Youngsters visit Auschwitz camp

Date published: 26 January 2010

YOUNGSTERS will reflect on one of the darkest periods in European history when they visit Auschwitz.

Members of Oldham Youth Council, Oldham Theatre Workshop and Oldham Children in Care Council will make the emotional trip to the Nazi death camp in Poland to mark Holocaust Memorial Day tomorrow.

The trip is part of Oldham’s 22nd Century Citizen’s project which is funded by the British Council and the Government’s Youth Opportunity Fund (YOF).

The teenagers will team up with a group of children from Poland during their stay, which will also incorporate a visit to the ghetto in Krakow and a factory that was run by Oscar Schindler — the German businessman credited with saving almost 1,200 jews during the Second World War.

Craig Harris, an applied theatre practitioner at Oldham Theatre workshop, said: “The trip came about after we did some consultation with the youth council and found that many young people didn’t know much about the Holocaust so they were really keen to found out more and educate themselves.”

The teenagers will record their reactions and thoughts during the visit and use them to create an exhibition which they will take to local secondary schools and Gallery Oldham.

The group will expand their research to look into the history of Oldham’s own prisoner of war camp which stood at the Glen Mill in Wellyhole Street, and incorporate this into a play featuring poetry, photography and music.

Craig added: “Respecting minority communities is something we talk a lot about but people don’t understand just how important it is until they see what happened during the Holocaust.

“This trip will give the young people an understanding of other cultures outside their own. Mixing with young people from Poland as well as people from their own town who are from different cultures and backgrounds will also be hugely beneficial to them.

“People in Oldham still remember the disturbances of 2001 and it’s vital that different communities can co-exist. If young people didn’t have the kind of insight which is fostered by these activities then we would still be living in the dark ages.”

The Youth Opportunity Fund is part of Aiming High for Young People, a Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) initiative, which has invested £679 million to help provide activities for young people all-year round.

For details of local activities for young people in Oldham, please visit www.direct.gov.uk/getinvolved