Holocaust Memorial Day offers an opportunity for schools to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive in the next generation.
Holocaust Memorial Day is commemorated every year on 27th January – the same day that Auschwitz was liberated in 1945 (and this year marks the 80th anniversary of that liberation).
On Holocaust Memorial Day, we’re encouraged to remember all the victims of the Holocaust, as well as the victims of later genocides, such as those in Rwanda, Cambodia, Bosnia, Darfur and the genocide of the Yazidi.
The day is intended to give all of us a moment to learn more about this dark past, to reflect on how we can empathise more with people now, and to consider how we can create a better future.
Fittingly then, the theme of Holocaust Memorial Day in 2025 is ‘For a Better Future’.
As we mentioned, this year is also the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. To mark this, we’ve designed a poster for your classroom, to help your students understand its significance and the importance of keeping the memory of what happened there alive for the sake of a better future.
How can keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive help lead to a better future?
As the philosopher George Santayana said, ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it’.
Of course, that quote pretty much sums up why we study history in the first place.
But when thinking particularly about the Holocaust, we must remember that, sadly, each year we are left with fewer witnesses to the horrors of the Holocaust. And as they pass away, we risk the memory of what happened being lost with them.
Keeping that memory alive in future generations will help them to see the warning signs and, hopefully, prevent anything like it from happening again.
But we still live in a world where prejudice and hate run rampant. By remembering the Holocaust and even visiting somewhere like Auschwitz where that memory is brought to life, we may equip the leaders of the future with the tools to finally
How can a school trip to Auschwitz keep the memory of the Holocaust alive for your students?
We’ve arranged countless school trips for groups learning about the Holocaust (with most choosing to visit Auschwitz).
We’ve seen for ourselves how moving these trips are for students (and their teachers). Until they visit somewhere like Auschwitz, the Holocaust feels like a very abstract idea to modern kids.
There they’ll see the piles of shoes and other possessions stolen from victims. The gas chambers where hundreds were herded in and murdered en masse. The crematoria where the bodies were burned on an industrial scale.
They’ll hear the stories of individuals murdered there. And they’ll discover the testimonies of those who suffered the horrors of Auschwitz and somehow survived.
One day soon, there will be no survivors to bear witness to what happened in Auschwitz and the other concentration camps of Nazi-occupied Europe during the Holocaust. But by keeping the memory alive in the next generation, you’ll be helping to safeguard against future generations walking a similar dark path.
See our school trips to Auschwitz and start planning your trip today.
