A group of Oldham teenagers including 6 youth councillors,are planning a harrowing trip to the Auschwitz concentration camp as the country gears up to mark Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27.

The young people from the Oldham Youth Council, the Oldham Children in Care Council and the Oldham Theatre Workshop will head to Poland to reflect on one of the most disturbing episodes in European history.

The trip is part of Oldham’s 22^nd Century Citizen’s project, which is funded by the British Council and the Government’s Youth Opportunity Fund (YOF).

The teenagers will team up with a group of schoolchildren from Poland during their stay, which will also incorporate a visit to the ghetto in Krakow and Oscar Schindler’s factory, made famous by the Steven Spielberg film, Schindler’s List.

Craig Harris, an applied theatre practitioner at Oldham Theatre workshop, said: “The trip came about after we did some consultation with the youth council and found that many young people didn’t know much about the Holocaust, so they were really keen to found out more and educate themselves.”

The teenagers will record their reactions and thoughts during the visit and will use this to create an exhibition on their return, which they will take to secondary schools across the borough, as well as The Gallery Oldham.

They will then expand their research to look into the history of Oldham’s own prisoner of war camp, which stood at the Glen Mill in Wellyhole Street, and incorporate this into a multi media play, featuring poetry, photography and music.

Craig added: “Respecting minority communities is something we talk a lot about, but people don’t understand just how important it is until they see what happened during the Holocaust.

“This trip will give the young people an understanding of other cultures outside their own. Mixing with young people from Poland as well as people from their own town who are from different cultures and backgrounds will also be hugely beneficial to them.

“People in Oldham still remember the disturbances of 2001 and it’s vital that different communities can co-exist. If young people didn’t have the kind of insight which is fostered by these activities then we would still be living in the dark ages.”

The Youth Opportunity Fund is part of 'Aiming High for Young People', a Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) initiative, which has invested £679 million to help areas across the country provide activities for young people all year round. 

For details of local activities for young people in Oldham, please visit www.direct.gov.uk/getinvolved