This morning, Year 6 have been studying the Holocaust.
We began with a social experiment. The children with blue eyes were separated from those that are non-blue eyed. The children with blue eyes remained in the classroom (and watched a cartoon). The children with non-blue eyes were given a blue spot with a cross on it and taken to the hall where they were told to stand against the wall in silence. Although the children did as they were asked, they were confused and some said they felt quite frightened. It was for three minutes but the children said it felt much longer. From the blue eyed children, Olivia said “I think the blue cross means something.” She also said “Hitler liked kids with blue eyes and blonde hair so we are ok.” Matthew said “I hope the non-blue children are ok. Don’t execute them!”
When we returned to the classroom we discussed how we felt to be separated from friends and to wonder what they were doing. We studied how Hitler hated Jewish people and planned to eliminate all Jews across Europe. We were shocked to find other people such as Romany, disabled, Polish, Russian and homosexuals were also killed in the death camps. We found out about how Jews were treated differently even before the war and created a timeline showing the laws which were imposed over time.
Finally, we found out about Hitler’s Final Solution. Using the BBC Newsround Special- Finding my Family, we learnt about Maggie and her Grandfather Steven Frank, and their journey from England, to the Netherlands, the Czech Repulic and finally to Auschwitz to discover what happened to their Jewish family during WW2.
We designed our own Holocaust memorials to remember this terrible time and the lesson’s we must learn from it.
