Year 13 Trip to Kraków

Learning about the statistics, the facts and the events of the holocaust, whilst sitting in the warmth of a classroom is never going to provide us with the pure emotion and entire reality of what happened, which is why I’m so grateful that I got to go on the trip to Krakow. The trip not only provided us with strengthened knowledge on how society plays such an influential role in psychology: our beliefs, prejudices and behaviour, but it also gave us the raw, uncensored truth that is needed to ensure that such a tragic history doesn’t continue to repeat itself. Additionally, it was moving to see the city of Krakow so resilient, still lively with culture despite the atrocities that occurred 80 years ago. – Evie 

I’m really grateful to have gone on this trip and applied psychology to a very real and very dystopian period of history. The Holocaust is something that is constantly brought to our awareness during education, but having been to Auschwitz in person and listening to people whose jobs centre around this period was so informative; I was able to better comprehend these events and their impact more empathetically and emphatically. I also really appreciated our collective reevaluation of the Jewish identity through time; looking at how Jewish culture has historically integrated with Polish culture so we don’t marginalise our perception of Jews. It was really fascinating to apply our psychological knowledge to explore why and how so many atrocities were committed, to contemplate identity and culture, and to examine our own role in society because we ultimately learn these things to prevent further tragedies. – Saiunnati