Fifteen teachers joined the growing band of Holocaust educators organised by Learning and Teaching Scotland, after a study trip last month to Berlin.

LTS is co-ordinating a group of experts to disseminate information to other teachers and schools, and this was the second trip to areas considered key to understanding the Holocaust.

Last year, primary and secondary teachers were taken to Amsterdam to study issues surrounding Anne Frank, the mass extermination of Jews and other marginalised groups, and the occupation of Holland by the Nazis. This year, the focus was to explore alternative approaches to learning and teaching of issues such as genocide, diversity and tolerance.

During the four-day trip, the teachers, all secondary, visited the Holocaust Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, the Jewish Museum, Sachsenhausen concentration camp and the House of the Wannsee Conference (the centre at which key Nazis planned the “Final Solution”).

“It is interesting being able to put a lot of what I know about the Holocaust into perspective,” says David Clark, an art teacher from Forrester High in Edinburgh. “I am looking forward to sharing that new insight with other teachers on a whole-school or cross-curricular basis, and to integrating it within my own lessons.”

The aim was for participants to consider Holocaust education in a German context, explore the effective use of memorial sites and “resources”, share professional insights and broaden their knowledge of Holocaust history, experience and themes.

Armed with this information, they are expected to make use of their learning experience to enrich their own practice, produce reports about that enrichment and its impact on teaching, disseminate their findings and share their experiences with other professionals.

Mr Clark says LTS paid for flights, transfers, bed and breakfast and entry into all museums. Lunch, dinner and transport in Berlin was covered by participants.

E: n.morgan@ltscotland.org.uk.