Theology and history trip to Krakow and Auschwitz

This trip was a little unusual as school trips go, as its central point was a visit to the former concentration camp of Auschwitz near the Polish town of Oswiencim. When Germany invaded Poland, this remote destination was chosen to build a prison camp which could remain isolated. Yet today its name is known everywhere as a reminder of one of the worst atrocities in human history. We went on a day visit from our base in Krakow, a beautiful medieval city completely undamaged by the war, which made a stark contrast. It was a day of quiet and remembrance with the brutality of the extermination of the Jews evident at every turn: two ponds murky with human ashes next to the crematoria, thousands of tonnes of the murdered women's hair ready for industrial use by Nazi factories, heaps of paired shoes, and the eyes looking out at us from the family photos that the prisoners brought with them on their last journey. It was a sombre day that will stay etched in our minds for ever.

But the trip also had a holiday dimension. The Wawel castle in Krakow is the Polish national shrine treated with reverence and described by the locals in the choicest superlatives. The legend goes that it was built after a brave and resourceful cobbler defeated a damsel-eating dragon that made its lair at the bottom of the hill; the Wawel cathedral still proudly shows off the dragon's bones outside the western door to prove it. We had a lot of fun exploring the city, visiting the miracle working shrine of Czestochowa, braving the local buses in our quest to find a medieval salt mine outside the city. Cooking supper for eighteen on two rings in the hostel also brought out our sense of adventure. It was an action-packed and exciting trip which will be remembered by both boys and staff.