Remember that the New Deal can be a bit of a scary topic to learn. All of those alphabet agencies, and the different parts of the first and second New Deal can be a bit confusing. However, don’t panic too much because the exam questions tend to focus on three main areas:

- what was the New Deal? In particular the 100 days, and a detailed example of an Alphabet Agency

- why was there opposition? Make sure you can explain two different types

- how successful was the New Deal? Make sure you can provide detailed examples for and against

Yesterday I attended the final Holocaust Educational Trust meeting with Ebony and Demi. It had been over a week since we visited Auschwitz, and we all agreed that we didn’t know what to say when people asked us how it had been. Should we focus on what we did and how the day actually unfolded? Should we instead share some of the key facts that we had learnt? Or perhaps we should share our personal emotional responses?

Ultimately, what can we say about visiting a site of mass murder and theft; a place where over 1 million people were killed, mostly Jews, and 20% of them children. Nothing we can say can fully capture that reality. What can we say about the Holocaust that is not unspeakable or has not already been said?

In the end, we talked about what had surprised us and what had stuck in our memories:

The entrance gate to Auschwitz I. The German words mean ‘work makes you free’.

The geography of the site

- Auschwitz is split into different camps. Although we expected to see the infamous gates alongside the railway platform, they are in fact on either side of a Polish town that the Germans had cleared in the war.

- The size of the camp at Auschwitz Birkenau is staggering; the walk from the entrance to the gas chambers so much further than we had expected.

The impact

- How powerful it had been to stand on the railway platform where so many families were split for a final time.

- The almost numb feeling when you are faced with piles of human hair shaved from bodies to be used in factories.

- The photographs of the individuals who had been murdered at this place, the haunting stares of children walking to their deaths.

- The silence that came over the group as each of us tried to take in what we were seeing and hearing.

The entrance to Auschwitz – Birkenau. Hundreds of thousands of people entered the camp here in railway cattle trucks. Most were selected for death as soon as they arrived.

The contrast

- The normality of the buildings at Auschwitz I. Seeing simple stone steps leading to innocent looking brick building, but knowing the horrors that went on inside.

- Being with 200 young people with so much life ahead of them, in a place of murder.

- Listening to the sound of Rabbi Barry Marcus singing the Kadish (a Jewish prayer) to remember those who were murdered.

A bleak view across the remains of Auschwitz – Birkenau. It has been said that at Auschwitz I people are affected by what they see. At Auschwitz II they are moved by what they cannot see.

Part of the Lessons from Auschwitz programme is that students should carry out a ‘next steps’ project. As part of this Ebony and Demi will be running an educational and memorial project in school over the coming months.

Update: Here is a recording of the interview. Well done to Ebony for keeping going despite her cough!

Download interview

You can listen to the rest of Jon Harle’s programme on the BBC website.

In the meantime, here are a couple of questions to consider about Eva’s story:

- Eva’s great grandfather was a German Jew. He had fought in the German army in the First World War and had been awarded the Iron Cross for bravery. Does this make it more shocking that many of his family were killed by Nazi Germans in the Second World War?

- Eva ends her talk with her ‘We won!’ photograph. It shows Eva, her mother, and Eva’s two sons and grandchildren. Why does Eva call it this? Why does she end her talk with this photograph?

- Eva’s story is just a one family’s story. Is it important to know individual stories or is it enough to know about the Holocaust generally?

FInd out more:
Eva discussed the portrayal of the Holocaust on film. In particular, she recognised how powerful ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ is as a fable [a fictional story with a message]. However, she was keen to stress that it is a fairy story based on a false premise [starting belief].  Of the hundreds of thousands of children who were sent to Auschwitz, only 150 survived. Eva did however recommend Schindler’s List (15) and The Pianist (15) as two films that her mother said perfectly captured the events.

Costa Concordia

The Artist: talking without speaking

To download the powerpoint worksheet click here.

Native North Americans quiz