A booklet detailing the story of a young boy’s experience during the Second World War is being distributed to schools across the country. Issued to coincide with Holocaust Memorial Day last Saturday, it tells the story of Paul Oppenheimer, a 10-year-old German Jewish boy.
He and his family were transported to Westerbork concentration camp in 1943 and then to Bergen-Belsen in 1944 where his mother, father, two grandfathers and his grandmother died, leaving Paul to take care of his brother Rudi and his sister Eve.
Paul says: “Conditions in the camp were so bad that soldiers didn’t even try to kill people. They were just left to die from starvation or disease.”
The booklet is aimed at pupils in Year 6 and above.
Steve Sinnott, NUT general secretary, said: “Paul’s story will help young people understand the dangers and iniquities of racism. If all our futures are to be better, we must understand and never forget the past.”
