Year 9 Holocaust Project

Year 9 history students have recently taken part in a special project, delivered in collaboration with University College London, The Holocaust, Their Family, Me and Us (#HTFMEUS). During the project, students followed Robert's and Angela's journey, completing a series of work to deepen their understanding of the Holocaust. 

Our students' work was shared with Robert Rinder and the project leads at UCL, who have been nothing short but inspired by how our students have engaged with and responded to the project. This included a series of video clips, with students sharing their deeply insightful and complex insights into the Holocaust, inspired by the project. 

Our history team have been moved by all of the student's insightful reflections. We are also incredibly honoured that Robert Rinder filmed a short message, to all of the young people involved, to recognise just how amazing their engagement in the project was, and how their work and words have in turn moved him. 

A huge thank you and well done to all of the young people involved, in this very special project.

You can watch the special message from Robert Rinder here:

Below is just a small sample of students' reflections on the #HTFMEUS project:

'I think that going through this journey is important and learning about Robert and Angela's story is important because it shows the destructive nature of the holocaust for families across Europe during WW2. It shows the trail of international trauma left behind after The Holocaust. Through the story, the class were able to absorb the experiences and impact the holocaust had'

'Participating in this project has told me some things about the Holocaust that I never knew about.  For example, I knew about the death camps and that was basically it. The project has taught me or there was other forms of dehumanisation and genocide that people have experienced, for example the ghettos all around Europe.'

'For me, the most moving part of Robert's journey was seeing where his grandfather grew up in Poland.'

'During the project,  we released what the tyrannical genocide that spread throughout Europe as the Nazis took over was like. The project also taught me about the brave and bold upstanders, people who helped fight against the persecutors of the Holocaust.'

'I did not realise that such evil and inhumane mass genocide took place and did not realise the impact it had on each individual family. I think it is important that people talk about it so nothing happens like it again.'

'I was shocked to learn about Robert's journey and I thought it was really brave to follow his grandfather's journey.'

'Without these lessons, I wouldn't have such a deep understanding of the impact of the Holocaust on individual families.'

'Today's session helped me understand the human impact of the Holocaust. It was really moving and made me realise that in history we learn about real people.'

'Before going into this project, I had preconceived ideas about the Holocaust. I wrongly thought it only impacted Jews in Germany. The project made me realise that Jewish people from all sorts of places were affected by the Holocaust.'

Our delivery of the #HtFMeUs project has not only shaped our students' understanding of the Holocaust, but will continue to be a point of reference for our history team in how and why we teach personal stories and shared histories.