Sixth-formers from Notts travelled to Auschwitz, in Poland, to learn more about the Holocaust. Caroline Lowbridge joined them.

Teenagers stand in front of a display cabinet, their mouths and eyes opened wide as they look at a roll of closely-woven brown cloth laid out behind the glass. At first this may not appear to be one of the most shocking exhibits at Auschwitz I, the first of the notorious death camps built by Nazi Germany in the Polish town of Osweicim.

But the guide from the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum soon explains the sinister origin of the cloth – it is made from human hair, shorn from the heads of Auschwitz prisoners in one of many methods used to dehumanise them.

Liam Perkins, an 18-year-old student at South Nottingham College, later incredulously asks: "How could the SS use their hair to make cloth?"

Liam was among almost 200 students from across the East Midlands who visited Poland for a day as part of the Lessons From Auschwitz Project, which is run by the Holocaust Educational Trust.

Funded by the Government, the project allows two students from every school in the UK to visit Auschwitz.

James Harrison, 18, and James Davies, 17, both from Nottingham High School, had a personal reason for wanting to visit Auschwitz – their paternal grandfathers were present at the liberation of Bergen-Belsen, a Nazi concentration camp in Germany.

Before the Notts students even came to Poland they heard a talk from Kitty Hart-Moxon, who grew up in the town of Bielsko, 15 miles from Auschwitz-Birkenau. She was a teenager when she became a prisoner at the death camp. Now a trustee at the Holocaust Educational Trust, she told the students of the unimaginable living conditions at the camp, and why it is so important for people to see Auschwitz with their own eyes.

"I started speaking [about Auschwitz] immediately after the war and people didn't want to listen," she said. "I came over to England in 1946. My uncle came to collect us [Kitty and her mother] from Dover and he said 'Remember, in my house I don't want you to talk about anything that happened to you. I don't want to know and I don't want my girls to get upset.' In England, I found that wherever I went, as soon as I started to say something people would go away and people didn't want to hear anymore. People just didn't want to know and I would get angry and I was determined that sooner or later people would have to know more.

"It was only since we got this into schools in the 1980s that Holocaust education has begun. It's to warn people, because there's no guarantee this won't happen again."

When the students visited Auschwitz themselves, they were able to see all of the places Kitty had talked about – including the wooden barracks where thousands of prisoners were crowded in, remains of gas chambers and even pits of human ashes – covered by snow on the day of their visit.

Even the people who survived 'selection' – where a doctor decided who would be sent to the gas chambers and who were fit enough to work – survived an average of just months at Auschwitz. Many died from starvation, exhaustion and disease, while others were randomly shot dead by guards for any reason – or no reason at all.

After arriving at Krakow airport, the students were first taken to a Jewish cemetery in Oswiecim. Many students were shocked at how close the town is to a place where so many people were murdered, and asked how people could carry on living their normal lives there. The students heard how the town had a large Jewish community before the war, which by 1939 made up 58% of the population. Understandably, there are no Jews living in the town today.

The students remarked on how the cemetery looked like any normal one, but on closer inspection, many of the gravestones were broken. These gravestones had been used by the Nazis to built roads in the town, and were only recovered after the war. A memorial stands at the centre of the cemetery. It was built by Jewish survivors, using some of the gravestones collected from around the town.

There were once three Auschwitz sites, but just two remain today – Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II, or Birkenau – preserved as the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.

There are no exact figures of those who died at Auschwitz-Birkenau, but it is estimated at 1.2 million. Kitty, who witnessed thousands upon thousands of people arriving at the camp and entering the gas chambers, believes the number to be far higher.

One of the first things the students see as they arrive at Auschwitz I is the notorious "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign over the gate, which translates literally from German as "work makes free". A Polish couple take it in turns to pose for photographs under the sign, but the students decided this wasn't appropriate. The current sign is a replica – as the original was stolen in December 2009, and will be put back when an improved security system is in place.

Many of the brick barracks at Auschwitz I now contain exhibits of personal belongings taken from deportees upon their arrival. Some of the students had red, teary eyes, and most walked around in silence as they tried to comprehend the piles of shoes, clothing, suitcases, glasses, cooking implements and even artificial limbs. One exhibit was an enormous case of human hair.

The temperature in that part of Poland had been -7°C° on the morning of the visit, but by the time the students visited Auschwitz II – the main extermination centre – it had dropped even colder. Wearing multiple layers of clothes, the group shivered to imagine how prisoners must have felt wearing just a single layer of clothing.

The visit ended with a moving memorial service at the ruins of Crematoria II. After returning to Notts, the students will now do further work to pass on what they have learnt to their schools and the wider community.

"HET's Lessons from Auschwitz Project is such a vital part of our work because it gives students the chance to understand the dangers and potential effects of prejudice and racism today," said Karen Pollock, Chief Executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust. "The Project encourages them to act on what they see and learn, and the inspiring work they go on to do in their local areas demonstrates the importance of the visit. With the support of Government funding, we are excited to be expanding the programme to enable many more students to experience this life changing project."

Caroline.lowbridge@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk

Panel:

Here are first person accounts from some of the Notts students who visited Auschwitz:

Liam Perkins, 18, from South Nottingham College

The moment that it hit me was when we went into the rooms and saw the pictures of the children whom looked like skeletons where Josef Mengele had experimented upon them. The rest of the day was horrific the sights of the gas chambers the crematoriums etc but that experiment room made me feel physically sick. It is so inhuman and unbelievable that one human being could do this to others.

The belongings of the dead made me realise just how much dignity these people had stripped away from them. How could the SS use their hair to make cloth?

Sian Woodward, 18, from South Nottingham College

The overall feelings from the visit to Auschwitz is indescribable. The sheer brutality of each individual that was there is like nothing me nor you could think about. I think the strength of women, men and children's beliefs is what I felt kept them alive day to day.

I have learnt most from the trip that each and every person there was the same as you and me but by their own choice of following a religion or for being different in even small ways they were persecuted. The ones whom survived Auschwitz such as Kitty whom we met last week are unexplainable remarkable human beings managing to cope with all this pain and suffering, both physically and mentally and then managing to walk out at the end and survive and create a new life for themselves. The ones who still share their experiences are also incredible as I would want to bury my head. But we all need to remember what did happen there and ensure this does not happen again. I was not sure whether Auschwitz should be a visitor attraction but after experiencing it myself and after hearing the Rabbi say prayers and talk to us in the evening I did understand that everyone should visit learn and see for themselves and hope nothing like this can happen again.

Brittany Iveson, 18, and Louise Munday, 17, from the Dukeries College

Even after studying in detail the horrors of the Holocaust, nothing compares to actually being in Auschwitz itself. The sheer scale of the exhibits was unnerving and trying to describe it now would simply not do it justice. When returning home you can't help but reflect more on your own life with a whole different perspective. If you ever have an opportunity like Auschwitz, we can't recommend a more worthwhile visit."

Sarah McGhee, 17, Colonel Frank Seely School

It was a very moving experience; it really makes you think about what happened at places like Auschwitz, and why it was allowed to happen.

Jed Buxton, 16, from Ashfield School

We have a responsibility to the up and coming generation to full understand what has happened in the past and become fully knowledgeable and pass this information on. I don't think it has affected me as a person like I thought it would, but it has filled in all the gaps that were missing to the story.

Daniel Easton, 17, from Ashfield School.

The most memorable bit was the end with the Rabai which brought it into perspective, how it relates to modern day life.