On 13 November the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams with the Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks, invited representatives from all the religious communities to join the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Lessons from Auschwitz Project to visit to the former Nazi camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland.

The visit by the UK’s faith leaders demonstrated their solidarity in standing against the extremes of hostility and genocide which Auschwitz – Birkenau represents and which are represented in Cambodia, Bosnia and Rwanda in modern times. The faith leaders were joined by 200 students on the visit. Over the past twelve months the Holocaust Educational Trust has taken over 2000 students on the Project which explores the universal lessons of the Holocaust.

Holocaust Memorial Day 2009 (HMD09) on 27 January calls us to Stand up to Hatred. It provides an ideal opportunity to encourage young people to work towards a better future by becoming active citizens in their own communities, whilst engaging with the past and learning about the lessons it offers present day society. Schools and colleges are encouraged to involve students in active participation in HMD commemorations in order to remember the victims of Nazi oppression and the victims of more recent genocides. HMDT produces free resources including lesson plans and ideas for assemblies. These are available from the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust Web site at www.hmd.org.uk

The Institute of Education is currently running a survey to find out the views of secondary teachers on teaching about the Holocaust. They plan to build on the existing practice and opinions of teachers, in the development of a high quality Holocaust Education programme. This programme will be provided free of charge to teachers in all secondary schools in England.

Click here to take the survey