupil Zach Elborough said: “I was shocked by what I learned. It was horrific. It’s very important to learn about this because if anything like this ever happens again it would be catastrophic.”
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Winchester school visited by Holocaust survivor (From Hampshire Chronicle)