Top things to do on a school trip to Krakow…

Telling the story in the order it should be told…

The educational story told through experiencing a series of visits and tours, carefully and expertly pieced together was exceptional. Tracking the chronological journey of the lives of the people that lived here, the events depicted in Jewish History, the barbaric decisions and subsequent actions that were taken and exploring those responsible for them was key to transforming students deeper understanding of what they had previously learned from textbooks and in the classroom.

From a walking tour of the Jewish Quarter, exploring the Ghetto’s, the realisation of the scale of loss to the Jewish communities that lived there, exploring interactive museums and, the defining day for any school, a full day visiting Auschwitz and Birkenau. It’s a day that’s hard to describe in words, almost impossible to make any sense of and one that convinced us as adults, that every child should experience during the course of their secondary school education.

We touched down with Jamie, the party leader of Stockport Grammar School students, to explore his reasons for returning to Kraków year after year (9 times so far…) relentlessly fine tuning their itinerary each and every time…

One of the great things about the trip is that there’s a real narrative arc. Beginning with the history of Kraków itself, exploring how the Jews ended up in Kraków, and how they went on to flourish here. They fully embraced their families, their town and their culture. Through tours we give students a real insight into the normality of how families lived here – we visit the synagogues, they dine in a Jewish restaurant, enjoy Jewish music and soak up stories of the joy and normality of life here. They get to see the pictures of Jewish families, just being families and living as normal families do.
And then, of course, 1939, the Nazis arrive and then we start to see how they’re persecuted and isolated and put into the ghetto, and then ultimately sent to the death camps.
They get that real sense of how it unfolded and the process that went into that and the sheer scale of loss of lives. Hopefully they’ll be able to recognize the signs of genocide, and where this might still be occurring in the world. It’s really important for them understand and see that in context. A massive life lesson.

Mr. J Swann
Stockport Grammar School

Jamie’s words will stay with us for a long time. Seeing the stories unfold, walking round the death camps and the realisation of the scale of events that took place here is a something that can’t and shouldn’t be erased from young minds.

The reality of lessons learned, were contrasted with visiting a beautiful and vibrant city, exploring its Christmas markets, enjoying wonderful food together, shopping and exploring the sights together as well as a whole bunch of memories made together as friends. A pitch perfect Kraków itinerary!