Visit to Krakow by sixth form philosophy students

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Philosophy trip to Krakow

On the 7th March (2008) a group of 21 philosophy students accompanied by Mr Loach, Miss Roberts and the late addition of Mr Routledge, headed to Liverpool airport to depart for Krakow. The following is an account of our time in this beautiful city:

The first morning was filled with an excellent tour of Krakow with our extremely knowledgeable and interesting guide, Lucas. His passion for his home city was infectious and we all enjoyed his story telling and humour. Lucas took us to some of the most famous churches and buildings and explained the architectural significance of them, as well as informing us about local modern culture.

Following a leisurely lunch, we set off to visit the Wieliczka Salt Mines. Students, who expected a somewhat laborious trip to see your everyday sodium chloride, were somewhat amazed! The sheer size and beauty of the mine was enough to make everyone admit that it far exceeded their expectations. The underground chapel, which was carved by miners in their spare time once they had finished their shifts, was simply beautiful. The chapel held spectacular carvings of religious figures and pictures of the last supper. Everything, including the stairs was carved out of salt. However, perhaps the most literally ‘breathtaking’ part of the day was the trip back to the surface in the lift – 12 people crammed into a tiny cage in complete darkness was slightly unnerving to say the least! After a very busy and informative day, the evening saw us head to the main square where we split up to find a restaurant to eat in, eager to sample the delights of Polish cuisine!

Sunday brought the arrival of our visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau. This was a day that most pupils were genuinely looking forward to, but at the same time worrying about, wondering how they should react in front of their peers. It was discussed that we would all react differently, that Auschwitz would have a personal effect on each of us, and that we should not feel compelled to show emotion. Nevertheless there was the belief by all that this was a place that would leave a lasting impression.

Again, we were fortunate to be accompanied by a knowledgeable and sensitive guide, and the striking displays within the museum at Auschwitz gave us an understanding of life in the camp that could be later applied on our visit to Birkenau, also known as Auschwitz II. The museum contained displays of thousands of children’s shoes, the hair of hundreds of thousands of people and the torture rooms. The gate which states, ‘Arbeit macht frei,’ which translates as work will make you free, or work liberates, still marks the entrance to Auschwitz. Everything is carefully preserved, and this brought a true reality to the situation.

We then continued our tour by moving to the concentration camp at Birkenau. The size of this ‘death factory’ as it is colloquially known was truly moving; acres of land laid out in the style of army barracks. Everyone was taken aback by its size, even though most of it had been burnt down and destroyed by the Nazis themselves.

The memorial that is laid brought a sincere conclusion to the tour, and managed to capture what most of us felt. It said, ‘For ever let this place be a cry of despair and a warning to humanity, where the Nazis murdered about one and a half million men, women and children, mainly Jews from various countries in Europe.’

It was so difficult to imagine that so many innocent people were taken to such a place that most of us felt overwhelmed by scale and statistics. Yet, when one reflected on individual victims, the horror seemed magnified. All feeling quite drained after a tough day we decided to end our last night in Krakow with a traditional Polish style meal, alongside a 9 piece folk band! The food was excellent, and everyone willingly took part in the singing and dancing.

Our final day then arrived, and everyone was very tired. However, we managed to all get up early and enjoy another excellent tour, again with Lucas, this time of the Jewish Districts in Krakow. The afternoon was then filled by ice skating, in which some students (ahem Miles Rosen) could no longer hide their figure skating childhood!            

Sad to leave, but fulfilled after a truly emotional and thought provoking weekend with a wonderful group of people, we left Krakow for Liverpool.

We really couldn’t have wished for a better weekend. Thank you to Mr. Loach, Miss Roberts and Mr Routledge for all their hard work, enthusiasm and preparation.

Harriet Evans (L6ML)

Personal Reflections by Jonathan Gleek

After the initial shock, horror and sadness that we all experienced on visiting Auschwitz, we have all now had time to reflect on what we saw.

Auschwitz is now a museum displaying the incredible suffering that went on there over 60 years ago. Although it always sounds like a teacher’s cliché, one of the main purposes of studying history and historical events such as the holocaust is to realise the mistakes of the past, and make sure that they never happen again.

The most important thing that has struck me after going to Auschwitz is that, although we should acknowledge terrible suffering throughout history, we all need to open our eyes to the suffering of the present day. Events in areas such as Zimbabwe and Tibet are currently in the news, but they are by no means the only areas which are a cause for concern and response. There are millions of people throughout the world who are being terribly oppressed, murdered, tortured, raped, trafficked, abused… the list goes on. There are people who suffer from natural disasters: earthquakes, famines, floods, hurricanes… again the list goes on. Yet, perhaps most intolerable are the examples of genocide from recent history: a million slaughtered in Rwanda, 300,000 killed as part of the continuing crisis in Darfur. Seemingly, we have not learnt lessons from the past.

Another thing that struck me was that, to use yet another cliché, we really do take what we have for granted. Too often, we avert our eyes from the suffering of others, preferring to immerse ourselves in the sanctuary of our comfortable lives, rather than face up to our responsibilities to those suffering in the world. To quote Edmund Burke: "All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing." These words seem to resonate around Auschwitz and, unfortunately, in certain quarters of the world today. Let us hope that we begin to heed them and ensure that there will never again be a need to have a museum of genocide such as the one we visited at Auschwitz.

Jonathan Gleek (L6JL)

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